NCAA's Next

2017 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championships
IU Natatorium • Indianapolis, Ind.
Quarterfinals • Friday, May 12 vs. Pacific • 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT
Tournament Central
Bracket
Live Stream
Notes (PDF)
Statistics

WHAT'S AHEADNo. 2 Stanford (20-3) goes in search of its sixth NCAA crown when it travels to Indianapolis for the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship Friday, May 12 - Sunday, May 14 at IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. The Cardinal begins with No. 8 Pacific (21-8) at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT on Friday with the winner advancing to play either No. 3 USC or No. 7 Michigan in the semifinals on Saturday, May 13 at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT. The championship is on Sunday, May 14 at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT. All games will be streamed via on ncaa.com/liveschedule with Greg Mescall handling the call.

NCAA HISTORYStanford has won five NCAA Championships (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) and four of the last six. The Cardinal has been runner-up an additional seven times (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) and is the only team to appear in all 17 NCAA Championships since its inception in 2001. Stanford has never finished lower than third at the event while racking up a record of 33-11 and is 7-3 against the NCAA field this season (0-2 vs. UCLA, 2-1 vs. USC, 1-0 vs. UC Irvine, 3-0 vs. Cal, 1-0 vs. Michigan).

STANFORD'S NCAA TITLESWomen's water polo is responsible for five of Stanford's 112 NCAA championships, a total which is second to UCLA's 113. The school has won 135 national team titles overall. The Cardinal has already won three NCAA titles this year in men's soccer, women's volleyball and women's swimming and diving. It's the most for the department since three Stanford teams won NCAA crowns in 2003-04. Cardinal programs last won four NCAA championships in 2001-02. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team title for 41 consecutive academic years.

NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships

MPSF TOURNAMENTStanford earned an at-large berth into the field following its second-place finish at the MPSF Tournament in Los Angeles. A runner-up MPSF Tournament finish isn't an indicator of NCAA success, at least for the Cardinal. Despite winning four of the past six national championships, 2014 was the only season in the past 11 in which Stanford won a conference crown.

CLASS OF THE CONFERENCEMaggie Steffens was named MPSF Player of the Year for the second time to headline Stanford's five honorees when the conference announced its postseason awards. Jamie Neushul and Gabby Stone joined Steffens on the All-MPSF first team, freshman Makenzie Fischer landed on both the All-MPSF second team and the MPSF All-Newcomer team and junior Jordan Raney was voted All-MPSF honorable mention. Steffens, who also won in 2015, became the fifth player in MPSF history to win the conference's highest honor more than once. No one had won two league player of the year awards since UCLA's Kelly Rulon a decade ago (2007 and 2005). Other two-time winners are Stanford's Brenda Villa (2003 and 2001) and USC's Bernice Orwig (1999 and 1997) and Sofia Konoukh (2002 and 2001).

STEFFENS' SENIOR SEASONMaggie Steffens tallied hat tricks in four of Stanford's five MPSF wins and averaged 2.83 goals per game in conference (17 total). She has pushed her career goal total to 219, fourth in program history and three shy of former Cardinal teammate and fellow 2016 Olympic gold medalist Kiley Neushul (222). Her 55 goals this season are five shy of her career high set as a freshman in 2013 (60).

FRESHMAN FISCHERA four-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week, Makenzie Fischer is second on the Cardinal with 48 goals and fifth in the league in goals per game (2.09). Fischer has 12 multi-goal performances in Stanford's last 16 contests and in the Cardinal's eight games against top-5 opponents this season, its freshman leads the way with 18 goals (2.25 GPG). Her goal total is the highest for a Stanford freshman since 2013, when Steffens had 60 in her first collegiate season. Fischer was a 2016 Olympic gold medalist alongside younger sister Aria, who will be a freshman on The Farm next fall. Their father, Erich, was a two-time men's water polo All-American at Stanford and 1992 Olympian and their mother, Leslie, played for the Cardinal women's water polo team when it was a club sport.

STONE STRONG IN THE CAGEGabby Stone played her way onto the All-MPSF first team for the first time in her best season as Stanford's full-time starter. She is third in the conference with a 4.91 goals against average and fifth in saves per game (8.36). In Stanford's eight games against top-five opponents, Stone has a 6.96 goals against average and three of her four performances this season with double-digit saves have come in those games.

SEEING THE STATSStanford is third in the MPSF in goals per game (13.70), behind USC (14.74) and UCLA (14.65), and third in goals allowed per game (4.65), with UCLA (4.35) and USC (4.45) in the top two spots. Individually, Maggie Steffens is third in goals per game (2.39) and Makenzie Fischer is fifth (2.09) making Stanford the only school in the league with a pair of players averaging over two goals per game. Jamie Neushul is tied for 16th (1.52) and Dani Jackovich is 21st (1.22).

RETURNERS AND ADDITIONSDenied in its bid for the program's third consecutive national championship last season, Stanford has an experienced roster with a wealth of firepower as it looks to reclaim the crown in 2017. The Cardinal returned 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. Added to that group were a pair of Olympians in Maggie Steffens and Makenzie Fischer. Steffens, the 2015 ACWPC Player of the Year in her most recent collegiate season, returned to The Farm after collecting MVP honors in Rio and captaining the United States to its second straight Olympic gold. Joining her was 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, also came 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.