No. 1 Stanford (14-1, 1-1)
vs. No. 2 USC (18-1, 2-0) • Friday, April 13 • 5:30 p.m.
vs. No. 6 Arizona State (14-7, 0-3) • Sunday, April 15 • 2 p.m.
Avery Aquatic Center • Stanford, Calif.
Television • vs. USC (Pac-12 Bay Area/Pac-12 Los Angeles)
Television • vs. Arizona State (Pac-12 Bay Area/Pac-12 Arizona)
Statistics
WHAT'S AHEADNo. 1 Stanford (14-1, 1-1 MPSF) closes out its home schedule this weekend when it hosts No. 2 USC (18-1, 2-0 MPSF) on Friday, April 13 at 5:30 p.m. and No. 6 Arizona State (14-7, 0-3 MPSF) on Sunday, April 15 at 2 p.m. Both games will be televised on Pac-12 Networks with Kevin Danna on the call. Adam Krikorian will provide analysis on Friday night.
SENIOR SUNDAYSunday's contest against the Sun Devils will also serve as Stanford's Senior Day, at which Shannon Cleary, Katie Dudley, Julia Hermann and Jordan Raney will be honored in a pregame ceremony. That group has won more than 89 percent of its games at Stanford, including three national championships.
WHAT JUST HAPPENEDStanford used a fast start and strong finish to weather a mid-game scoring drought and notched its first MPSF victory of the season with an 8-5 win at UCLA on Saturday afternoon. Makenzie Fischer had her third consecutive hat trick and fifth of the season and Kat Klass added her seventh multi-goal effort of the year to power the Cardinal. Stanford was up 5-1 after one quarter before UCLA tied it late in the third. The Cardinal pitched a fourth-quarter shutout to beat the Bruins for the third consecutive time.
AGAINST USCStanford is 35-32 all-time against the Trojans (records since 1997). Earlier this season, the Cardinal beat USC 9-3 in the of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational final in Irvine on Feb. 25, its largest margin of victory over the Trojans since 10-4 win on Feb. 25, 2007. The Cardinal's defense held USC to one goal on 10 power play opportunities and Julia Hermann stopped 13 of the 16 shots she faced (81.3 percent). In the teams' last meeting at Avery on April 16, 2016, USC won 8-3 to snap Stanford's seven-game home winning streak in the series. The Cardinal has won the last four overall between the two teams.
AGAINST ARIZONA STATEStanford is 24-0 all-time against Arizona State. The two schools began playing in 2004.
AT AVERYStanford is 97-8 at home since 2008.
YEAR TWOSophomore Makenzie Fischer, who is second in the MPSF averaging 2.40 goals per game, has scored 13 in her last three and 36 total. She's had multi-score performances in 12 of Stanford's 15 games this season and in all but 11 of the 41 games she's played the past year-plus.
CENTURY MARKWith 90 career goals, Fischer is close to joining Kat Klass among active Cardinal in triple digits. Klass collected her 14th career hat trick at UC Santa Barbara on March 28. She rattled the cage for the 100th time in her career with 1:16 on the clock in the third quarter.
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.
SEEING THE STATSStanford is second in the MPSF goals per game (12.80) behind USC (13.00) and first in goals allowed per game (4.13) ahead of the Trojans. Individually, Makenzie Fischer is second in goals per game (2.40), Kat Klass is third (1.87), Madison Berggren sixth (1.73), Aria Fischer 16th (1.40) and Katie Dudley 22nd (1.07). Julia Hermann's 4.53 goals against leads the conference and her 8.26 saves per game are fifth.
HALLS OF FAMEFour-time Olympic medalist Brenda Villa will be inducted into both the International Swimming and USA Water Polo Halls of Fame in the coming months. A member of the Cardinal from 2001-03, Villa scored 173 goals and was three-time first team All-America selection and the 2001 National Player of the Year. An integral part of Stanford's first national championship team in 2002, Villa was named the Peter J. Cutino Award winner as the nation's top collegiate women's water polo player.
A four-time Olympian and two-time Olympic captain, Villa earned gold at the 2012 London Olympics, silver at the 2008 Beijing and 2000 Sydney Games and bronze in the 2004 Athens Games. A member of the U.S. Senior National Team from 1996-2012, Villa also boasts three FINA World Championships gold medals, five FINA World League Super Final titles and another three Pan American Championships golds.
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.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), Cal (92 points), UCLA (88 points) and Hawaii (84 points).