April 27, 2013
MPSF Championship Central
WATCH Sunday's MPSF Championship Game
BERKELEY, Calif. - Top-seeded Stanford women's water polo cruised into the final of the MPSF Championship Saturday with an 11-7 victory over No. 4 UCLA at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley.
The Cardinal (27-1) will go for its first MPSF Championship crown since 2006 when it meets No. 2 USC for the third time this season Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The title game will be streamed live at http://takeitlive.tv/livewaterpolo/?page_id=16.
Annika Dries had her hat trick in the bag within the opening 2:39 of the contest and ended up with five on the day for Stanford. Melissa Seidemann scored four goals of her own while Kiley Neushul and Maggie Steffens also found the back of the cage.
The Bruin defense had no answer for Dries early, as the 2012 Olympian scored on wide-open shots from in front within the opening 1:46. Her third, a shot from the point, gave the Cardinal a comfortable 3-0 lead on the dazed Bruins.
UCLA would manage a pair of goals in the frame from Alexa Tielmann and Becca Dorst, sandwiched around Neushul's power-play goal at 2:48, making it a 4-2 game after the opening eight minutes.
From there Stanford took firm control of the contest, ripping off a 5-0 run that began with Dries cleaning up a Steffens rebounds with 5:34 to go in the second period. Seidemann got her first goal on a backhand 55 seconds later then netted her second 41 ticks before halftime. She got her third 23 seconds into the second half and Maggie Steffens closed out the run with a twisting one-timer minutes later.
Goalie Kate Baldoni, who made 10 saves in the contest, marshaled another strong defensive outing for the Cardinal. Freshman Gabby Stone came on in relief halfway through the final frame and made three saves, including a stop of a UCLA penalty shot.
UCLA would make it 9-4 after goals from Rachel Fattal and Danielle Ferraro, but Dries and Seidemann would each find the goal to put things out of reach.
UCLA - 2 0 2 3 = 7
Stanford - 4 3 2 2 = 11
Stanford Goal Scorers: Dries 5, Seidemann 4, Neushul, Steffens
UCLA Goal Scorers: Ferraro 2, Dorst, Fattal, Kaczmarek, Naranjo, Tielmann
Goalie Saves: Baldoni 10, Stone 3 (S); Hill 10 (UCLA)