Courtesy: Stanford Athletics
What's Ahead
No. 3 Stanford (17-2, 3-0 MPSF) returns home for a pair of games this weekend, both televised on Pac-12 Networks. The Cardinal hosts No. 7 Cal (19-6, 1-2 MPSF) at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and goes outside of conference for the final time this season when it plays No. 18 San Diego State (11-13, 3-0 Golden Coast Conference) on Sunday at 1 p.m. Kevin Danna and Chris Dorst will handle Saturday's broadcast while Greg Mescall and Dorst will be on the call Sunday.
Cardinalpalooza
The match with Cal coincides with Cardinalpalooza, a free all-day sports festival that includes three other Cardinal teams in action. Highlighted by the Cardinal & White Spring Football game at 1 p.m., Cardinalpalooza also features tailgating opportunities and food trucks in Pac-12 plaza.
Looking Back
Jamie Neushul fired home two fourth-quarter goals as part of her eighth hat trick of the season and Stanford outscored No. 23 CSU Bakersfield by five in the second half to beat the Roadrunners last Saturday afternoon, 12-5. Katie Dudley and Gurpreet Sohi added multi-goal efforts for the Cardinal while Julia Hermann made seven saves in the cage.
MPSF Pick
Stanford collected 32 points and three first-place votes to top the 2016 MPSF Women's Water Polo Coaches' Poll, which was released by the conference on Jan. 7. USC was tabbed second with 31 points and three first-place votes while UCLA was third with 29 points and one first-place vote. California, Arizona State, San Jose State and CSU Bakersfield rounded out the preseason picks. The Cardinal has not lost an MPSF game since 2009, a stretch of 42 straight regular season conference outings. Its last league loss came at USC on April 18, 2009 (11-6).
At Avery
Stanford is 85-5 at home since 2008.
Against Cal
Stanford's only two losses this season are to Cal and No. 1 USC. The Bears beat the Cardinal in the championship of the Stanford Invite on Feb. 7, 5-2. That result snapped Stanford's 32-game winning streak in Avery Aquatic Center. The Cardinal hadn't suffered a setback at the iconic venue since April 29, 2012 when it lost to UCLA, 8-7, in the MPSF Tournament Championship.
Cal has won two straight against Stanford, including in last year's MPSF Tournament semifinals, 8-7. That loss was the Cardinal's first to its cross-bay rival since 2000 and snapped Stanford's 41-game winning streak against Cal.
Stanford is 48-21 against Cal all-time.
Seeing The Stats
Stanford finds itself leading the MPSF in goals per game (12.79), ahead of USC (12.59) and UCLA (12.36), and fifth in goals allowed per game (5.26) behind USC (4.53), UCLA (5.00), Cal (5.12) and Arizona State (5.25). Individually, Jamie Neushul leads the Cardinal and is fourth in the conference in goals per game (1.89). Kat Klass is sixth (1.74), Anna Yelizarova is 16th (1.44), Gurpreet Sohi is 17th (1.42) and Dani Jackovich is 24th (1.11). Julia Hermann's 5.49 goals against average is seventh in the conference and her 8.46 saves per game are sixth.
Qualified
The USA Water Polo Women's National Team punched its ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games behind the play of four Cardinal at the recently concluded Olympic Qualification Tournament in Gouda, Netherlands. Needing just a top-four finish to earn a berth in Rio, Stanford's Makenzie Fischer, Kiley Neushul, Melissa Seidemann and Maggie Steffens led the United States to an undefeated 8-0 record at the event. Team USA outscored its opponents by a combined score of 123-35 and the Cardinal quartet accounted for nearly 50 percent of that scoring (57 combined goals).
Fischer scored multiple times in each of the eight games, including four hat tricks, and totaled 22 goals. Neushul had 17 and scored three or more three times, topping out with five in a 15-7 win over Greece on March 24. Steffens, the MVP of the 2012 Olympics, scored 13 and Seidemann, who won gold with Steffens at the 2012 Games in London, rattled the cage five times.
Rewind To 2015
The Cardinal won 25 games for the ninth consecutive season in 2015 and made history by becoming the first host institution to win the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship. The national crown was the fifth in program history and the Cardinal's fourth in the past five seasons.
World University Games
Stanford had an early start to building a cohesive unit heading into this season. Over the summer, the Cardinal represented the United States at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. After going 1-2-1 in pool play, the U.S. went 2-1 in its final three games to come in fifth out of the 10-team field. Jamie Neushul led the U.S. at the World University Games in goals, scoring 18 (2.6 per game) and freshman Kat Klass joined her in double figures rattling the cage 11 times (1.6 per game). Defensively, Raney contributed five field blocks in South Korea, while Cassidy Papa and Shannon Cleary added four each. Gabby Stone and Jamie Neushul had nine steals apiece, Dani Jackovich added seven and Kat Klass five.
Junior Worlds
Stanford All-Americans Jamie Neushul and Jordan Raney helped the United States repeat as FINA Junior World Champions with an undefeated run to the title in Volos, Greece in August. Team USA outscored its opponents 106 to 46 over the six games, which were capped with a 13-10 victory over Spain in the championship. Neushul, who served as captain for the United States, scored 14 goals, including three hat tricks, while Raney, the reigning MPSF Newcomer of the Year, added six.
In The Polls
Stanford remained third in the national rankings (92 points), behind No. 1 USC (100 points) and No. 2 UCLA (96 points) in this week's CWPA Women's Varsity Top 20 Poll. Hawaii (88 points) and Arizona State (83 points) round out the top five.