2018 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship
Uytengsu Aquatics Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
Quarterfinals • Friday, May 11 vs. UC Irvine • 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 12 vs. TBD
Sunday, May 13 vs. TBD
Tournament Central
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WHAT'S AHEADNo. 2 Stanford (18-3) goes in search of its seventh NCAA crown when it travels to Los Angeles for the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship Friday, May 11 - Sunday, May 13 at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the campus of USC. The Cardinal begins with No. 8 UC Irvine (15-13) at 3:30 p.m. PT on Friday with the winner advancing to play either No. 3 Cal or No. 9 Michigan in the semifinals on Saturday, May 12 at 5 p.m. PT. The championship is on Sunday, May 13 at 3 p.m. PT. All games will be streamed via on ncaa.com/liveschedule with Greg Mescall handling the call.
NCAA HISTORYStanford, the defending national champion, has won six NCAA titles (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017) and five of the last seven. The Cardinal, which has been in every national final since 2010, has been runner-up an additional seven times (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) and is the only team to appear in all 18 NCAA Championships since its inception in 2001. Stanford has never finished lower than third at the event while racking up a record of 36-11 and is 9-3 against the NCAA field this season (1-2 vs. USC, 2-1 vs. Cal, 2-0 vs. UCLA, 2-0 vs. UC Irvine, 2-0 vs. Pacific).
STANFORD'S NCAA TITLESWomen's water polo is responsible for six of Stanford's 116 NCAA championships, a total which is tied with UCLA for the most all-time following the Bruins' win in beach volleyball on Sunday. Stanford has won 140 national team titles overall. The Cardinal has already won three NCAA titles this year in women's soccer, men's soccer and women's swimming and diving. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team title for 42 consecutive academic years.
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MPSF TOURNAMENT Stanford earned an at-large berth into the field following its second-place finish at the MPSF Tournament in Berkeley. A runner-up MPSF Tournament finish isn't an indicator of NCAA success, at least for the Cardinal. Despite winning five of the past even national championships, 2014 was the only season in the past 12 in which Stanford won a conference crown.
CLASS OF THE CONFERENCEMakenzie Fischer, Jordan Raney and Aria Fischer were honored by the MPSF when the conference announced its all-league selections. Makenzie Fischer and Raney were named to the All-MPSF first team and Aria Fischer earned a spot on the All-MPSF second team as well as the MPSF All-Newcomer Team. It's the ninth consecutive season Stanford has had a pair of first teamers.
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YEAR TWOSophomore Makenzie Fischer was named to the MPSF All-Tournament team after scoring 14 goals at the three games in Berkeley. She leads the conference in goals per game (2.90) and her 61 scores this season are two shy of a tie for ninth place in Stanford single-season history. In the nine games since the Cardinal returned from its break for final exams (March 26), Fischer has scored 38 times and averaged 4.22 goals per game. She's had multi-score performances in 17 of Stanford's 21 games this season and in all but 12 of the 47 collegiate games she's played.
FRESHMAN FISCHERA two-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week, Aria Fischer is fourth on the Cardinal with 32 goals in her debut season and is 11th in the league in goals per game (1.52). She's scored in six consecutive games, including four multi-goal efforts, and led all conference freshmen in scoring average in MPSF contests (1.60). Her 1.52 overall goals per game average is second among the conference's first-year players.
HERMANN STRONG IN THE CAGERedshirt senior Julia Hermann is back 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 championship at UCLA and was voted the tournament's best goalkeeper. This season she leads the MPSF with a 5.27 goals against average and with 443 career saves, Hermann is nine away from entering the school's all-time top five in that category.
SEEING THE STATSStanford is second in the MPSF in both goals per game (12.19) and goals allowed per game (4.86), trailing USC slightly in both team offense (12.67) and defense (4.83). Individually, Makenzie Fischer leads in goals per game (2.90), Kat Klass and Madison Berggren are tied for ninth (1.57), Aria Fischer is 11th (1.52) and Katie Dudley is 24th (1.00). Julia Hermann's 5.27 goals against average is first in the conference and her 8.29 saves per game are fifth.
CENTURY MARKStanford boasts a pair of career 100-goal scorers in Makenzie Fischer (115) and junior Kat Klass (107). Klass, tied for second on the team in scoring, rattled the cage for the 100th time during match at UC Santa Barbara on March 28. Fischer got hers in the regular-season finale at San Jose State on April 22.
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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. 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.