April 29, 2011
2011 MPSF Championship Central
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Top-ranked Stanford women's water polo cruised into the MPSF Championship semifinals with a 15-6 victory over No. 8 seed Arizona State Friday in San Jose.
Stanford (24-0) will face No. 4 seed UCLA at 1:30 p.m. in Saturday's semifinal round.
Four Cardinal players turned in a multiple-goal day, led by Annika Dries' hat trick. Victoria Kennedy, Alyssa Lo and Melissa Seidemann each scored twice. Single goals were scored by Vee Dunlevie, Kim Krueger, Alexis Lee, Kaitlyn Lo, Pallavi Menon and Kelsey Suggs.
Senior Amber Oland started the game in the cage, making 10 saves in the first half before giving way to Kate Baldoni, who stopped six ASU shots.
The start of the contest gave the impression that the Cardinal would be in for a battle with the Sun Devils. Lynlee Smith found the back of the cage just 50 seconds into the game to give ASU a 1-0 lead. After Alyssa Lo's equalizer 1:40 later, Mariam Salloum put the Sun Devils back in front just 20 seconds later.
Salloum's goal seemed to wake up the Cardinal offense, which would go on a 10-0 run to take control of the contest. Stanford built its lead to 11-2 before Arizona State was able to score again with 1:26 left in the third period, having been shutout over a span of 19:35 going back to the opening frame.
Dries and Lo would score within 49 seconds of one another to start the run, giving Stanford a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish. Seidemann scored her first with 1:27 to go in the frame, then Menon and Dries provided the dagger with goals in the final 29 seconds to put Stanford up 6-2 after the opening period.
Oland and the Cardinal defense goose-egged the Sun Devils in the second period while Krueger, Seidemann, Dunlevie and Kennedy scored to build the advantage to eight at 10-2.
The Cardinal would go on to score twice more in the third period before matching the Sun Devils with three goals in the fourth to account for the final score.
Arizona State - 2 0 1 3 = 6
Stanford - 6 4 2 3 = 15
Stanford Goal Scorers: Dries 3, Kennedy 2, A. Lo 2, Seidemann 2, Dunlevie, Krueger, Lee, K. Lo, Menon, Suggs
Arizona State Goal Scorers: Carter 2, Smith 2, Silverberg, Salloum
Goalie Saves: Oland 10, Baldoni 6 (S); Hutchinson 5 (ASU)