STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford swept MPSF/Kap7 weekly honors on Tuesday when redshirt senior Julia Hermann was named the league's player of the week and freshman Aria Fischer its top newcomer.
The No. 1 Cardinal swept its four games over the weekend to win its first Barbara Kalbus Invitational title since 2011. Stanford beat No. 19 Long Beach State (15-3), No. 8 Pacific (13-6), No. 4 UCLA (10-3) and No. 3 USC (9-3) to up its record this season to 11-0.
Hermann was big in the cage for the Cardinal, allowing just nine goals in the four games to lower her goals against average to 4.53. She surrendered only three goals each to UCLA and USC in the semifinals and finals, season lows for both programs. In the final against the Trojans, Hermann held USC scoreless in the second half and only allowed one goal over the final 22:34 as part of her 13-save performance. The Bruins and Trojans combined to go 1-for-17 on the power play and Hermann stopped 77.8 percent of the shots she faced in the two games (21-of-27).
She posted a 3.00 goals against average for the tournament and also had five saves in two quarters of the opener against the 49ers and eight in two quarters of the quarterfinal victory over the Tigers.
The award is Hermann's second career weekly honor from the MPSF. She was also voted conference player of the week on Feb. 23, 2016.
Fischer earned her second newcomer of the week award after tying for the team lead in scoring with nine goals at the tournament. She collected hat tricks in wins over Long Beach State and Pacific, scored twice in the semifinal victory against UCLA and added another in the final against No. 3 USC. Fischer has scored in each of Stanford's 11 game this season and is eighth in the MPSF in goals per game (1.82).
The Cardinal is back in action at home on Sunday, March 4 at 5 p.m. when it begins its MPSF schedule with a game against Cal televised on Pac-12 Networks.
