April 26, 2008
MPSF Tournament Central
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - For the fourth time this season, the women's water polo battle between No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 USC resulted in a tense, one-goal decision, and for the third time, overtime was necessary to resolve matters. Saturday afternoon, though, was USC's day, as Stanford (24-4) fell 5-4 in overtime to the Women of Troy (19-6) in the semifinal round of the MPSF Tournament in San Diego. The teams have now split the four one-goal contests this season.
The Cardinal will play in Sunday's third-place game against the fourth-seeded Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine, which fell earlier in the day to top seed UCLA. The opening sprint is set for 2:50 p.m.
Lauren Silver paced the Cardinal with a hat trick in the loss, and Allie Gerrity tallied Stanford's remaining goal. Amber Oland made a game-high 13 saves in the cage.
It was Alexandra Kiss' second goal of the contest, at 2:39 of the first overtime session, that proved to be the game-winner. Tied 4-4 heading into the fourth period, the defenses took over for the next eight minutes, keeping a matching pair of zeroes on the scoreboard for each team in that period. Stanford, despite allowing only the one goal in overtime, could not equalize.
Stanford trailed 2-1 after the first period, but bounced back to tie things up at 3-3 by the break. The teams traded goals once again in the third period before the scoreless fourth and USC's game-winning tally in overtime.
USC - 2 1 1 0 1 0 = 5
Stanford - 1 2 1 0 0 0 = 4
Stanford Goal Scorers: Silver 3, Gerrity
USC Goal Scorers: Kiss 2, Bartunkova, Davies, Dronberger
Goalie Saves: Oland 13 (S); Anae 9 (USC)