Water
polo family reunion goes to son
49er
Erik Geoffroy was matched up against his
coaches son, Tony Azevedo wearing number
eight for Stanford, in Saturday's loss.
Jon
Cook/On-line Forty-Niner
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
They
say you can never go home again. Tony Azevedo,
a 6'1" 195 pound junior water polo
player at Stanford, however, proved that
not only could you go home again, but you
could go home and win.
Tony,
the son of 49ers men's water polo head coach
Rick Azevedo, torched the 49ers (14-12,
3-5) this past Sunday at the Campus pool
scoring four goals to help the Cardinal
(18-3, 7-1) defeat The Beach 12-8.
"It's
part of the game," said Azevedo about
scoring against his fathers' team. "It's
fun. They are always ready to go. Our team
came out on fire today."
The
younger Azevedo, who grew up in Long Beach
and probably learned to swim before could
even walk, was at ease playing in his hometown.
"I
feel more comfortable playing over. It's
like a regular day for me. I spent more
time here then anywhere else."
Coach
Azevedo on the other hand, despite being
able to see his son, was not as thrilled
to be playing against him.
"It's
hard," said coach Azevedo. "Not
just because he is my son, but because he
is a good player. It's tough to play against
a good player regardless of who it is."
Stanford
jumped out to an early lead scoring all
six goals in the opening quarter to take
a 6-0 lead at the end of the period. Senior
Mike Derse scored the first two goals for
the Cardinal. Azevedo scored the next goal,
his first of four in the contest, and added
one more with 30 seconds left in the quarter
to cap the offensive run.
The
Beach got things going in the second quarter
when freshman Reid Tomassi put the 49ers
on the board scoring all three of the teams'
goals to cut the lead to 7-3 at halftime.
Before
the game started both coach and son had
a brief conversation.
"He
told me he woke up at 2 a.m. and had a plan
to stop me. I said you better execute it
then," said Tony Azevedo.
The
Beach managed to cut the lead to three when
with four minutes to play in the third quarter
when sophomore Brad Scoles and senior Nathan
Allard scored goals to make it 8-5. That
was as close as Stanford would let them
get. Azevedo took it upon himself to score
back to back goals and extend the Cardinal's
lead to five. His final goal of the contest
was by far the best of the day if not the
season. Azevedo faked right leaving the
49er defender looking as he went left inside
of him and shot a cannon that went right
in the net.
"They
were catching a break and coming back. I
had to start playing hard again," said
Azevedo.
One
person who wasn't surprised at how great
a player Azevedo is was 49er junior Erik
Geoffroy.
"He's
the ultimate player," said Geoffroy
who guarded Tony for most of the game. "I've
played with him when we were ten. You never
know what he's going to do next. It's difficult
to play against him."
This
is the fourth time coach Azevedo played
against his son and still has not found
a way to beat him.
"It's
fun. It's competition. It's what sports
should be about. I come up with ways to
try and stop him and he comes up with ways
to beat me."
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