Jordan_Raney_EC_20180120_004Jordan_Raney_EC_20180120_004
Erin Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Water Polo

MPSF Opener

No. 1 Stanford (11-0, 0-0)
vs. No. 4 California (12-3, 0-0)
Sunday, March 4 • 5 p.m.
Avery Aquatic Center • Stanford, Calif.
Television Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Bay Area
Statistics

WHAT'S AHEADNo. 1 Stanford has its first televised game of the season when it opens MPSF play at home on Sunday, March 4 at 5 p.m. against No. 4 California. Greg Mescall and Chris Dorst have the call on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area.

WHAT JUST HAPPENEDThe Cardinal swept its four games last 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. Stanford, which also won it all in 2007 and 2009, is 40-8 all-time at the annual tournament, which began in 2007.

AGAINST CALStanford is 53-21 all-time against the Golden Bears and has won four straight. Those four wins followed back-to-back games in which Cal came out on top. Cal's victory in the MPSF semifinals on April 25, 2015 snapped Stanford's 41-game winning streak in the series. Kat Klass scored five times and the Cardinal beat Cal in the final of the Stanford Invitational earlier this season on Feb. 4, 11-9.

AT AVERYStanford is 97-7 at home since 2008.

STREAKINGThe Cardinal has won 14 games in a row dating back to last season, its longest streak since it was victorious in 27 straight across the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

STANFORD SWEEPStanford 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.

Hermann was big in the cage for the Cardinal, allowing just nine goals in the four games in Irvine 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.

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).SEEING THE STATSStanford leads the MPSF in goals per game (13.82), ahead of Cal (12.47) and USC (12.09), and is second in goals allowed per game (4.00), trailing USC (3.27). Individually, Makenzie Fischer is third in goals per game (2.09) and Madison Berggren is fifth (1.91). Aria Fischer and Kat Klass are tied for eighth (1.82) and Katie Dudley is 23rd (1.09). Julia Hermann's 4.53 goals against average is third in the conference and her 8.80 saves per game are fifth.

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.

??????????? #GoStanford

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 her career in a 12-2 victory over No. 7 UC Irvine on Jan. 27. She's had multi-score performances in nine of Stanford's 11 games this season and in all but six of the 37 games she's played the past year-plus. Fischer is averaging 2.09 goals through 11 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

A post shared by Stanford Women's Water Polo (@stanfordh2opolo) on Aug 29, 2017 at 8:11am PDT

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 100 points and is followed by USC (96 points), UCLA (92 points), Cal (88 points) and Hawaii (85 points).