March 3, 2002
Los Angeles, Calif. - The No. 1 Stanford women's water polo team remained unbeaten for the year with a 6-4 victory over the defending National Champions UCLA Bruins on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles. Julie Gardner (Atherton, CA) led all scorers and the Cardinal with three goals.
With the win the Cardinal have won 10 straight to stand perfect at 10-0 overall and 2-0 in the MPSF. The Bruins fall to 8-3 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.
Gardner netted the first goal of the game with 2:13 to go in the first quarter but UCLA came back to tie the game on a Natalie Golda score at 1:05 in the first frame. Gardner found the back of the net again in the second quarter to put Stanford up 2-1. The Bruins added a scored and then senior Ellen Estes (Novato, CA) added a goal to put the Cardinal up 3-2 at the break.
UCLA tied the game at 3-3, but Gardner answered for Stanford with 11.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter to regain the lead 4-3. Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA) scored in the fourth quarter to put the Cardinal up 5-3. The Bruin's Jenny Lamb netted a goal to bring UCLA within one at 5-4, but with 11 seconds remaining in the game Villa added another Stanford score on a penalty shot to give the Cardinal a 6-4 victory.
Gardner lead the Cardinal with three goals, followed by Villa (2) and Estes (1). Stanford's Jackie Frank (Long Beach, CA) had five saves in goal for the Cardinal.
Golda led the Bruins with two scores, while Jaime Hipp ended the game with nine saves.
The Cardinal will have the rest of the week off until they travel to Hawai'i to face the Warriors on Sunday, March 10.
1 2 3 4 Final Stanford 1 2 1 2 6 UCLA 1 1 1 1 4
Scoring --- Stanford: Julie Gardner 3, Brenda Villa 2, Ellen Estes UCLA: Natalie Golda 2, Jenny Lamb, Thalia Munro.
Saves --- Stanford: Jackie Frank (5) UCLA: Jaime Hipp (9).