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Women's Water Polo

No. 1 Bruins Beaten

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 2 Stanford put on quite a show in front of a packed house at Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon, never trailing in its showdown with No. 1 UCLA and eventually coming away with a thrilling 8-7 victory over the Bruins.

The match with UCLA coincided with Cardinalpalooza, a free all-day sports festival that featured tailgating opportunities, food trucks in Pac-12 plaza and merchandise discounts, along with six other Cardinal teams in action.

The win, which moved Stanford’s record to 19-1 overall and gave the Cardinal sole possession of first place in the MPSF (4-0), was also the program’s 37th straight regular-season conference victory and its 25th straight at home. UCLA, which had won 12 straight since losing to Cardinal in the title game of the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 1, dropped to 20-2 and 4-1 in league play.

“Being at home, the atmosphere surrounding today and what the stakes were – I think we really were excited about this game,” senior driver Kiley Neushul said. “That’s the most people I’ve seen at one of our games. It was really fun to have a huge home crowd and a great atmosphere. Our coach prepared us well and we prepared each other well. These past few weeks have been a good test for our team and I think we responded, [but] there’s a lot for us to work on still and I’m sure UCLA feels the same way.”

The Cardinal definitely responded to a Bruin challenge heading into the fourth quarter. UCLA’s Emily Donohoe scored what seemed to be a deflating goal with just one second on the clock in the third to pull her team within one, 5-4.

But Stanford answered with three goals in the first 2:50 of the fourth quarter to extend its edge to 8-5 with 5:10 left. Defense won the day in the end, as the Cardinal clamped down and held UCLA scoreless over the final 3:13 after scores from Rachel Fattal (4:17) and Charlotte Pratt (3:13) brought the Bruins back within one (8-7).

“We don’t spend a lot of time worrying about the scoreboard, but worrying about what we need to do next,” head coach John Tanner said of the message to his team in between the third and fourth quarters. “We talked about what we wanted to do on the first couple of possessions, then revisited what we were aiming to do on 6-on-5 and 5-on-6 and then we turned them loose. I have a lot of confidence in this team and their ability to lead from the water. They spend a lot of focus time getting ready for just that kind of situation and are fully prepared.”

Sophomore Jamie Neushul led the charge in that decisive fourth-quarter run, firing home her first of the day at 7:35 and then racing down the pool to beat Sami Hill and convert for the Cardinal on the break at 5:49.

Jordan Raney added her 17th of the season with a rocket to the near post past Hill with 5:10 to go to give Stanford the breathing room it needed.

“Jamie has always been a courageous performer in challenging situations,” Tanner said of the younger Neushul. “We have no doubt about that and everyone on the team has a great deal of confidence in her. That doesn’t surprise anyone on our team. It is really fun to see both she and Kiley perform well in a big game, but it’s something they’ve been doing for a long time and continues a tradition of siblings we’ve had here in our program.”

Elder sister Kiley Neushul was Stanford’s other multi-goal performer on the afternoon with strikes at 3:26 in the first and 6:43 in the third.

Her first-quarter goal with the second in a strong 3-0 run for the Cardinal to start the game. Ashley Grossman battled in front to lead things off at 4:00 and Maggie Steffens capped the spurt when she fired one home with 2:00 on the clock in the opening frame.

UCLA was able to draw an exclusion with just 39 seconds left to give the Bruins their fifth 6-on-5 opportunity, but the Cardinal defense held, took over possession and ran out the clock.

Gabby Stone made five saves and Stanford’s defense limited UCLA to just 1-of-5 in its 6-on-5 chances.

Stanford closes out its regular-season home schedule against CSU Bakersfield (12-13, 0-4) tomorrow at noon. The Cardinal will also host the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championships from May 8-10 at Avery Aquatic Center.

“The host team hasn’t won it before and our team, like all Stanford student-athletes, wants to be trailblazers and trendsetters,” Tanner added. “They’re excited about the crowd we had today, were really energized by it and are looking forward to hosting NCAAs here in this pool.”

No. 2 Stanford vs. No. 1 UCLA
April 11, 2015 • Stanford, Calif.
UCLA 1 – 2 – 1 – 3 = 7
STAN 3 – 1 – 1– 3 = 8
 
UCLA Goals:  Fattal 3, Donohoe 2, Pratt 2
UCLA Saves: Hill 9
 
Stanford Goals: Jamie Neushul 2, Kiley Neushul 2, Ashley Grossman, Jordan Raney, Gurpreet Sohi, Maggie Steffens
Stanford Saves: Gabby Stone 5