No. 1 Stanford (7-0) vs. Santa Clara (3-6)
California Speedo Cup II • Berkeley, Calif.
Saturday, Feb. 18 • 9 a.m.
Statistics
WHAT'S AHEADNo. 1 Stanford heads to Berkeley to play one game at the California Speedo Cup II against Santa Clara on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 9 a.m.
LOOKING BACKThe Cardinal swept four games the weekend before last to win the 2017 Stanford Invitational. Stanford beat No. 20 LMU (19-8), No. 8 Hawaii (12-5), No. 6 UC Irvine (11-4) and No. 4 Cal (10-7) to up its record at home to 92-6 since 2008.
MPSF PLAYER and NEWCOMER OF THE WEEKStanford swept MPSF/Kap7 weekly honors on Feb. 7 when senior Jamie Neushul was named the league's player of the week and freshman Makenzie Fischer its top newcomer. Neushul tied for the team lead in goals at the Stanford Invite, scoring eight times in the four wins. She had multi-goal efforts against the Cardinal's three top-10 opponents, including her second hat trick of the season in the final against Cal. Fischer also tied for the team lead with eight goals. The freshman scored a season-high four in the opener against LMU, three later that afternoon against Hawaii and one against UC Irvine.
SEEING THE STATSStanford is third in the MPSF in goals per game (15.57), behind USC (18.50) and UCLA (16.00), and third in goals allowed per game (4.57), with UCLA (2.86) and USC (3.36) in the top two spots. Individually, Jamie Neushul is sixth in goals per game (2.29) and Maggie Steffens is tied for tenth (2.00). Dani Jackovich is tied for 14th (1.86), while Kat Klass and Makenzie Fischer are tied for 17th (1.71) and Madison Berggren is tied for 20th (1.43). Gabby Stone's 4.22 goals against average is fourth in the conference and her 9.56 saves per game are also fourth. Julia Hermann is fifth in goals against average (5.20) and 10th in saves per game (7.20).
LOOKING BACK TO 2016Stanford finished 23-6 overall, its 12th straight campaign with more than 20 wins, and advanced to the NCAA title game for the seventh consecutive season, but ultimately was unable to collect its third straight national championship. The Cardinal, which fell to USC on a goal in the waning seconds of the national final, finished runner-up for the seventh time (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013). Stanford has never finished lower than third at the NCAA Championships.
WHAT'S IN STOREDenied in its bid for the program's third consecutive national championship last season, Stanford will have an experienced roster with a wealth of firepower as it looks to reclaim the crown in 2017. The Cardinal returns seven of its nine 20-goal scorers from a year ago, including All-Americans Jamie Neushul, Jordan Raney, Kat Klass and Dani Jackovich, along with All-American goalkeeper Julia Hermann.
OLYMPIC ADDITIONSAdded to that group are a pair of Olympians in Maggie Steffens and Makenzie Fischer. Steffens, who was the 2015 ACWPC Player of the Year in her most recent collegiate season, returns to The Farm after collecting MVP honors in Rio and captaining the United States to its second straight Olympic gold. Joining her is the freshman Fischer, who deferred her enrollment at Stanford one year and logged seven goals for Team USA at the Olympics. Goalkeeper Gabby Stone, a two-time All-American, is also back for her senior season with the Cardinal after taking off the 2016 campaign to train with the United States Women's Senior National Team.
IN THE POLLSStanford maintained the top spot in the national rankings (98 points), ahead of No. 2 USC (96 points) in this week's CWPA Women's Varsity Top 20 Poll. UCLA (94 points) Cal (88 points) and Arizona State (84 points) round out the top five.
MPSF PICKStanford collected 33 points and four first-place votes to top the 2017 MPSF Women's Water Polo Coaches' Poll, which was released by the conference last week. It's the third consecutive year and seventh in the last eight that the Cardinal has been the league's preseason pick. USC was tabbed second with 30 points and one first-place vote, UCLA was third with 28 points and one first-place vote and California was fourth with 23 points and one first-place vote. Arizona State, San Jose State and CSU Bakersfield rounded out the poll in spots five through seven.