San Diego, CA - May 15 - The 2023 Fisher Cup concluded at UCSD Canyonview Aquatic Center in San Diego, CA yesterday with USA Junior winning the championship. USA Junior went a perfect 4-0 on the weekend to claim the title. New York Athletic Club finished as the runner-up while Stanford took home third place. For complete final standings, see below.
Final 2023 Fisher Cup Standings
- USA Junior
- New York Athletic Club
- Stanford
- The Olympic Club
- Channel Cats
- Riptide Black
- Channel Islands
- USA Youth
- Los Angeles Athletic Club
- Riptide Grey
- Puerto Rico
- UC San Diego
- Bronco
USA Junior Goes Unbeaten: USA Junior swept their weekend slate to become 2023 Fisher Cup Champions! USA Junior faced off with New York Athletic Club in the championship game last night that came down to the wire.
Chase Dodd converted on a pair of early goals followed by Grant Watson finishing on the counterattack to put USA Junior ahead 3-0. Ryder Roberts had an answer for NYAC before William Schneider scored for USA Junior and Reed Cotterill snuck one in with seconds to spare for NYAC to give USA Junior a 4-2 lead after the first quarter. Midway through the second period, Roberts and AJ Rossman came up with consecutive goals to level the score at 4-4. USA Junior came right back with three straight of their own from Chase McFarland and Ryder Dodd (2) before Alex Obert got one to go before the break, leaving USA Junior up 7-5 at halftime.
Following intermission, Rafael Real scored on NYAC's opening possession of the third before a five minute scoring drought hit both sides. Peter Castillo and McFarland broke the scoreless streak on a couple of 6-on-5 chances late in the quarter before Lucas Gielen drilled one on a power play for NYAC with seconds remaining, making it a 9-7 lead for USA Junior heading into the final frame. Gielen opened the fourth quarter where he left off in the third, scoring the first two goals to tie the score at 9-9 before Real pushed NYAC in front for the first time on a counterattack. Gray Carson scored on a man-up advantage for USA Junior to knot the score at 10-10 with 3:34 to play. From there, it was back and forth until the buzzer sounded. Sawyer Rhodes and Ben Liechty had power play scores for each side. Then, Ryder Dodd deposited his third of the game, immediately followed by Real on another 6-on-5 for NYAC and another from Ryder Dodd to retake the lead. With a 13-12 lead, USA Junior set their defense for one more stop but could not manage to contain NYAC who leveled the score with 0:04 left to play on a rocket off the arm of Gielen to send the championship game into a penalty shootout.
USA Junior showed incredible poise in a pressure filled situation, stepping up to knock down all three penalty tries (Ryder Dodd, McFarland, and Watson) while Griffen Price denied all three NYAC attempts to claim the Fisher Cup, 16-13.
Stanford Wards Off The Olympic Club to Claim 3rd Place: Stanford and The Olympic Club opened the third place game in a tight contest. The Olympic Club took a narrow 3-2 lead after one from George Avakian, Thomas Carroll, and Marin Balarin as Ethan Parrish and Christopher Indart scored for Stanford. In the second, Stanford closed the gap with two scores from Parrish and Soren Jenson before Balarin leveled the score 4-4 late in the half.
Stanford widened the margin in the third period as the Cardinal scored eight times to Olympic Club's four. Grant Watson (2), Tanner Pulice (3), Riley Pittman, Parrish, and Jensen found the back of the net in the offensive explosion while Quinn Woodhead (2), Balarin, and Nicholas Tierney did the same for Olympic Club, sending this one into the final frame at 12-8 in favor of Stanford. In the final quarter, Stanford's offense flat-lined but its defensive intensity was just enough to hold on. Balarin, Paul Reynolds, and Woodhead all scored for The Olympic Club but it was not enough to catch the Cardinal as Stanford escaped with a 12-11 victory and third place at the 2023 Fisher Cup.
Individual Performers: Stanford's Riley Pittman was named Tournament MVP while USA Junior's Ryder Dodd took home Top Scorer. NYAC's Chris Whitelegge was named Top Goalkeeper and USA Youth's Ben Forer was the tournament's Rookie of the Year.
Stat Watch: 6-8 Sports is the official stat program of the Fisher Cup. In addition to live scoring during the matches, 6-8 Sports provides box scores and league leaders. Stats are available at
68Scores.com.
Video Highlights: USA Water Polo TV was on site this weekend in San Diego to profile some of the matches. Highlights from those matches will be available this #WaterPoloWednesday.
