May 10, 2001
Inaugural NCAA Tournament . . .
The No. 1 Stanford women's water polo team is two wins away from the first-ever NCAA Championship ... As the No. 1 seed in the tourney, the Cardinal opens play on Saturday, May 12 against fourth-seeded Brown ... The winner advances to the title match against either UCLA or Loyola Marymount ... This weekend's championship will be played in the newly renovated Avery Aquatic Center ... The Cardinal completed the first perfect regular season in the history of collegiate women's water polo ... At the MPSF Championships, Stanford continued to roll with three more wins en route to its second straight conference title.
Tourney Time . . .
Stanford has dominated tournament play this season, winning every tourney it played in for the 2001 season ... The Cardinal opened the year on The Farm with three wins to capture the Stanford Invitational title and then commenced its road season in Ann Arbor, Mich. as it snagged the title at the Michigan Invite ... The Cardinal continued its roll in Goleta, Calif. with its third title at the UCSB Tournament ... The most recent championship came in Honolulu, Haw. in the MPSF Championships.
A Cardinal Tint . . .
Stanford has held the top spot in the national polls since the first poll of the season (Feb. 14) ... The Cardinal has outscored its opponents 286-99 and has been dominant in 6-on-5 opportunities, going 73-142 (.514) while holding opponents to 50-149 (.335) ... Stanford is averaging 11.0 goals per game while opponents have managed just 3.8 goals in each contest.
Prime Time Players . . .
Brenda Villa and Jackie Frank were both named MPSF Mikasa Players of the Week during the 2001 season ... Villa, a freshman, was honored twice, once on Feb. 12 and again on April 1 ... She earned her second POW award after scoring nine goals in four conference wins ... She recorded hat tricks in wins over San Diego State and UC Irvine and notched two goals against Long Beach State ... Villa also scored one goal in a win over Hawaii ... Her first accolade came after she helped lead the Cardinal to the Stanford Invitational title ... Villa spent two years training and competing with the U.S. National Team before coming to The Farm ... At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, she helped the U.S to a silver medal with a team-leading nine goals ... In her freshman season, Villa leads the team with 66 points ... Frank earned the POW honors after a two-win weekend on April 8 ... During the first game, Frank had a season-best 10 saves against No. 2 UCLA while holding the Bruins to just one goal in the first half ... It was the third time this season that Stanford knocked off UCLA ... The next day, Frank recorded three more saves in a 7-2 win over No. 10 Loyola Marymount ... She allowed just two goals in the game ... The sophomore goalkeeper has held opponents to 74 goals while in the net, and has an impressive average of 3.2 goals allowed per game.
Tanner Tablet . . .
Stanford head coach John Tanner has made a splash in his first four years at the helm of the women's water polo program ... An experienced and enthusiastic, Tanner took on the fledgling program and has turned it into a competitive force year-in and year-out ... In his first year as head coach in 1998, Tanner led Stanford to one of its best seasons in the five-year history of the women's water polo program when the Cardinal went 29-6 and finished third at the Collegiate National Championships ... In 1999, the team bested their previous record when the squad posted a record of 25-6 and placed second at the Collegiate Nationals after falling to USC 7-6 in five overtimes in the Championship game ... The 2000 Cardinal posted a record of 28-5, the best record ever at the time, on its way to a third-place finish at the National Championships ... Last season, the team boasted five All-Americans, four players named to Collegiate National All-Tournament team, and eight Academic All-Americans ... This season, Tanner has guided the Cardinal as it became the first-ever collegiate team to remain undefeated during the regular season.
History in the Making . . .
Stanford University and the new Avery Aquatic Center will be the site of the first-ever Women's Water Polo NCAA Championship this weekend ... The semifinals will be on Saturday, May 12 with the finals on Sunday, May 13, 2001 ... The event is expected to be a sellout as 2,500 fans will be a part of history ... This will be the first major event to take place at the newly renovated Avery Aquatic Center, the world's finest outdoor aquatic facility ... Tickets are still available, although the event is expected to be a sellout ... The price is $20 for adults and $14 for students, children and seniors. Further information can be obtained by calling 1-800-STANFORD or checking the website at gostanford.com.
Inside the Numbers . . . Leading scorers Brenda Villa66 Margie Dingeldein47 Ellen Estes35 Julie Gardner28 Anne-Marie Keenan19
In the Net Jackie Frank 142 saves (23 gms) 6.1 svs/gm 74 goals allowed (23 gms) 3.2 ga/g
Stanford's 2001 Record Against NCAA Tournamet Teams Brown 0-0 LMU 1-0 (W 7-2 on 4/7) UCLA 4-0 (W 8-5 on 4/29, W 7-4 on 4/6, W 10-7 on 2/25, W 7-6 on 2/11)