April 23, 1999
This Week: The fourth-ranked Stanford women's water polo team (19-5) heads to Stockton, Calif. and the University of the Pacific for the Northern California Regional Qualifier. The top four teams in the six-team tournament will qualify for collegiate nationals. Stanford will meet No. 8 UC Davis at 1:15 Saturday and then will play Cal State Bakersfield at 5:15 Saturday. Stanford will then play either one or two games Sunday against one of the other three teams in the tournament (No. 1 California, No. 9 San Jose State and No. 16 Pacific). Nationals will be held at UC Davis May 7-9.
Last Week: The Cardinal closed out the home schedule with a 4-1 win over No. 8 UC Davis. Stanford drew an ejection in the first period and Kelly Shouey scored during the 6-on-5 advantage to put the Cardinal ahead with 4:07 left in the first period. Shouey scored again, this time from two meters, midway through the second period, and Kate Pettit redirected a pass from Anne-Marie Keenan into the back of the net just before halftime to make it 3-0. In the third quarter Margie Dingeldein scored her team-leading 36th goal on a counterattack, taking a perfect pass from goalie Heather Crary and finishing. Alice Wallace then scored for the Aggies, banging an outside shot off the post and just in with a bit over 10 minutes remaining to conclude the scoring.
Stanford Story: The Cardinal enters the stretch run in its drive for the national title. As a club team, Stanford won the national title in 1985, and finished second in 1986. Since attaining varsity status in 1996, Stanford has placed fifth, fourth and third at nationals. A year ago, the Cardinal easily claimed one of seven berths to nationals by finishing second at the Western Regional. The Cardinal beat Pacific (12-4), San Diego State (9-7) and California (9-5) en route to the final, where Stanford fell to UCLA.
Aggie Almanac: The Aggies are 21-8 this year after a 4-1 loss to Stanford last Friday. They won the Western Water Polo Association tournament two weeks ago. Seven of their eight losses have come to MPSF teams, and they have wins over Federation members San Jose State (three times), Hawaii, Long Beach State and Pacific. They have won 16 of their last 18 games, and are led by senior driver Alice Wallace (32 goals) and senior two-meter player Jamie Koett (30). Freshman Cat Bell, the younger sister of Stanford sophomore Dani Bell, is third on the team with 24 goals (and Dani is third on the Cardinal at 24 goals). Stanford is 1-0 against the Aggies this year, and 19-0 as a varsity team.
Roadrunner Record: Cal State Bakersfield is 16-14 this year and the only unranked team in the Northern California qualifier. The Roadrunners are 1-5 against MPSF teams this year, with an 18-17 double-overtime win over Pacific to their credit. They have lost to USC (11-2), Long Beach State twice (16-5 & 15-3) and Hawaii twice (25-8 & 22-8). They have been a high-scoring team all year, as freshman two-meter set Dawn Rodriguez (100 goals) and sophomore driver Krista Dotters (70 goals) have combined for more goals than the entire Stanford team (169). Conversely, the 'Runners have given up more goals against MPSF opponents (106 in six games) than the Cardinal has given up on the year (84 in 24 games). With seven freshmen, two sophomores and three first-year juniors (all junior-college transfers) making up the roster, they are a very young team. Stanford has never met the Roadrunners as a varsity team.
Opponent Outlook: Stanford will play at least one game against one of the other three teams in the tournament (No. 1 California, No. 9 San Jose State and No. 16 Pacific). The Golden Bears are 24-4 and ranked co-No. 1 with USC after beating the Trojans 3-2 in the championship game of the MPSF Tournament. They finished third in the regular season. They are led by MPSF co-Player of the Year Colette Glinkowski, driver Melanie vonHartitzsch and two-meter set Heather Petri. Stanford is 2-2 against the Bears this year, and 7-16 all-time as a varsity team. Cal won 6-3 on Feb. 14 at the UC San Diego Tournament and 5-3 on April 10 at the MPSF Tournament, while Stanford won 5-3 on Feb. 28 at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament and 4-2 in Berkeley in the MPSF regular-season match. All three tournament meetings were in the semifinals. Stanford's Anne-Marie Keenan has scored in all four games against the Bears. The Spartans are 13-19 overall and ranked ninth after finishing ninth in the MPSF regular season and eighth in the conference tournament. Liz Garcia earned second-team all-MPSF honors while Inna Fedoseyeva and Neva West are also scoring threats. The Cardinal is 2-0 against the Spartans this year, and 5-0 as a varsity program. Stanford beat San Jose State 7-4 on Feb. 12 in the first game of the UC San Diego Tournament and 12-1 in an MPSF game at deGuerre Pool March 20. Dani Bell has five goals against San Jose State this year while Margie Dingeldein and Hilary Gallogly have three apiece. Pacific is 6-19 overall and ranked 16th nationally after finishing 10th in the MPSF regular season and tournament. Molly Smith and Cari Bertrand both earned honorable mention all-Federation accolades and are the top two scorers. Stanford is 2-0 against the Tigers this year and 9-0 all-time. Stanford beat Pacific 14-2 on March 7 in an MPSF game in Stockton, and won 10-2 on April 9 at the MPSF Tournament. Bell has five goals against the Tigers and Kate Pettit has four. Stanford Asst. Coach Susan Ortwein was the UOP head coach in both 1996 and 1997, while Stanford Head Coach John Tanner was the Pacific men's water polo (and swimming) coach until coming to Stanford for the 1997-98 season.
Regional Reconfiguration: In the past, all the western teams competed in one regional tournament to qualify for collegiate nationals. This year, however, several new regions have been added, and the field at nationals has been bumped up from 12 teams to 16, leading to many changes at the regional level. Last year, 13 teams competed for seven berths at the West Regional at Stanford. This year, only six teams will compete at the Northern California regionals this weekend at the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, Calif. In addition to the 16th-ranked hosts, co-No. 1 California, No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 UC Davis, No. 9 San Jose State and unranked Cal State Bakersfield will compete for four berths to the national championships. Additionally, four teams from Southern California, three teams from the East, two from the Midwest, one from the Pacific Northwest, one from the Southeast and one at-large selection will qualify for nationals, to be played May 7-9 at UC Davis. USC, Stanford, California and UCLA have all been ranked in the top four nationally in 10 of the 11 coaches polls this year (Cal was ranked fifth in the March 17 poll), and are a combined 66-1 against the rest of the country, so it is likely those will be the No. 1 seeds in each of the four pools at nationals. The format for nationals is play in four pools of four for the first day and a half, followed by three rounds of bracket play to determine a champion.
1999 Northern California Regional Qualifier
Saturday 8:00 San Jose State-Pacific 9:15 UC Davis-Cal State Bakersfield 12:00 California-San Jose State 1:15 Stanford-UC Davis 4:00 California-Pacific 5:15 Stanford-Cal State Bakersfield
Sunday 8:30 2nd-A vs. 3rd-B 9:45 2nd-B vs. 3rd-A 12:30 1st-A vs. 1st-B (Championship) 1:45 Loser-8:30 vs. Loser-9:45 (5th place) 3:00 Winner-8:30 vs. Winner-9:45 (3rd place)
Group A: California, San Jose State, Pacific
Group B: Stanford, UC Davis, Cal State Bakersfield
Spreading the Wealth on "O": With last year's top two scorers gone this year (the Cardinal returned only 43% of its scoring from 1998), Stanford has relied on a much more balanced offensive attack this year. Many Cardinal players have responded by picking up the pace from last year. Two players have already exceeded their scoring totals from last year, and others are on their way. Sophomore Kelly Shouey already has 25 goals this season, seven more than she scored a year ago. She has seven multiple-goal games already, including three goals in the second half to beat UCSB. Sophomore Hilary Gallogly has also upped her play at the offensive end of the pool. She has doubled last year's total of seven tallies with 14 goals this year, including a team-high two in the second win over three-time defending national champion UCLA. Ten of 11 players have had at least one multiple-goal game this season and the Cardinal has had at least three different players score in every game.
But Miserly on "D": Another way Stanford has compensated for not having a player averaging two or three goals per game is by becoming arguAbly thenation'S best dEfensive team. Led by tHree-time All-American goalie Heather Crary, Stanford has given up only 3.47 goals per game this season. Looking at MPSF games only to provide a fair standard of comparison, the Cardinal has clearly been the top defensive team in the league. Stanford gave up only 29 goals in nine league games, an average of only 3.22 per game. UCLA, a full goal worse at 4.22 per game, is the only other team that held its league opponents below five goals per outing. In addition to the play of Crary, and her back-up, sophomore Alli Henry, in net, Stanford's field defense has also been outstanding. Led by Nicole Glazer, Anne-Marie Keenan and Hilary Gallogly, Stanford has defended very successfully at two meters all season, forcing teams to try to beat Crary with outside shots. Additionally, Stanford's defense has helped its offense. The Cardinal has scored numerous goals on counterattacks after forcing turnovers or making saves.
Fab Frosh: While two members of the Cardinal's four-person freshman class (Brenda Villa and Jackie Frank) are training with the U.S. National Team and will not don a Stanford cap at all this year, the other two are certainly carrying their share of the load. Margie Dingeldein has stepped right into the starting line-up and had a huge impact. She leads the team in scoring with 36 goals, and has used her speed to win numerous sprints at the start of each quarter and to earn goals in transition. She had a 10-game scoring streak earlier this year and has scored 32 goals in the last 18 games, leading the team 11 times over that span. After using her first six games to acclimate to the collegiate game, she has scored in 16 of the last 18 coontests. She earned first-team all-tournament honors at the MPSF Tournament and was a first-team all-league pick. Another frosh, Kate Pettit, has stepped right in as one of the Cardinal's top two-meter players. She scored in her first career game, the season-opening win over three-time defending national champion UCLA, and has 16 goals on the season after scoring five at the MPSF Tournament, the second-highest total on the team. She had a five-game scoring streak earlier in the year and has four multiple-goal games. Stanford is 11-0 when Pettit scores a goal.
Going International: While the collegiate women's water polo season will end with the national championship game on May 9, the excitement will be just beginning for four members of the Stanford women's water polo program. Junior Ellen Estes and freshmen Jackie Frank and Brenda Villa stopped out of school after fall quarter and have been training full-time with the U.S. National Team since January in preparation for the FINA Cup, which will take place at the end of May in Winnipeg, Canada. That tournament provides an opportunity to qualify for the 2000 Olympics, where women's water polo will make its Olympic debut. Estes broke the school single-season scoring record a year ago on her way to first-team All-America and MPSF Player of the Year honors, and is one of the nation's top two-meter players. Frank was a four-time first-team All-American in high school, and has been splitting time at goalie for the U.S. Villa was also a four-time first-team All-American in high school and started for the U.S. team at the World Championships in 1998 as a driver. Additionally, Stanford Asst. Coach Susan Ortwein is a member of the U.S. coaching staff. She will finish the collegiate season with the Cardinal, then join the U.S. team in their final preparations and accompany the team to Canada on May 20.
Senior Salute: A trio of Cardinal seniors - Heather Crary, Nicole Glazer and Lindsay Tam - bid farewell to deGuerre Pool Friday, winning the final home game of their careers. The trio were all freshman starters in 1996, Stanford's first year as a varsity program, and led the team to a fifth-place finish at collegiate nationals. Crary earned third-team All-America honors and Tam was an honorable-mention pick that season. A year later, Tam scored 35 goals, Glazer had 18 and Crary was an honorable-mention All-American as the team placed fourth at nationals and won the Northern Division of the MPSF. A year ago, the trio led the Cardinal to a third-place finish at nationals and a runner-up placing in the MPSF. Crary again was a third-team All-American while Tam was an Academic All-American. This year, Glazer's great defense at two meters has kept her in the starting line-up all season, and she earned honorable-mention all-MPSF accolades. Tam has contributed in every game, including a pair of goals in a conference win over Pacific. And Crary has been the leader of the top defense in the nation, earning second-team all-MPSF honors. Those three helped Stanford attain the national No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history earlier this season and tie for the regular-season MPSF title, and will try to lead the Cardinal to another top finish at nationals.
STANFORD STATISTICS
Individual Scoring
Player Goals Margie Dingeldein 36 Kelly Shouey 25 Dani Bell 24 Anne-Marie Keenan 16 Kate Pettit 16 Hilary Gallogly 14 Kris Koblik 13 Elissa Kezsler 10 Nicole Glazer 7 Ali Riddell 4 Lindsay Tam 4
Team Scoring - By Quarters
1 2 3 4 OT T Stanford 43 48 49 29 0 169 Opponents 18 20 24 21 1 84
Goalies
GP Min. GA GAA Heather Crary 23 600 75 3.50 Alli Henry 8 78 9 3.23 Stanford 24 678 84 3.47 Opponents 24 678 169 7.04