March 8, 2008
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Once again, a meeting between the top two women's water polo teams in the nation came down to the wire, as No. 2 Stanford fell, 9-7, to No. 1 UCLA Saturday. Despite three players scoring twice in the contest, the Cardinal could not complete its comeback from a three-goal deficit as a late UCLA goal put things away.
The loss is the Cardinal's first in MPSF play, bringing its record to 12-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play. The Bruins remain undefeated at 19-0, and 5-0 in the MPSF.
Kira Hillman and Lauren Silver each scored a pair of goals for the second straight game this weekend, and Heather West posted her first multi-goal game of the season. Alex Koran added her second goal of the season to round out the Cardinal scoring.
On the defensive end, goalkeeper Amber Oland stopped five Bruin shots.
The teams battled to a 3-3 stalemate after the first period of play, but UCLA put some distance between itself and the Cardinal with three unanswered goals in the second period. Those scores gave the Bruins a 6-3 cushion at the break.
Yet Silver gave the Cardinal a boost to start the second half, scoring her two goals to bring Stanford within one at 6-5. But a Jillian Kraus score put the Bruins back on top by a pair, and although the Cardinal managed to make it a one-goal game at 7-6 and again at 8-7 later in the fourth period, UCLA got an insurance goal from Katie Rulon with 3:44 left to provide the game's final margin.
Stanford returns to action for a Sunday doubleheader that concludes the weekend. The Cardinal will face off against Pomona-Pitzer at 11 a.m. before taking on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 1 p.m.
Stanford - 3 0 3 1 = 7
UCLA - 3 3 1 2 = 9
Stanford Goal Scorers: Hillman 2, Silver 2, West 2, Koran
UCLA Goal Scorers: Rowe 3, Kraus 2, Rulon 2, Mathewson, Orozco
Goalie Saves: Oland 5 (S); Fullen 6 (UCLA)