Starting Where It Finished

STANFORD, Calif. – 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.

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.

Stanford’s NCAA title capped a perfect 14-0 mark at Avery Aquatic Center and extended its home winning streak to 29 games. The Cardinal has not lost an MPSF game since 2009, a stretch of 39 straight regular season conference outings.

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.

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.

The Cardinal opens its season at the Lou Strong Memorial at San Jose State Jan. 16-17. Stanford plays No. 10 Pacific and No. 9 UC Davis on Saturday, Jan. 16 and meets CSU Monterey Bay and the No. 8 host Spartans on Sunday, Jan. 17.