Kat_Klass_WD_03042018_135Kat_Klass_WD_03042018_135
Bill Dally/Stanford Athletics
Women's Water Polo

Finals Finished

No. 1 Stanford (11-1)
at No. 7 UC Irvine (7-10)
Monday, March 26 • 12 p.m.
at No. 17 UC Santa Barbara (12-9)
Wednesday, March 28 • 12 p.m.
Statistics

WHAT'S AHEADFollowing a two-week break for final exams, No. 1 Stanford is back in action with its final two nonconference games of the season. The Cardinal plays at No. 7 UC Irvine on Monday, March 26 and at No. 17 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, March 28. Both matches begin at noon.

WHAT JUST HAPPENEDStanford suffered its first loss of the season to then-No. 4 Cal, 8-7 in sudden-death overtime, at home on Sunday, March 4. The contest featured six ties and the Golden Bears took their only lead of the game when Kitty Lynn Joustra emerged from a scrum to skip home the game-winning goal with 51 seconds left in the first period of sudden-death overtime. The Cardinal received three goals from Madison Berggren, her third putting Stanford ahead 7-6 heading into the second overtime period. Kat Klass scored twice while Shannon Cleary and Aria Fischer also found the cage.

STREAK SNAPPEDThe loss to Cal snapped Stanford's 14-game winning streak, which was its longest since it was victorious in 27 straight across the 2014 and 2015 seasons. It was just the program's eighth home defeat since 2008.

SEEING THE STATSStanford leads the MPSF in goals per game (13.25), ahead of USC (11.93) and Cal (11.44), and is second in goals allowed per game (4.33), trailing USC (3.93). Individually, Madison Berggren is second in goals per game (2.00), Makenzie Fischer is third (1.92), Kat Klass fifth (1.83) and Aria Fischer ninth (1.75). Julia Hermann's 4.80 goals against average is third in the conference and her 8.22 saves per game are sixth.

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 12 games this season and in all but seven of the 38 games she's played the past year-plus. Fischer is averaging 1.92 goals through 12 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, is tied for the top spot in the CWPA poll with Cal released Wednesday. The Cardinal and Golden Bears have 98 points and are followed by USC (92 points), UCLA (88 points) and Hawaii (84 points).