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Women's Water Polo

Stanford Top Seed in Irvine

2017 Barbara Kalbus Invitational
UC Irvine Aquatic Center • Irvine, Calif.
Friday, Feb. 24 vs. No. 22 CSUN • 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 25 vs. TBD
Saturday, Feb. 25 vs. TBD
Sunday, Feb. 26 vs. TBD
Tournament Central
Statistics

WHAT'S AHEADNo. 1 Stanford is in Irvine, Calif. this weekend at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational. The Cardinal opens with No. 22 CSUN on Friday, Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. This year's event is spread over three days and a Friday victory advances Stanford to face the winner of No. 8 Michigan and No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 a.m. The Cardinal will also play a second game later in the day on Saturday before wrapping up the tournament on Sunday with opponents dependent on results. All of the 16 teams in attendance are ranked in the CWPA Women's Varsity Top 25.


BARBARA KALBUS INVITATIONAL HISTORYNow in its 11th year, Stanford is 33-7 all-time at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational and was tournament champion in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Last season, the Cardinal finished third, beating Loyola Marymount (13-5) and UC Davis (12-5), lost to No. 1 USC (7-6) and finished with a win over No. 6 Hawaii (13-7). Formerly the UC Irvine Invitational, the tournament was renamed in 2017 to honor water polo icon Dr. Barbara Kalbus, a 1993 inductee into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.


LOOKING BACKMakenzie Fischer scored a season-high five times, three other Cardinal added hat tricks and No. 1 Stanford rolled to a 19-1 win over Santa Clara at the Cal Speedo Cup last Saturday.


MPSF NEWCOMER OF THE WEEKFischer was named MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week for the second time in three weeks on Tuesday for her performance in Stanford's win over Santa Clara. The freshman is tied for the team lead in goals (17) and averaging 2.13 per game, good for eighth in the league. Her five goals matched the highest total for a Stanford freshman in a single game over the past four seasons (Kat Klass – 2016; Anna Yelizarova – 2013).


SEEING THE STATSStanford is tied with UCLA for second in the MPSF in goals per game (16.00), behind USC (18.50), and third in goals allowed per game (4.13), with UCLA (2.63) and USC (3.36) in the top two spots. Individually, Makenzie Fischer, Jamie Neushul and Maggie Steffens are tied for eighth in goals per game (2.13). Dani Jackovich and Kat Klass are tied for 16th (1.75) and Madison Berggren is 20th (1.63). Gabby Stone's 4.00 goals against average is tied for third in the conference and her 9.60 saves per game are fourth. Julia Hermann is fifth in goals against average (4.33) and ninth in saves per game (7.67).


APPROACHING MARKSStanford boasts a pair of 100-goal scorers in Maggie Steffens (181) and Jamie Neushul (114). Steffens is currently seventh in Cardinal history, two behind Annika Dries (183) and six shy of Margie Dingeldein (187). Dani Jackovich has 91 career goals to her name and is nine shy of joining Steffens and Neushul in triple digits. Gabby Stone is 51 saves away from becoming the fourth player in Stanford history with 500 stops. With records dating back to 2001, Meridith McColl top the record book with 715, Kate Baldoni is second with 572 and Jackie Frank third with 523.


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 (93 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.