April 3, 2004
LOS ANGELES, CA - Three meetings and three losses. That's the story for the Stanford's Women's Water Polo team, as they found themselves 8-4 losers in yet another meeting with the top-ranked USC Trojans. After dropping the first two matches 11-8 and 8-5, the Cardinal couldn't muster up enough to hand USC their first loss of the season. The loss dropped Stanford to 13-3, 5-1 in MPSF play.
Kelty Luber scored 2 goals, while Laurel Champion and Alison Gregorka each added one. The Trojans were lead by freshman Erika Figge, who had 3 scores. Five other USC players had one goal each.
The scoring came early and often for both teams and the match was tied up at 2-2 midway through the first period. Moriah Van Norman scored the first goal of the match for USC with 4:26 left in the first period, but Alison Gregorka tied it up 19 seconds later on the Cardinal's ensuing possession. USC came back with another netter, but Kelty Luber was able to tie it up again with her first score of the match. USC's Eszter Gyori put the Trojans head for good with 1:34 remaining in the first period. The Cardinal offense then disappeared, as USC rattled off 5 more unanswered goals, making it a 8-2 game.
Stanford added 2 goals in the fourth period, including Laurel Champion's with 4:22 left, to close the gap to 4, but could not get enough touches in the period to make the game any closer. Stanford failed to score in the second and third periods, the first time all season they've been held scoreless in two consecutive periods of action.
Stanford returns to action Sunday, April 4, when they travel to UC Santa Barbara to play the Gauchos at 12:00 noon.
Game Summary 1234TOTAL Stanford 20024 USC 32308
Stanford Scorers: Kelty Luber 2, Laurel Champion, Alison Gregorka
USC Scorers: Erika Figge 3, Eszter Gyori, Lauren Wenger, Moriah Van Norman, Anna Pardo, Brittany Hayes