WHAT’S AHEAD?: The No. 2 Stanford women’s water polo team (22-2) goes in search of its fifth NCAA crown when it hosts the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship Friday, May 8 - Sunday, May 10 at Avery Aquatic Center. The Cardinal begins with No. 9 Princeton (30-3) at noon on Friday with the winner advancing to play either No. 4 USC or No. 5 Hawaii in the semifinals on Saturday, May 9 at 5:15 p.m. The championship is on Sunday, May 10 at 5:30 p.m. All games will be streamed via on ncaa.com/liveschedule with Greg Mescall handling the call.
NCAA HISTORY: Stanford has won four NCAA Championships (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014) and three of the last four. The Cardinal has been runner-up an additional six times (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013) and is the only team to appear in all 15 NCAA Championships since its inception in 2001. Stanford has never finished lower than third at the event while racking up a record of 28-10 and is 7-2 against the NCAA championship field this season (2-1 vs. UCLA, 2-0 vs. USC, 2-1 vs. Cal, 1-0 vs. UC Irvine).
PLAYING HOST: Stanford is hosting the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championships for the third time. The Cardinal also hosted in 2004 when USC claimed the title and 2008 when UCLA took home the crown. Stanford will be looking to break a streak that has yet to see a host win the NCAA Championship since the tournament began in 2001.
MPSF TOURNAMENT: Stanford earned an at-large berth into the field following its third-place finish at the MPSF Tournament in Tempe, Arizona. An MPSF Tournament title isn’t an indicator of NCAA success, at least for the Cardinal. Despite winning three of the past four national championships, 2014 was the only season in which Stanford won both the league crown and the national one. It finished second in the 2012 MPSF Tournament and third place in 2011 before going on to win NCAA Championships two and three in program history.
CLASS OF THE CONFERENCE: Maggie Steffens was named MPSF Player of the Year and Jordan Raney MPSF Newcomer of the Year to headline Stanford’s six honorees when the conference announced its postseason awards on April 28. Steffens was joined on the All-MPSF First Team by teammate Kiley Neushul. Ashley Grossman and Gabby Stone landed on the All-MPSF Second Team while Jamie Neushul earned an All-MPSF honorable mention nod and Raney was the best of the nine-member All-MPSF Newcomer Team. Steffens is Stanford’s first MPSF Player of the Year since Annika Dries in 2011. Other Cardinal to win the award include Brenda Villa (2003 and 2001) and Ellen Estes (1998). Raney becomes Stanford’s fifth MPSF Newcomer of the Year award winner, joining Kiley Neushul (2012), Melissa Seidemann (2009), Amber Oland (2008) and Lauren Silver (2006). She collected a record five MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week honors during the year, including the final three consecutive weeks of the regular season.
SEEING THE STATS: Stanford finds itself second in the MPSF in goals per game (13.67) behind USC (16.33) and leads the league in goals allowed per game (4.79). Individually, Kiley Neushul’s 54 goals place her fifth in goals per game (2.25). Ashley Grossman is eighth (2.08), Maggie Steffens is 12th (1.92) and Anna Yelizarova is 17th (1.57). Stanford is the only school with four players in the league’s top 17 in goals per game. Gabby Stone’s 5.03 goals against average is third in the conference and her 8.06 saves per game are sixth.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Cardinal’s defense has been a constant ingredient in its success. Dating back to last year, Stanford has held its opponents under 10 goals in 41 consecutive games. The team has limited 12 of its 24 foes to four goals or less this season. Currently in the top spot in the league, Stanford has led the MPSF in goals allowed per game four out of the past five years.
OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: Stanford’s output against CSU Bakersfield on April 12 was its fifth time this season firing home 20 or more goals, the program’s most since it did so the same number in 1997 in what was its second year of varsity status. Entering this year, the Cardinal had reached that mark in a single game 11 times in the past 16 seasons. Stanford’s current 13.67 goals per game average would be a school record, surpassing last year’s 13.31 clip.
BALANCE: The Cardinal’s offense has come from all over in 2015 and the team has nine 20-goal scorers for the first time since 2007 when Lauren Silver (65), Katie Hansen (63), Jacquelyn Gauthier (41), Christina Hewko (38), Jessica Steffens (35), Kelly Eaton (24), Alison Gregorka (22), Kelsey Holshouser (22) and Kira Hillman (20) accounted for 330 of Stanford’s 376 goals.
APPROACHING MARKS: Stanford boasts four 100-goal scorers in Kiley Neushul (213), Ashley Grossman (165), Maggie Steffens (157) and Anna Yelizarova (106). Neushul is currently fourth in Cardinal history behind Melissa Seidemann (239), Lauren Silver (239) and Ellen Estes (214), while Grossman is 10th and Steffens is 11th. Next up for those two is Kelly Eaton (171).
CONCLUDING A CAREER: Sunday’s game will be the final in the Stanford careers of seniors Emily Dorst, Ashley Grossman and Kiley Neushul. In their four years on The Farm, the trio has led Stanford to a 102-8 record and a pair of national championships.
THE STANDARD: The Cardinal’s win over San Jose State on Feb. 1 was the 500th in the history of the women’s water polo program and Stanford is now 517-83 (.862) all-time. Stanford, which was 108-7 during its recent run of national championships, has won at least 25 games each of the last eight seasons and has finished among the nation’s top three each and every season under John Tanner.
BEST IN THE WORLD: In early December, junior Maggie Steffens was named the FINA Women’s Water Polo Athlete of the Year for the second time. The American beat out five other finalists in Kami Craig (USA), Maica Garcia (ESP), Giulia Gorlero (ITA), Rita Keszthelyi (HUN), and Rowie Webster (AUS). The science, technology and society major delivered 12 goals helping Team USA earn a second consecutive FINA World Cup crown in 2014. She was second on the team in scoring with 11 goals in a gold medal effort at the 2014 FINA World League Super Final. Steffens is the first female two-time winner of the award, which was inaugurated in 2010. She was also named the FINA Women’s Water Polo Athlete of the Year in 2012 before making her collegiate debut with the Cardinal.