May 3, 2010
2010 National Collegiate Championship BracketTicket Information
Interactive Bracket
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's water polo earned an at-large berth and was awarded the No. 1 seed to the 2010 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship, the NCAA announced Monday. The top-seeded Cardinal will open up the tournament, set for May 14-16, against No. 8 seed Pomona-Pitzer next Friday, May 14 at 4 p.m. at San Diego State's Aztec Aquaplex.
Stanford, the MPSF regular season champion, will enter the National Collegiate Championship with a record of 24-2. The Cardinal took third place at last weekend's MPSF Tournament in Los Angeles.
Monday's announcement marks the first time since 2007 that the Cardinal has received the draw's top seed. Stanford also made its 10th National Collegiate Championship field, continuing its streak as the only team to have appeared in all 10 editions of the tournament since its inception in 2001. The Cardinal won its only national title in 2002.
Eighth-seeded Pomona-Pitzer earned the SCIAC's automatic bid, its second tournament appearance in three years, thanks to a 12-11 SCIAC Tournament Championship win over Occidental on Sunday. The Sagehens enter the May 14 first-round contest with a record of 18-14.
Stanford will enter the tournament led by the scoring of junior two-meter Melissa Seidemann, who leads the Cardinal with 48 goals. Senior driver Kelly Eaton has tallied 45 goals while sophomore driver Pallavi Menon and freshman two-meter Annika Dries have each found the back of the cage 32 times.
In the cage, junior Amber Oland and freshman Kate Baldoni each saw action in 18 games this year. Oland averages 6.78 saves per game while allowing just 4.33 goals per contest, and Baldoni boasts a goals-against average of just 2.06 while averaging 4.22 saves a game.
The winner of May 14's Stanford-Pomona-Pitzer contest will go on to Saturday's semifinal round to face the winner of Friday's quarterfinal of No. 4 California against No. 5 Michigan.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed USC will face No. 7 seed Marist at 12:30 p.m. in the tournament opener. The 2:15 p.m. contest will feature No. 3 UCLA taking on No. 6 LMU.