What's Ahead
The Stanford women’s water polo team opens up its regular season this weekend at the LouStrong Memorial hosted by San Jose State at The Aquatics Center. The Cardinal begins with No. 10 Pacific (9:20 a.m.) and No. 9 UC Davis (4 p.m.) on Saturday. On Sunday, Stanford’s campaign continues with contests against CSU Monterey Bay (9:20 a.m.) and No. 8 San Jose State (1:20 p.m.).
LouStrong Memorial
The tournament is named in honor of Lou Tully, San Jose State’s women’s water head coach from 1996 through 2013. Mr. Tully died in December 2013 at age 70 due to complications from cancer treatment. There is no admission charge and parking is available in the 7th Street garage one block away from The Aquatics Center.
Looking Back To 2015
The Cardinal won 25 games for the ninth consecutive season in 2015 and made history by becoming the first host institution to win the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship. The national crown was the fifth in program history and the Cardinal’s fourth in the past five seasons.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Water Polo (@stanfordwwaterpolo) on Nov 15, 2015 at 10:30am PST
What’s In Store
Stanford enters 2016 with All-America honorable mention Jamie Neushul and MPSF Newcomer of the Year Jordan Raney back in the fold alongside fellow 20-goal scorers Dani Jackovich, Gurpreet Sohi, Anna Yelizarova and Katie Dudley. Stanford had an early start to building a cohesive unit heading into this season. Over the summer, the Cardinal represented the United States at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea.
Olympic Departures
Stanford will go in search of its third straight national championship without some key pieces from last season’s squad, including its three first team All-Americans from a season ago. Graduated seniors Kiley Neushul, the 2015 Cutino Award winner, and Ashley Grossman are with the USA Senior Women’s National Team as it prepares for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. That duo is joined by ACWPC Player of the Year Maggie Steffens, who is taking a year off from Stanford to go in search of her second Olympic gold medal. Makenzie Fischer, a would-be freshman on The Farm, is deferring a year to join the Cardinal contingent on Team USA and senior goalkeeper Gabby Stone is also training with the United States.
John Tanner Quoted
If you look through our games last year, you’ll find that we used 12 to 14 players throughout the early part of the season. It’s not like we got to the fall of 2015 and looked at the roster. There’s always a mix of the future and present. These guys have earned the opportunity and they come here knowing more and more will be expected of them each year.
World University Games
Stanford represented the United States at the 2016 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea over the summer. After going 1-2-1 in pool play, the U.S. went 2-1 in its final three games to come in fifth out of the 10-team field. Jamie Neushul led the U.S. at the World University Games in goals, scoring 18 (2.6 per game) and freshman Kat Klass joined her in double figures rattling the cage 11 times (1.6 per game). Defensively, Raney contributed five field blocks in South Korea, while Cassidy Papa and Shannon Cleary added four each. Gabby Stone and Jamie Neushul had nine steals apiece, Dani Jackovich added seven and Kat Klass five.
Gyeongbok Palace, built in 1395. Final adventure of the trip. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/ieQtg22GDB
— Stanford Water Polo (@Stanfordh2opolo) July 15, 2015
Jamie Neushul Quoted
We haven’t talked about losing people. It’s more about gaining people who will step into new roles. I think we’ll be finding out about ourselves along the way. The World University Games helped shift our mindset to focus on the new players. We learned a lot about each other.
Junior Worlds
Stanford All-Americans Jamie Neushul and Jordan Raney helped the United States repeat as FINA Junior World Champions with an undefeated run to the title in Volos, Greece in August. Team USA outscored its opponents 106 to 46 over the six games, which were capped with a 13-10 victory over Spain in the championship. Neushul, who served as captain for the United States, scored 14 goals, including three hat tricks, while Raney, the reigning MPSF Newcomer of the Year, added six.
Congrats Jordan & @Jneushul8 on bringing home the Gold. #Volos2015. Jr Worlds. pic.twitter.com/PF8Ajkvjoe
— Stanford Water Polo (@Stanfordh2opolo) August 23, 2015
Defense Wins Championships
The Cardinal’s defense has been a constant ingredient in its success. Dating back to 2014, Stanford has held its opponents under 10 goals in 44 consecutive games. The team has led the MPSF in goals allowed per game four out of the past six years.
MPSF Pick
Stanford collected 32 points and three first-place votes to top the 2016 MPSF Women’s Water Polo Coaches’ Poll, which was released by the conference last week. USC was tabbed second with 31 points and three first-place votes while UCLA was third with 29 points and one first-place vote. California, Arizona State, San Jose State and CSU Bakersfield rounded out the preseason picks. The Cardinal has not lost an MPSF game since 2009, a stretch of 39 straight regular season conference outings.
Starting Where It Finished
Stanford will start the 2016 season where it finished a year ago. The Cardinal collected 98 points to top the 2016 Preseason Women’s Varsity National Top 20, which was released by the Collegiate Water Polo Association on Wednesday. The first five positions reflect the order of finish from 2015. UCLA is second with 95 points, USC third with 92 points, Cal fourth with 86 points and UC Irvine fifth with 77 points. Arizona State (73 points), Hawaii (67 points), San Jose State (62 points), UC Davis (46 points) and Pacific (45 points) round out the top 10.