March 20, 2004
The Stanford women's water polo team needed a furious second half comeback to force overtime on Saturday, then posted a two goal effort by Wendy Watkins to overcome a 6-5 Rainbow Wahine lead in the overtime period. The win pushed the Cardinal to 12-2, 5-0 in MPSF play.
Hawaii started off well behind a solid effort by goalkeeper Amber Lumb. Beth Novick scored two goals to give the Rainbow Wahine a 4-0 lead with less than 3 minutes to play in the second quarter. The Cardinal stormed back to close the gap to 4-2 before halftime.
Stanford goalkeeper, Meridith McColl, stepped up her efforts in the second half, allowing Hawaii only one more score and giving the Cardinal a chance to put three more goals on the board to tie it up at 5-5 to force the overtime period.
In the overtime period, Novick came up with a huge score to put Hawaii back in front with 2:55 to play, but they could not hold on as the Cardinal surged to the win with two hard fought scores by Watkins.
The Cardinal will play exhibition matches against Quebec, Seitoku University of Japan, and Brazil on March 20 and 21 as part of Hawaii's Aloha Classic before returning back to campus to play an exhibition match versus the U.S. National Team at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 27 at Avery Aquatics Center.
Official box score to be posted later