Feb. 21, 2009
Irvine Invitational Tournament CentralCORONA del MAR, Calif. - The second-ranked Stanford women's water polo team swept to a pair of victories Saturday at Corona del Mar High School, punching itself a ticket into the semifinal round of the Irvine Invitational. The Cardinal (9-1) opened the day with a 16-6 victory over No. 16 UC San Diego before downing No. 8 San Jose State, 13-7, with a semifinal berth on the line.
In the morning, a strong start and finish by the Cardinal helped put the Tritons away, as Stanford jumped to a 4-1 lead after the opening eight minutes, and later, with a 9-4 lead heading into the fourth period, scored seven goals to put the game out of reach.
Alyssa Lo, Pallavi Menon and Lauren Silver each scored three goals in the game, with Kira Hillman scoring twice and Koree Blyleven, Kelly Eaton, Alex Koran, Jessica Steffens and Heather West all netted a goal.
Kim Hall went the distance in the cage against the Tritons, making five saves in the contest.
Later on, in the team's second game of the tournament, the Cardinal jumped right on the eighth-ranked Spartans, taking a commanding 5-1 lead after the first period. Stanford would keep the pressure going throughout the contest, never letting San Jose State get into a groove, getting the lead to 8-3 at halftime and to 11-4 after three periods of play.
Blyleven and Melissa Seidemann each scored three goals against the Spartans, while Silver scored a pair and individual goals were scored by Eaton, Hillman, Koran, Lo and Menon.
In the cage, Amber Oland made nine saves over the first three periods, and Hall came on in the fourth and stopped a shot.
Stanford returns to tournament action in tomorrow's semifinal against No. 3 Hawai'i at 11:45 a.m. at UC Irvine's Anteater Pool.
UC San Diego - 1 1 2 2 = 6
Stanford - 4 2 3 7 = 16
Stanford Goal Scorers: Lo 3, Menon 3, Silver 3, Hillman 2, Blyleven, Eaton, Koran, Steffens, West
UCSD Goal Scorers: Heinrich 5, Aguilar
Goalie Saves: Hall 5 (S); Quane 9 (UCSD)
San Jose State - 1 2 1 3 = 7
Stanford - 5 3 3 2 = 13
Stanford Goal Scorers: Blyleven 3, Seidemann 3, Silver 2, Eaton, Lo, Hillman, Koran, Menon
San Jose State Goal Scorers: Torres 2, Friesen, Moss, Stewart, Schmidbauer, Vogt
Goalie Saves: Oland 9, Hall 1 (S); Kennison 6 (SJSU)