March 26, 2009
IRVINE, Calif. - Game number three of the Spring Break road trip to Southern California, and win number three for the No. 1 Stanford women's water polo team Thursday as it downed No. 9 UC Irvine, 14-7, at Anteater Aquatcis Complex.
For the second straight day, Lauren Silver and Melissa Seidemann posted hat tricks, with Silver scoring four times, and Seidemann three. Kira Hillman also posted a hat trick of her own Thursday, as Stanford won its 16th straight game to improve to 19-1 overall on the year. UC Irvine fell to 13-5 with the loss.
Kelly Eaton, Kelsey Holshouser, Alex Koran and Chelsea Smith-Carmichael each scored a goal in the contest to round out Stanford's scoring, while in the cage, Amber Oland got the call and stopped 10 Anteater shots.
Stanford used a big second-half surge and stubborn play from its defense to pull away from UC Irvine over the final two periods of play. Seven second-half goals from the Cardinal turned a 7-5 halftime lead into a comfortable cushion that Oland and the defense helped maintain by allowing just two Anteater goals.
The contest started off close, with the teams exchanging goals to start, before the Cardinal put up two in a row to end the opening period ahead by a score of 3-1.
UC Irvine would cut Stanford's lead down to one on a pair of occasions in the second period, scoring goals to make it 4-3 and then 5-4, but the Cardinal would regain its two-goal advantage by the end of the half. That burst extended into the third period, as the Cardinal opened the second half with three consecutive goals to take a commanding 10-5 advantage with 2:45 left in the third period.
Three more goals in the final period would help ice the game for the Cardinal.
Stanford takes a day off Friday before rolling into Long Beach for a 12 p.m. contest against the Long Beach State 49ers Saturday afternoon.
Stanford - 3 4 4 3 = 14
UC Irvine - 1 4 1 1 = 7
Stanford Goal Scorers: Silver 4, Hillman 3, Seidemann 3, Eaton, Holshouser, Koran, Smith-Carmichael
UC Irvine Goal Scorers: Plummer 2, Rossi 2, Collyer, Croghan, Fancher
Goalie Saves: Oland 10 (S); Vickers 3, Davis 4 (UCI)