STANFORD, Calif. – When the ball drops for the USA Men's Senior National Team at the FINA Men's Intercontinental Tournament starting tonight in Newport Beach, Calif., nearly half of the 13-man roster will be made up of current Stanford student-athletes and alumni.
Head coach Dejan Udovicic named his squad on Saturday and included current Cardinal Bret Bonanni, Drew Holland and Jackson Kimbell. Senior Alex Bowen, who completed his eligibility at the conclusion of 2014 season is also on the team along with Stanford alumni Tony Azevedo and Janson Wigo.
The FINA Intercontinental Tournament starts runs March 30 through April 4 at the Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center on the campus of Corona del Mar High School. The competition begins with Brazil taking on Australia at 3:30 p.m. The United States opens play against Canada on Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. Other teams competing include Argentina, China, Japan, and Kazakhstan.
The tournament serves as a qualifier for countries outside of Europe for the FINA World League Super Final which will take place June 23-28 in Bergamo, Italy.
All matches will be streamed live, free of charge, at YouTube.com/USAWP.
A finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award, Bonanni concluded his junior season at Stanford with a conference-leading 96 goals, just one shy of the single-season school-record 97 he tallied a year ago. He will enter his senior year on The Farm with 266 career scores, just 66 shy of Azevedo’s Stanford and MPSF record (332). Bonanni is the only Cardinal in history to post multiple 90-goal seasons.
An honorable mention all-America pick as a freshman, Drew Holland was tabbed as the goalkeeper on the ACWPC All-America Third Team this season. He finished with 267 saves, averaging 10.47 per game, and posted a 6.59 goals against average, which placed second in the MPSF. The sophomore was also a two-time league player of the week (Oct. 6 and Oct. 20).
Kimbell, who was Stanford’s highest-scoring rookie as a freshman in 2013 (26 goals), tallied 14 during his sophomore season, including five multi-goal games and one hat trick.
Also a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award, Bowen earned his fourth ACWPC First Team All-America honor after another superb season, becoming the first four-time first teamer at Stanford since Tony Azevedo (2001-04). The senior finished his time on The Farm with 253 career goals and leaves third all-time at Stanford and eighth in MPSF history. This season, he was second on the Cardinal with 65 scores, including 19 multi-goal games and 12 hat tricks.
All four were on the USA roster for the Volvo Cup in Budapest, Hungary in February. Bonanni led his country at that event with 10 total goals in three matches against Hungary, Canada and Croatia.
