What's Ahead
No. 3 Stanford (19-2, 4-0 MPSF) wraps up its 2016 home schedule with a showdown for first place in the MPSF when it hosts undefeated and No. 1 USC (19-0, 4-0 MPSF) on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
Senior Saturday
Saturday’s contest against the Trojans will also serve as Stanford’s Senior Day, in which the Cardinal’s three-person senior class of Rachel Johnson, Gurpreet Sohi and Anna Yelizarova will be honored in a pregame ceremony. In their four years on The Farm, the trio has led Stanford to a 98-8 record and a pair of national championships.
Looking Back
Stanford extended winning streak to a season-high eight games with a sweep of No. 7 Cal and No. 18 San Diego State last weekend, beating the Golden Bears 13-5 and the Aztecs 14-5.
Madison Berggren, Dani Jackovich and Anna Yelizarova all had hat tricks, Julia Hermann made eight saves in the cage and the Cardinal posted its biggest win over Cal in four years in Saturday’s Big Splash. Stanford sliced up Cal’s defense for 13 goals, the most the Bears have surrendered this season, and went 7-of-9 in 6-on-5 situations.
Nine different Cardinal scored for the seventh time this season in Sunday’s win over San Diego State. Jamie Neushul and Gurpreet Sohi led the way with hat tricks while freshman Kat Klass scored twice for her ninth multi-goal effort of the season. Julia Hermann made 11 saves, reaching double digits in stops for the seventh time.
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 on Jan. 7. 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 43 straight regular season conference outings. Its last league loss came at USC on April 18, 2009 (11-6).
At Avery
Stanford is 87-5 at home since 2008.
Against USC
Stanford is 31-28 all-time against the Trojans. USC snapped the Cardinal’s four-game winning streak in the series when two teams met earlier this year at the UC Irvine Invitational. Stanford led 5-2 heading into the final period, but USC scored five times in the fourth quarter and put home the game winner with five seconds remaining to escape with a 7-6 victory.
Seeing The Stats
Stanford is second in the MPSF in goals per game (12.86), trailing USC (12.89), but ahead of UCLA (12.04), and third in goals allowed per game (5.24) behind USC (4.32) and UCLA (5.13). Individually, Jamie Neushul leads the Cardinal and is fourth in the conference in goals per game (1.86). Kat Klass is sixth (1.71) and tops among the league’s freshmen, Anna Yelizarova is tied for 13th (1.50), Gurpreet Sohi is 16th (1.48) and Dani Jackovich is 22nd (1.19). Julia Hermann’s 5.44 goals against average is sixth in the conference and her 8.56 saves per game are sixth.
Qualified
The USA Water Polo Women’s National Team punched its ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games behind the play of four Cardinal at the recently concluded Olympic Qualification Tournament in Gouda, Netherlands. Needing just a top-four finish to earn a berth in Rio, Stanford’s Makenzie Fischer, Kiley Neushul, Melissa Seidemann and Maggie Steffens led the United States to an undefeated 8-0 record at the event. Team USA outscored its opponents by a combined score of 123-35 and the Cardinal quartet accounted for nearly 50 percent of that scoring (57 combined goals).
Fischer scored multiple times in each of the eight games, including four hat tricks, and totaled 22 goals. Neushul had 17 and scored three or more three times, topping out with five in a 15-7 win over Greece on March 24. Steffens, the MVP of the 2012 Olympics, scored 13 and Seidemann, who won gold with Steffens at the 2012 Games in London, rattled the cage five times.
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
In The Polls
Stanford remained third in the national rankings (93 points), behind No. 1 USC (100 points) and No. 2 UCLA (95 points) in this week’s CWPA Women’s Varsity Top 20 Poll. Arizona State (88 points) and UC Irvine (78 points) round out the top five.