2018 Stanford Invitational
Avery Aquatic Center • Stanford, Calif.
Saturday, Feb. 3 vs. China (Exhibition) • 8:30 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 3 vs. #8 Pacific • 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 4 vs. #10 Long Beach State • 8:30 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 4 vs. TBD
Tournament Central
WHAT'S AHEADNo. 1 Stanford hosts the 2018 Stanford Invitational at Avery Aquatic Center this weekend. The Cardinal will play an exhibition against the Chinese National Team on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and No. 8 Pacific at 4:30 p.m. On Sunday, Stanford opens with No. 10 Long Beach State at 8:30 a.m. and depending on its finish in Bracket 'A' will take on one of No. 2 Cal, No. 9 Michigan, No. 11 UC Davis or No. 17 San Jose State that afternoon.
TICKETSAll-session tickets are priced at $25 for adults and $15 for seniors and youth, while single-day tickets cost $15 for adults and $8 for seniors and youth. A full game schedule can be found at the Stanford Invitational Central on GoStanford.com and games begin at 8:30 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
AT AVERYStanford is 94-7 at home since 2008.
WHAT JUST HAPPENEDStanford swept its three games at the Cal Cup in Berkeley last weekend, beating No. 7 UC Irvine (12-2), No. 22 Fresno State (22-5) and No. 16 San Jose State (15-4). The Cardinal, which has outscored its opponents 64-14 in the first four games of 2018, was led in scoring at the tournament by Makenzie Fischer, who scored nine times in the three wins.
LOUSTRONG MEMORIALKatie Dudley and Makenzie Fischer had hat tricks and Stanford opened its season with a 15-3 win over UC Davis at the LouStrong Memorial on Jan. 20. The Cardinal moved to 22-0 all-time in season openers with its win over the Aggies.
MPSF NEWCOMER OF THE WEEKFreshman Aria Fischer was named MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week when the conference announced its weekly honors on Tuesday afternoon. Fischer was Stanford's second-leading scorer at the Cal Cup, rattling the cage seven times in her team's three victories. She scored once against the Anteaters, twice on Saturday against the Bulldogs and fired in four of Stanford's 15 in its win over SJSU. Fischer has eight goals through four games this season, is second on the team in scoring and ninth in the MPSF.
SEEING THE STATSStanford finds itself second the MPSF in goals per game (16.00), behind USC (19.67) and ahead of Cal (13.67), and is third in goals allowed per game (3.50) trailing USC (1.00) and Arizona State (3.00). Individually, Maggie Steffens is tied for second in goals per game (3.00) and Aria Fischer is tied for ninth (2.00). Madison Berggren is 13th (1.75) while Hannah Shabb and Mackenzie Wiley are tied for 22nd (1.25). Julia Hermann's 3.64 goals against average is fourth in the conference and her 6.18 saves per game are eighth. Emalia Eichelberger is third in goals against average (3.28) and sixth in saves per game (7.37).
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.
A post shared by Stanford Women's Water Polo (@stanfordh2opolo) on Sep 23, 2017 at 9:29pm PDT
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 TWOSophomore Makenzie Fischer matched her personal best, pouring in five for the third time in 30 career games in last Saturday's 12-2 victory over No. 7 UC Irvine. She had two-goal outings in both wins on Sunday against No. 22 Fresno State (22-5) and No. 16 San Jose State (15-4). She's had multi-score performances in each of Stanford's four games this season and in all but four of the 30 games she's played the past year-plus. Fischer is averaging 3.00 goals through four games this season.
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.
???? #GoStanford #SUTaipei2017
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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.IN THE POLLSStanford, the nation's preseason No. 1 for the fourth consecutive year, remained No. 1 in the CWPA poll released Wednesday. The Cardinal has 99 points and is followed by Cal (95 points), USC (92 points), UCLA (89 points) and Arizona State (83 points).