April 18, 2007
What's Ahead:
-Saturday April 21st at No. 5 California, 7:00 PM
-Sunday April 22nd vs. No. 8 San Jose State, 1:00 PM
The Cardinal:
Stanford comes off a big weekend in which they defeated No. 2 ranked UCLA 7-6 in overtime. This is the Cardinal's second defeat of UCLA this year, which accounts for the Bruins only two losses of the season. Stanford followed up the win on Saturday with a win on Sunday against UCSB, 12-5. With the two wins last weekend the Cardinal winning streak has now hit 19 games. Stanford is now 21-1 overall and 10-0 in the MPSF. Stanford currently is first-place in the MPSF rankings and controls their own destiny for the number one seed in the MPSF Championships April 26th-29 in Tempe, Arizona.
Streaking Stanford:
UCLA ended Stanford's streak of scoring ten or more goals in a game, but the Cardinal has still reached that plateau in 11 of their last 13 games. The Cardinal face a streaking San Jose State team that has won seven out of eight games, with the only defeat coming at the hands of No. 2 ranked UCLA.
Past Meetings:
Stanford faced off against California three times last season and was victorious in all three matches. In the first meeting in the Stanford Invite last year the Cardinal won a close decision by the score of 6-4. A couple weeks later the two teams faced off again in the Gaucho Invitational in Santa Barbara and Stanford won again by the score of 8-3. In the third and final meeting at the Avery Aquatics Center, the Cardinal beat Cal, 8-4, to complete the three game season sweep. Stanford went 2-0 vs. San Jose State a year ago, beating the Spartans 13-5 at Stanford and 9-3 at San Jose State. John Tanner is 19-0 vs. San Jose State as the Cardinal's head coach
Gregorka competes for Team USA:
Alison Gregorka was in Australia for the FINA Championships March 27th through April 3rd and competed with Team USA. She score two go-ahead goals and handed out six assists in the tournament. Stanford alum Brenda Villa (03') also leading Team USA to the World Championship by scoring 11 goals in the tournament. This was only the second time Team USA has captured the World Championship in competition.
Silver and Hansen a top duo:
Lauren Silver scored three more goals last weekend in the two games to break her mark last year of 52 goals. She now has a team-leading 54 goals on the season.Katie Hansen added another goal over the weekend and now has 44 goals on the season. Hansen needs four goals this weekend to set a career-high after tallying 47 goals last season. The Silver-Hansen combination accounts for 4.45 goals per game, which is the second-best duo in the nation, only behind the duo of Sarah Harris and Kellie Fletcher of Pacific who account for 5.92 goals per game.
Hewko with a Big Weekend:
Christina Hewko played a huge role in the two wins last weekend as she scored seven goals in the two games. The two-time All-American also played stellar defense and now has tallied 30 goals on the season. Her career-best is 35 goals that she accomplished in 2005 as a sophomore. For her efforts, Hewko was awarded with the MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week award for the week of April 9th- April 15th. Hewko is the third Cardinal player to win the award joining seniors Katie Hansen and Meridith McColl.
McColl the stopper:
Meridith McColl played one of her strongest games of the season in net against UCLA and held the top scoring offense in the MPSF to six goals. UCLA entered the match averaging more than 15 goals per game, but managed only six in the double overtime match. McColl made 20 saves last weekend and is third in the MPSF in goals allowed per game.
Senior Day vs. San Jose State:This Saturday's match will be the last game at the Avery Aquatics Center for the four Stanford seniors. These seniors include goalkeeper Meridith McColl, driver Katie Hansen, 2MD Alison Gregorka, and 2-Meter Christina Hewko. All four seniors have national team experience and have all been huge contributors to the success of the 2007 team.
As a team:
Stanford is still third in the MPSF in goals scored per game at 12.50, sitting only behind No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 USC who score, 14.65 and 13.67 goals a game respectively. The Cardinal defense has also reached the number two spot in the MPSF rankings. Stanford is only behind UCLA, and has given up just 5.35 goals per game. UCLA has allowed just 5.41 goals per game.
About California:
California enters the match this Friday ranked fifth nationally and owners of a 10-9 record. California is led by freshman Grace Reynolds, who has scored 35 goals on the season. Molly Hayes is the second leading scorer for the Golden Bears as she has found the back of the net 27 times on the year. Meghan Corso, whose father Rich Corso is the head coach, has scored 26 times on the year for California. In the net for the Bears is Heather Stuart who has made 142 saves on the year and is eighth in the MPSF rankings in saves per game. California has played well of late in winning five of their last eight games. On the Golden Bears roster is Remy Champion, the younger sister of former Stanford water polo player Laurel Champion, who graduated last year. Remy has scored five goals on the season for California.
About San Jose State:
San Jose State comes into the matchup ranked No. 8 overall nationally. They possess a 14-10 overall record and a 6-5 record in conference play. They are led by sophomore Juliet Moss who comes into the weekend with 43 goals on the season after scoring 11 in her freshman year. Also leading the Spartans is attacker Alexis Higlett, who has scored 39 goals on the season. The senior out of Australia scored 17 goals in her only other year on the San Jose State water polo team. The third scorer on the Spartans is senior Beth Harberts, who has scored 31 goals on the season. In goal for San Jose State is Kendra Adama who has made 219 saves on the season and is third in the MPSF rankings at 9.52 saves per game. The Spartans are coached by Lou Tully, who is now in his 11th season leading San Jose State.
Coach John Tanner:
Stanford head coach John Tanner is 24-8 lifetime against California and an undefeated 19-0 in his career against the San Jose State Spartans.
What's Next:
With the conclusion of this weekend's games the regular season is completed for Stanford. Up next for the Cardinal are the MPSF Championships in Tempe, AZ on the campus of Arizona State University. Stanford's matches are TBA.