STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford junior goalie Drew Holland was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Men’s Water Polo Player of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday.
Holland registered an MPSF single-game record 23 saves in No. 5 Stanford’s 7-0 shutout of No. 7 UC Irvine on Sunday. The Cardinal junior totaled 36 saves for the week, also posting 13 stops in Saturday’s 12-8 victory over No. 8 Long Beach State.
The shutout of UC Irvine was only the second time this season an MPSF team was held scoreless this season (UCLA defeated San Jose State, 10-0, on Oct. 18). Prior to Sunday, UC Irvine had not been held scoreless in a game since at least 2002.
Holland broke the old MPSF single-game saves record shared by four individuals – Byron Rivers-UC Irvine, Nov. 12, 2014, Brady Moore-Pacific, Nov. 15, 2014, Brady Moore-Pacific, Oct. 12, 2014, Chris Whitelegge-UCSB, Sept. 22, 2013.
Holland’s previous high single-game save total was 20 against USC on Oct. 18, 2014. The Cardinal junior has recorded double-digit saves in 11 games this season.
The honor is Holland’s fourth career MPSF Player of the Week Award. He was honored twice last season (Oct. 6 and 20) and once during his freshman season in 2013 (Oct. 21).
Stanford (18-6, 4-3 MPSF) will play its final three regular-season games at Avery Aquatic Center, beginning Friday (Nov. 6) at 7 p.m. against Pepperdine. The Cardinal will also face Santa Clara (Nov. 10) and California (Nov. 15) at home to close the regular-season slate.
