May 6, 2009
Tournament Central2009 Women's Water Polo Postseason Guide
STANFORD, Calif. - Second-seeded Stanford (24-3) goes for its second national championship this weekend at the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship, opening things up against the seventh-seeded Marist Red Foxes (18-13), champions of the MAAC. Friday's quarterfinal contest is set to open the day's action at 10:30 a.m. PT at the University of Maryland's Eppley Recreation Center.
About The Opposition
Marist (18-13) enters the National Collegiate Championship as the No. 7 seed in the eight-team draw after scoring a pair of upsets over No. 2 seed Wagner and top seed Iona in its home pool at the MAAC Championship two weeks ago. The Red Foxes have now won the MAAC and reached the National Collegiate Championship in each of head coach Ashleigh Jacobs' two seasons at the helm.
In the pool, the Red Foxes are paced by the scoring of Katelin McCahill (68 goals), Kristen Barnett (52 goals) and Samantha Swartz (40 goals), while in the cage, goalie Jessica Getchius averages 9.39 saves per game with a goals-against average of 8.61.
Stanford and Marist met in the opening round of last year's National Collegiate Championship at Avery Aquatic Center, with the Cardinal racking up a 12-1 victory.
In The National Rankings
The Cardinal remained at No. 2 in the national rankings in the April 29 edition of the CWPA Division I Poll following its second-place effort at the MPSF Tournament.
Last Time Out
Stanford claimed second place at the MPSF Tournament two weeks ago, recorded victories of 13-6 and 11-10 (in sudden-death OT) over San Diego State and UCLA, respectively, before falling 6-5 to top seed USC in the title game.
Senior driver Lauren Silver was named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team after scoring six goals over the three games, while junior two-meter Alex Koran also scored six goals to share the team lead. Goalie Amber Oland stopped 26 shots and allowed 19 goals in the draw.
Stanford At The National Collegiate Championship
Since the NCAA first sponsored a women's water polo national championship in 2001, Stanford is the only team to have earned a berth in every single National Collegiate Championship (nine in all). The Cardinal has never finished lower than third at the tournament, and won its only national title in 2002. Stanford has finished second on four other occasions, meaning the Cardinal has reached the national championship game five times.
The Setup
Following Friday's game against Marist, Stanford's path at the tournament will take one of two paths. Should the Cardinal win Friday, it would battle the winner of the No. 3 UCLA-No. 6 Michigan game (12:15 p.m. PT) on Saturday, May 9 at 2:45 p.m. PT. If Stanford falls to the Red Foxes, it would play the loser of the UCLA-Michigan game at 9:30 a.m. PT on Saturday. Sunday's championship game will take place Sunday, May 10 at 4 p.m. PT and will be televised live on CBS College Sports Network.
Four Cardinal Players Claim All-MPSF Honors
Freshman Melissa Seidemann led four Stanford honorees when the MPSF postseason awards were announced on April 27 as she was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year, to the All-MPSF First Team and to the All-Freshman team. Lauren Silver also earned a spot on the first team, while junior driver Kelly Eaton and sophomore goalie Amber Oland each received honorable mention recognition.
She's Back In Scoring Form
Senior driver Lauren Silver, who missed the first eight games of the season due to illness, has long regained her scoring touch since her return at the Irvine Invitational in February. In the 19 games in which she has played, Silver has netted 37 goals (1.95 per game) as well as posting six hat tricks. In her time at Stanford, Silver has scored 224 career goals heading into this weekend's tournament, tops on Stanford's all-time list since 1997.
Super Frosh Helping The Cardinal
Stanford's success this season has been helped a great deal by the play of the Cardinal's six freshmen. Two-meter Melissa Seidemann, who leads the team in goals with 58, is on track to become just the fourth true freshman to lead the team in scoring since 1997, and last week was named Stanford's third MPSF Newcomer of the Year. Fellow freshmen Pallavi Menon, Alyssa Lo, Cassie Churnside, Mimi Bury and Monica Coughlan have combined to score 57 goals, which, added to Seidemann's total, accounts for 34.2 percent of Stanford's offensive production (115 goals out of 336).
Among The MPSF Leaders
Melissa Seidemann's 2.15 goals per game average is seventh in the conference, while Lauren Silver is 12th among all MPSF players with 1.95 goals per game and Kelly Eaton is 17th with 1.50 goals per game. In the cage, Amber Oland is fifth in the conference with 7.47 saves per game, and Kim Hall's 3.71 goals-against average is second-best in the MPSF.
As a team, Stanford's 12.44 goals per game is second in the conference and its 6.67 goals-against average is fourth in the MPSF.