April 24, 2003
Stanford, Calif. -
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Ahead for the Cardinal...
Stanford (17-2, 9-1 MPSF) earned the top seed in the 2003 MPSF Women's Water Polo Tournament after posting a 9-1 conference record during the regular season. The Cardinal tied with USC for first place in the league, but Stanford won the tiebreaker because of its 5-3 win over the Women of Troy on March 29th. Stanford will play the winner of the #8 San Jose State- #9 UC Santa Barbara match-up at 4:45 p.m. on Friday, April 25th. The entire MPSF Tournament schedule can be found at gostanford.com.
Previously on The Farm...
The Cardinal closed out the regular season with an 11-2 win over San Jose State last week. The Cardinal honored its four seniors before the game and Brenda Villa, Julie Gardner and Nicole Huszcz went on to score six goals for Stanford while in goal, Jackie Frank collected nine saves and allowed zero goals.
MPSF Honors...
Villa was named MPSF Player of the Week this week after scoring three goals to lead the Cardinal past the Spartans last Friday as Stanford clinched the top seed in the MPSF Tournament. Frank has been tabbed the MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week twice this season. She was first honored after helping the Cardinal to wins over UCLA and UCSB. Frank collected 23 saves in the two games and held the Bruins to three goals and limited the Gauchos to two scores. She picked up her second accolade at the end of March after helping the Cardinal drop No. 3 USC and Pacific.
Captains' Corner...
Seniors Gardner and Huszcz are leading the Cardinal this year as co-captains. In their final campaign on The Farm, both will look to make their last season their best season. The tandem has combined for 29 of the team's 173 goals as the Cardinal earned its first 16 wins. Gardner has posted five multi-goal games, including a two-goal effort in a pivotal game against then-No. 3 USC on March 29th. Huszcz netted a season-high two goals against UC Santa Cruz in the opening game of the UCSB Invite on March 8th.
National Team File...
Frank and Villa, Stanford's other two players in their final collegiate campaign, spent their off-season with the National Team and helped the U.S. to a silver medal at the 2002 FINA Cup in Perth Australia this past December. Frank led all keepers in goals allowed average and saves while Villa led the tournament in scoring with nine goals. The duo matched up against their U.S. teammates last Saturday when Stanford fell to the National Team 7-3 at the Avery Aquatic Center.