No. 2 Stanford vs. China
Avery Aquatic Center • Stanford, Calif.
Thursday, Feb. 14 vs. Chinese National Team • 4:30 p.m.
No. 2 Stanford at UC Davis
Schaal Aquatics Center • Davis, Calif.
Saturday, Feb. 16 at UC Davis • 3 p.m. • Live Stats
2019 Stanford Statistics
WHAT'S AHEADNo. 2 Stanford splits games between home and road in the coming days. The Cardinal hosts the Chinese National Team in an exhibition at Avery Aquatic Center on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 4:30 p.m. before heading to UC Davis on Saturday, Feb. 16 to play the Aggies at 3 p.m.
GLOBAL GAMEStanford's game with China is the latest installment in the program's connection to high-level international competition. The Cardinal has trained with the Chinese in California on occasion the past few of years and has also done the same with Russia's national team. In the summer of 2015, Stanford was the United States' representative at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea.
HONORARY CAPTAINSKarl and Ching Eikenberry will serve as honorary captains for Thursday's match. Karl Eikenberry is Director of the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative and faculty member at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, faculty member of the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and Professor of Practice at Stanford University. Prior to his arrival at Stanford, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 until 2011. Before appointment as Chief of Mission on Kabul, Ambassador Eikenberry had a thirty-five year career in the United States Army, retiring in April 2009 with the rank of Lieutenant General. His wife Ching is a former state department employee, journalist and China expert."
AT AVERYAlthough Thursday's exhibition won't count in official records, Stanford is 101-9 at home since 2008.
WHAT JUST HAPPENEDThe No. 2 Cardinal was off last week, but rolled to three wins at its home Stanford Invitational the week prior over No. 8 Michigan (21-9), No. 19 Indiana (25-4) and No. 4 Cal (17-10).
STANFORD SWEEPStanford swept MPSF/Kap7 weekly honors for the second consecutive week following the Stanford Invitational when junior Makenzie Fischer was named the league's player of the week and freshman Chloe Harbilas its top newcomer.
The junior followed that up with six scores in Stanford's conference opener against Indiana, a 25-4 win on Saturday afternoon, her third in a row with at least six goals. She closed the weekend with a four-goal outing in Stanford's 17-10 win over No. 4 Cal.
While Fischer was a scoring machine, freshman Chloe Harbilas hounded Stanford's two-meter opponents all weekend, holding Michigan, Indiana and Cal to a combined 8-of-29 (27.6 perecnt) on power plays. The Cardinal's 5-on-6 stopper also added a pair of goals in the MPSF opener against the Hoosiers.
OFFENSE IS ROLLINGStanford has scored a program-record 130 goals through its first six games, an average of 21.67 per game. The previous high mark was from 2017, when the Cardinal poured in 99 (16.50 per game).
FANTASTIC FISCHERMakenzie Fischer has multi-goal efforts in each of Stanford's six games this season and is averaging an eye-popping 4.8 goals per game thus far (29 total goals). Her final strike against the Golden Bears was also the 150th of her career, putting her 21 away from Stanford's all-time top 10.
SEEING THE STATSStanford tops the MPSF in goals per game (21.67), ahead of USC (15.92), and is second in goals allowed per game (6.33) trailing the Trojans (2.83). Individually, Fischer leads the league in goals per game (4.83) and Madison Stamen is tied for fourth (2.67). Sarah Klass and Aria Fischer are tied for eighth (2.33), Kat Klass is 11th (2.17), Madison Berggren is 17th (1.67) and Ryan Neushul and Hannah Shabb are tied for 23rd (1.33). Emalia Eichelberger's 7.00 goals against average is tied for fifth in the conference and her 9.00 saves per game are third. Thea Walsh is tied for fifth in goals against average (7.00) and tied for fifth in saves per game (8.00).
WHAT'S IN STORE IN 2019Denied in its big for back-to-back national championships last May, Stanford is be in a strong position as it looks to reclaim the crown in 2019. The Cardinal returns its four leading goal scorers from a year ago in Makenzie Fischer (67), Kat Klass (39), Madison Berggren (36) and Aria Fischer (35) and welcomes more than 80 percent of its total scoring offense back into the fold (229 of 285) this season.
At the other end of the pool, Stanford must replace Julia Hermann in the cage as part of a class of four departed seniors. Hermann was a third-team All-American last season, finished second in the MPSF in goals against average (5.35) and had five of her seven double-digit save performances in the season's final seven games.
Stanford's six-person freshman class includes Youth National Team goalkeeper Thea Walsh and Junior National Team members Chloe Harbilas and Ryann Neushul. Neushul is the youngest sister of Stanford alums Kiley and Jamie Neushul, who each won three national championships with the Cardinal and combined for five first-team All-America honors.
HOSTING IT ALLAvery Aquatic Center is the place to be at the end of the season in late April and mid-May. Stanford will host the MPSF Championship from April 26-28 and the NCAA Championship from May 10-12. Last time Stanford hosted NCAA's in 2015, the Cardinal became the first host institution to win a national championship in its home pool.