March 29, 2013
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Stanford women's water polo cruised to wins of 17-4 and 12-3 over No. 15 UC San Diego and No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, respectively, Friday in Honolulu.
The Cardinal (20-1) extended its winning streak to eight, and will conclude its trip to the tropics Saturday with a second straight doubleheader, taking on San Diego State at 2 p.m. PT and host Hawai'i at 7 p.m. PT.
Annika Dries, Kiley Neushul and Maggie Steffens paces the Cardinal Friday with four goals apiece. Ashley Grossman added three goals over the two wins as well.
Kate Baldoni made nine saves while handling the afternoon win over UC Santa Barbara.
The Cardinal opened Friday's action with a 10-0 run into the third period against UCSD. Dries and Seidemann each scored within the opening 48 seconds to give Stanford a quick 2-0 lead, and goals from Kelsey Suggs, Grossman, Jillian Garton and a second from Dries finished off a six-goal opening frame.
Dries had her hat trick at the 5:38 mark of the second period, making it 7-0 Cardinal. Steffens and Melissa Seidemann, and went on to the 17-4 win.
Along with the hat tricks from Dries and Seidemann, Grossman and Lexie Ross scored twice while Kaitlyn Lo, Gurpreet Sohi, Steffens, Suggs and Yelizarova each added goals.
Hours later, the Cardinal again jumped out to a big early lead, this time on the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara. This time Neushul scored three goals over Stanford's game-opening 5-0 run before the Gauchos got on the board with a goal at the 5:21 mark of the second period.
Stanford answered that goal with a 4-0 run sparked by goals from Steffens, Neushul, Lo and Grossman, and the Gauchos never recovered. Baldoni and the Cardinal defense limited UCSB to just three goals, not giving the opposition any chance to get back into the game.
UC San Diego - 0 0 1 3 = 4
Stanford - 6 3 4 4 = 17
Stanford Goal Scorers: Dries 3, Seidemann 3, Grossman 2, Ross 2, Carpenter, Garton, Lo, Sohi, Steffens, Suggs, Yelizarova
UC San Diego Goal Scorers: Lizotte 2, Guiliana, Wieseler
Goalie Saves: Stone 10 (S); Miller 6 (UCSD)
UC Santa Barbara - 0 1 1 1 = 3
Stanford - 3 3 4 2 = 12
Stanford Goal Scorers: Neushul 4, Steffens 3, Dries, Grossman, Lee, Lo, Yelizarova
UC Santa Barbara Goal Scorers:
Goalie Saves: Baldoni 9 (S); Brokaw 9 (UCSB)