May 11, 2002
Los Angeles, Calif. - The top-seeded Stanford women's water polo team used four goals from Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA) en route to a 13-3 victory over the fourth-seeded Michigan Wolverines in the first national semifinal game of the 2002 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships hosted by USC at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
Stanford jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter and added three more to go up 7-0 at halftime. The Cardinal then posted five goals in the third quarter and one in the fourth to cruise to a 13-3 victory over Michigan.
Villa led all players with four scores, while Lauren Faust (Annapolis, MD), Julie Gardner (Atherton, CA) and Jeanine Jackson each added two goals.
The Cardinal improve to 22-2 and will face the winner of the second national semifinal game between No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Loyola Marymount for the national title on Sunday at 5 p.m. The consolation game between Michigan (25-12) and the loser of the UCLA-LMU match starts at 3:30 p.m., with the championships match to follow. Both games will be broadcast live on www.ncaachampionships.com.
1234Final Michigan 00123 Stanford 435113
Scoring --- Stanford: Brenda Villa 4, Lauren Faust 2, Julie Gardner 2, Jeanine Jackson 2, Ellen Estes, Nicole Huszcz, Kate Pettit ..... Michigan: Jen Crisman, Julie Nisbet, Stephanie Rupp.
Saves --- Stanford: Jackie Frank 4 ..... Michigan: Betsey Armstrong.