April 18, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - The top-ranked Stanford women's water polo team had its 19-game winning streak snapped and saw its chance at the MPSF regular-season title and top seed at the conference tournament next weekend slip away after suffering an 11-6 loss to No. 2 USC at McDonald's Swim Stadium Saturday.
The loss dropped the Cardinal to 22-2 on the year, and with a 6-1 record in MPSF play Stanford will enter next week's MPSF Tournament as the second seed. USC finishes the regular season 20-1 overall and captures the MPSF regular-season title with a perfect 7-0 record.
Freshman Melissa Seidemann scored twice to pace the Cardinal offense, while Kelly Eaton, Alex Koran, Lauren Silver and Jessica Steffens also registered goals. Goalie Amber Oland made six saves in the contest.
For the third straight game, Stanford was held scoreless in the opening period as its opponent opened up a multi-goal advantage. This time, USC would take a 3-0 lead after the first eight minutes of the contest behind goals from Rosanna Tomiuk, Michelle Stein and Joelle Bakhazi, the last two coming in 6-on-5 situations.
Stanford had a golden opportunity just a minute and a half into the contest to take an early lead, but Silver's five-meter penalty shot was stopped by USC goalie Tumua Anae, keeping the game scoreless.
The Cardinal would open the second period by getting on the board to cut the USC lead to 3-1, but the Women of Troy would answer to get the margin back up to three. At this point, Stanford looked like it would repeat its come-from-behind efforts that had led it to victory the previous two weekends, as Steffens converted an opportunity followed by Seidemann scoring on the power play to cut the USC advantage to just one at 4-3 with 1:36 remaining before halftime.
Yet USC would sneak in a goal before the end of the half, taking a 5-3 lead into the break.
The third period would end up being the moment in the game in which the Women of Troy broke things open. The Stanford offense went cold at an inopportune time, while USC's heated up, scoring three goals in the frame to take a commanding 8-3 lead into the final period.
There, USC scored its fifth straight goal of the game to go up 9-3. Silver would net her lone score of the game to get the Cardinal deficit back to five, but USC would end any hopes of a Cardinal comeback by scoring two of the next three goals to take an 11-5 lead. Koran would score Stanford's final goal of the contest to provide the final margin.
Stanford now heads to Honolulu, Hawai'i next weekend for the MPSF Tournament, scheduled for Friday-Sunday, April 24-26. The Cardinal, as the second seed in the draw, will open up against No. 7 San Diego State at 6 p.m. PT on Friday at Hawai'i's Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Center.
USC 3 2 3 3 = 11
Stanford 0 3 0 3 = 6
Stanford Goal Scorers - Siedemann 2, Eaton, Koran, Silver, Steffens
USC Goal Scorers - Stein 2, Bekhazi 2, Dronberger 2, Lucas 2, Tomiuk, Kiss, Craig
Goalie Saves - Oland 6 (S); Anae 10 (USC).