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Hector Garcia-Molina/Stanford Athletics
Women's Water Polo

Season Starts Saturday

Stanford at LouStrong Memorial
West Valley College • Saratoga, Calif.
Saturday, Jan. 20 vs. No. 11 UC Davis • 9:20 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 20 vs. China (Exhibition) • 12:30 p.m.
2017 Statistics

WHAT'S AHEADNo. 1 Stanford opens up its season this weekend with a pair of games at the LouStrong Memorial hosted by San Jose State at West Valley College in Saratoga, Calif. on Saturday. The Cardinal will play No. 11 UC Davis at 9:20 a.m. followed by an exhibition against the Chinese National Team at 12:30 p.m.

LOUSTRONG MEMORIALThe tournament is named in honor of Lou Tully, San Jose State's women's water head coach from 1996 through 2013. Mr. Tully died in December 2013 at age 70 due to complications from cancer treatment. hr />

AGAINST DAVISStanford is 39-0 all-time against the Aggies with results dating back to 1997.

LOOKING BACK TO 2017Maggie Steffens scored the game winner with nine seconds left and Stanford won the program's sixth NCAA championship with an 8-7 victory over UCLA on May 14 in Indianapolis. The championship was the Cardinal's sixth overall and fifth in the past seven seasons. Stanford, the only team to appear in all 17 NCAA championships since its inception in 2001, has racked up a record of 36-11 postseason record.

WHAT'S IN STOREStanford will again be in strong position to repeat in 2018. Despite losing three of its top four scorers, the Cardinal returns a pair of 2017 All-Americans in Makenzie Fischer and Jordan Raney along with 20-goal scorers Kat Klass, Madison Berggren and Katie Dudley.

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Among six departed seniors, Stanford must replace a quartet of All-Americans in Maggie Steffens, Jamie Neushul, Dani Jackovich and Gabby Stone. Julia Hermann, a 2016 All-American while Stone was away training with the U.S. women's national team, will resume her place in the cage for the Cardinal.YEAR TWOA four-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week, sophomore Makenzie Fischer was second on the team with 54 goals in her debut season, including a Stanford-high 18 multi-goal efforts, and fifth in the league in goals per game (2.08). Her goal total was the highest for a Stanford freshman since 2013, when Maggie Steffens had 60 in her first collegiate season. Fischer, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, finished the season with 14 multi-goal efforts in her final 19 games and in 10 outings against top-five opponents, tied for the team lead with 20 goals. She tied for third at the NCAA championship with six goals and was named to the All-NCAA Tournament first team in addition to spots on the All-MPSF second team and MPSF All-Newcomer team.

BACK IN THE CAGERedshirt senior Julia Hermann returns as Stanford's full-time starting goalkeeper in place of the graduated Gabby Stone. When Stone took off the 2016 season to train with the United States, Hermann was one of the best in the country. She posted a 5.67 goals against average in 110.809 quarters and made 244 saves, an average of 8.81 per game and the highest total at Stanford since 2001. A third-team All-American that year, Hermann had 10 double-digit save performances, made 31 saves in three games at the NCAA championships in Los Angeles and was voted the tournament's best goalkeeper.

SUMMER WITH USAWPJordan Raney received her first senior women's national team action this summer and won gold at the FINA World Championships in Budapest with current teammates Makenzie and Aria Fischer and Stanford alums Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul, Melissa Seidemann, Maggie Steffens, Gabby Stone.

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The United States won gold at the 2017 World University Games in Taipei in August behind the play of eight Cardinal. Current undergrads Madison Berggren, Aria Fischer, Kat Klass and Jordan Raney were joined by alumnae Dani Jackovich, Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul and Gabby Stone as the U.S. rolled to eight wins and outscored its opponents 127 to 38.

Freshman Sarah Klass and the United States finished fifth at the FINA Junior World Championship in Greece in September. Klass played in all seven games and scored six times on 15 shots to go along with a pair of assists.NO. 1Stanford is the nation's preseason No. 1 for the fourth consecutive year. The Cardinal collected 99 points to top the CWPA poll and is followed by UCLA and USC in second with 93 points, Cal i fourth with 91 points and Arizona State fifth with 82 points. Hawaii (76 points), UC Irvine (75 points), Michigan (74 points), Pacific (73 points) and Long Beach State (62 points) round out the top 10.