April 17, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's water polo, back atop the CWPA Varsity Top 20 Poll this week, closes the regular season Friday with the Big Splash at No. 5 California.
The Cardinal (25-1, 5-0 MPSF), which clinched the top seed at next week's MPSF Championship with a 6-4 win at then-No. 1 USC last Saturday, enters Friday's contest on a 32-game winning streak against California. The last time the Cardinal failed to beat the Golden Bears was March 26, 2000.
Friday's contest will be the first meeting between the two schools this season.
Stanford is led by 59 goals from Melissa Seidemann, who was named KAP 7 MPSF Player of the Week Monday after scoring four goals over the Cardinal's wins at USC and No. 11 Loyola Marymount. The senior and 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist scored goals on Stanford's first two possessions Saturday at USC to set the tone in the Cardinal's win.
Maggie Steffens (48 goals), Kiley Neushul (44) and Anna Yelizarova (43) are also over the 40-goal mark this year for the Cardinal.
Senior goalie Kate Baldoni continued her stellar play last weekend, allowing just five goals over six periods of action and anchoring the Cardinal defense holding USC, the MPSF's top defense, to a season-low four goals last Saturday.
California (16-5, 2-3 MPSF), which will be seeded fifth at next week's MPSF Championship, is on a four-game winning streak heading into Friday. The Golden Bears are led offensively by Emily Csikos (47 goals) while in the cage Savanna Smith posts a goals-against average of 6.74.
Stanford will return to Berkeley next weekend for the MPSF Championship, set to be held April 26-28. The Cardinal, as the top seed, earned a bye into next Saturday's semifinal round where at 2:30 p.m. it will face either No. 5 California or the to-be-determined No. 4 seed.