What's Ahead
No. 4 Stanford hits the road for two games as part of the Davis Shootout on Sunday, Feb. 21. The Cardinal begins its time at Schaal Aquatics Center with host and No. 5 UC Davis at 10:30 a.m. and concludes with Brown at 2 p.m.
Looking Back
The Cardinal finished second at its Stanford Invitational on Feb. 6 and 7. Stanford began with Saturday wins over No. 7 Michigan (12-7) and No. 8 San Jose State (17-8). On Sunday, the Cardinal dispatched No. 15 Loyola Marymount (17-6) before dropping the championship match to No. 5 Cal, 5-2.
Run At Avery
The loss to the Golden Bears snapped Stanford’s 32-game winning streak in Avery Aquatic Center. Stanford, 84-5 at home since 2008, hadn’t suffered a setback at the iconic venue since April 29, 2012 when it lost to UCLA, 8-7, in the MPSF Tournament Championship.
Against The Aggies, Bears
Stanford nabbed a victory on the first day of its 2016 season with an 11-6win over UC Davis at the LouStrong Memorial on Jan. 16. Kat Klass had four goals, Jamie Neushul added three and the Cardinal raced out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. Stanford is 36-0 all-time against UC Davis.
The Cardinal will play Brown for the first time since a 19-3 win on March 26, 2012 in Santa Barbara. Before that, you have to go all the way back to the 2001 NCAA Championships at Stanford, when the Cardinal beat Brown, 12-0, in one semifinal on May 12. The schools first met on March 28, 1997 at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational in Honolulu, an 18-1 Cardinal win.
Strong Start
Stanford freshman Kat Klass, named MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 19, is among the league’s top freshman field players. Klass, the daughter of Cardinal men’s water polo All-American and 1986 NCAA Player of the Year Craig Klass, leads MPSF first-year players with 2.13 goals per game. She’s fifth in the conference overall in goals per game and fourth in total goals (17).
Best Weekend In The Cage
Julia Hermann, who entered the season with 12 career saves, had her best weekend in the cage for the Cardinal at the Stanford Invitational. The redshirt sophomore, who missed all of 2015 recovering from a knee injury and played sparingly as a freshman, made 40 saves in 3.75 games, including 28 on the first day of competition. Hermann stopped 11 in a 12-7 win over No. 7 Michigan and backed that up with a career-high 17 in a 17-8 win over No. 8 San Jose State. She tallied six saves each in Sunday games against No. 15 LMU (W, 17-6) and No. 5 Cal (L, 5-2), including stopping penalties in both.
Julia Hermann
It was a big weekend for me [and] I had fun. The games were at home and it’s been a long time for me. Getting back into this pool means a lot. Injuries are a part of sports. It’s part of being on a team. I always felt a part of it no matter what. I had to do the work to get back. Yeah, it was hard, but what Stanford offers, the support is there in terms of getting back and being ready.
Rewind 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
World University Games
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. 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
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
Seeing The Stats
Stanford finds itself second in the MPSF in goals per game (13.00), trailing USC (15.67) but ahead of Cal (10.75), and fourth in goals allowed per game (6.00) behind USC (4.17), Cal (4.92) and UCLA (5.13). Individually, Kat Klass leads the Cardinal and is fifth in the conference in goals per game (2.13). Jamie Neushul is seventh (1.88) and Anna Yelizarova is tied for 13th (1.50). Julia Hermann’s 6.81 goals against average is eighth in the conference and her 8.15 saves per game are fourth.
Defense Wins Championships
The Cardinal’s defense has been a constant ingredient in its success. Stanford’s 16-10 season-opening win over No. 10 Pacific snapped a streak of 44 consecutive games holding its opponent to less than 10 goals. 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.
In The Polls
Stanford dropped to fourth in the national rankings (89 points), behind No. 1 USC (100 points), No. 2 UCLA (96 points) and No. 3 Cal (92 points) in this week’s CWPA Women’s Varsity Top 20 Poll. UC Davis (80 points) rounds out the top five.