April 20, 2011
Friday, April 22
- vs. -
No. 7 San Jose State - 6 p.m. - Stanford, Calif.
STANFORD, Calif. - Top-ranked Stanford honors its senior class of goalies Kim Hall and Amber Oland, and driver Kim Krueger Friday night as it closes the regular season against San Jose State at 6 p.m. at Avery Aquatic Center.
Last Time Out
The Cardinal clinched the top seed at next weekend's MPSF Championship and upped its unbeaten mark this season to 22-0 overall with an 8-5 victory at No. 2 California.
Alyssa Lo and Melissa Seidemann each scored twice to pace the Cardinal to the win, while senior goalie Amber Oland went the distance and stopped six shots.
The Cardinal sent the Golden Bears reeling right away with five straight goals to open the game. The quick 5-0 lead within the game's first six and a half minutes forced California into a game of catch-up, but the Stanford defense was too strong and never let the Golden Bears get within less than three goals the rest of the way.
About The Opposition
San Jose State (20-10, 2-4 MPSF), despite dropping a 13-10 MPSF decision at USC last weekend, has won 13 of its past 15 games heading into Friday's regular-season finale at Stanford. The meeting between the Cardinal and Spartans Friday night will be the second of the season, as Stanford earned a 16-4 win in the previous meeting at the Stanford Invitational back on Feb. 6.
Offensively, San Jose State boasts three of the top seven most efficient scorers in the MPSF, as Adriana Vogt ranks second with 2.47 goals per game, Timi Molnar fifth with 2.10 goals per game and Dani Curran seventh with a 1.83 figure.
In the cage, goalie Meagan Minson is third in the conference with 9.66 saves per game.
In The National Rankings
The Cardinal remained atop the Varsity Top 20 Poll this week, and have been in the No. 1 spot since the beginning of the season.
Stanford To Be MPSF Championship's Top Seed For Second Straight Year
Saturday's 8-5 victory at California clinched the MPSF Championship's top seed for Stanford, which currently is unbeaten at 6-0 in conference play. It marks the second straight year that the Cardinal will be the tournament's top seed.
Friday night's Stanford-San Jose State contest is also the final MPSF game of the 2011 regular season, and due to that, the seedings are already set for next week's tournament. Stanford will play No. 8 seed Arizona State Friday, April 29 at 1:30 p.m. Depending on the outcome, the Cardinal will then go on to face either No. 4 UCLA or No. 5 USC Saturday, April 30.
Cardinal Continues Dominance Of California
The Big Splash win over California also extended Stanford's mastery over the Golden Bears. Stanford's 8-5 win marked the 30th straight win against California. The Cardinal has not lost to the Golden Bears since March 26, 2000, a stretch of just over 11 years.
Seidemann Heats Up
April has been a good month so far for junior two-meter Melissa Seidemann, who has scored eight goals over the Cardinal's four April wins. The stretch began with a goal for Seidemann in Stanford's 9-8 overtime win at USC, and continued with three goals the next day at UC Irvine. The Walnut Creek, Calif. native has continued her scoring run with two goals in each of the Cardinal's past two wins, over No. 5 Hawai'i and No. 2 California. This April run has upped Seidemann's scoring haul for the season to 37 goals, second-best on the team.
Dodson Back In The Scoring Column
Another Cardinal scorer that has been finding the net as of late is freshman driver Kaley Dodson. The freshman from Seal Beach, Calif. has scored three times in Stanford's last two games, against No. 5 Hawai'i and No. 2 California, including a pair of goals against the Rainbow Wahine. On the year, Dodson is fifth on the team with 23 goals scored.
Among The MPSF Leaders
Through the MPSF statistical rankings of April 18, Stanford was represented in the top-20 among the conference leaders. Annika Dries ranks fourth in the conference with 2.18 goals per game, while Melissa Seidemann is 10th with a 1.68 average and Alyssa Lo 13th with a 1.50 figure.
On the defensive side of things, goalies Amber Oland and Kate Baldoni are among the top of the list. Baldoni and Oland rank 1-2 in goals-against average with figures of 3.84 and 4.56, respectively. Oland's 7.92 saves per game ranks sixth in the MPSF, with Baldoni's figure of 7.23 ranking eighth.
In the team rankings, Stanford leads the loop in both offense and defense, scoring 12.05 goals per game while allowing just 4.46 a game.