Kat_Klass_EC_20190420_049Kat_Klass_EC_20190420_049
Erin Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Water Polo

MPSF Descends Upon Avery

2019 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship
Avery Aquatic Center • Stanford, Calif.
Quarterfinals • Friday, April 26 • Bye
Semfinals • Saturday, April 27 vs. Cal or San Jose State • 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 28 vs. TBD
Tournament Central
Live Stream ($) • MPSF TV(Friday and Saturday)
Television Pac-12 Networks (Sunday)
Live StatsThe FOSH
Tickets
Statistics

WHAT'S AHEAD

No. 1 Stanford (19-1, 6-0 MPSF) enters postseason play at home this weekend when it hosts the 2019 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship at Avery Aquatic Center. The Cardinal, which has a bye into the semifinals, will open its tournament on Saturday, April 27 at 2:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 4 seed California (15-6, 3-3) and No. 5 seed San Jose State (10-13, 2-4).

The championship game is Sunday at 3 p.m. and the third-place game just prior at 1 p.m. Both of those will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks. All other matches will be streamed via MPSF TV for a fee.


MPSF TOURNAMENT

Stanford has won five conference tournament titles in program history (2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2014) and appeared in 15 championship games. The program is 52-19 (.732) all-time at the MPSF Tournament since 1997. Results from 1996 are not available.

Stanford is the No. 1 seed at the conference tournament for the first time in four years. The Cardinal was the top seed every year from 2009 to 2015.

An MPSF Tournament title isn't an indicator of NCAA success, at least for the Cardinal. Despite winning five of the past eight national championships, 2014 was the only season in which Stanford won both the league crown and the national one. It finished second in the 2012 and 2017 MPSF Tournaments and third place in both 2011 and 2015 before going on to win NCAA Championships.


AT AVERY

Stanford is 107-9 at home since 2008.

This is the third time the Cardinal is hosting the MPSF Championship. Stanford won it all at home in 2003, beating Long Beach State, 9-1, and UCLA, 3-2, in the fifth sudden victory period on a goal from Kelty Luber.

In 2012, Stanford beat Hawaii, 13-3, and Cal, 12-5, before falling to the Bruins in overtime of the final, 8-7.


HOSTING IT ALL

Avery Aquatic Center is the place to be in the coming weeks. In addition to hosting the MPSF Championship, the Cardinal will also host 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. Tickets are on sale for both events and a hub of information for the MPSF Tournament, including an event schedule and live stream links is live on GoStanford.com. The championship and third-place games on Sunday will be carried live on Pac-12 Networks.


MPSF NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK

Ryann Neushul was named MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week for the second time this season when the conference announced its weekly honors on Tuesday afternoon. It's Stanford's fourth newcomer of the week award of 2019.

Neushul scored five goals in Stanford's sweep of No. 9 UC Davis and No. 20 San Jose State. The freshman rattled the cage once in a 24-8 win over the Aggies before exploding for a career-high four in Saturday's 22-8 victory over the Spartans, her seventh multi-goal performance of the year. Neushul also added an assist and three steals in the two games, which wrapped the Cardinal's 19-1 regular season and its 6-0 conference slate.


FANTASTIC FISCHER

Makenzie Fischer is averaging 4.00 goals per game, has had multi-score efforts in 17 of her 19 matches this season and has been responsible for 23 percent of the Cardinal's scoring offense (76 of 335 goals). She's more than a full goal per game better than the No. 2 player in the MPSF (Emma Wright – Cal; 2.83). In the past 15 years, only two conference players have even averaged more than 3.00 goals per game: USC's Monica Vavic in 2015 (3.33) and Pacific's Sarah Harris in 2007 (3.64).

Fischer is sixth on the program's all-time scoring list with 197. Ellen Estes (1997-98, 2001-02) is next on the list with 214. The junior's 76 goals this season are second in school history. Only three other Stanford players have scored 70 times in a season: Ellen Estes in 1998 (93), Melissa Seidemann in 2013 (75) and Lauren Silver in 2008 (71).


AGAINST THE COMPETITION

Stanford is 57-22 all-time against the Golden Bears and has won four straight. Earlier this year at the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 3, three Cardinal each scored four times and Stanford blew past Cal, 17-10. Makenzie Fischer, Kat Klass and Sarah Klass each had four-goal performances, Aria Fischer also had a hat trick and the sisters Klass and Fischer combined for 15 of Stanford's 17 goals. Madison Berggren and Cassidy Wiley added the other two tallies for the Cardinal.

Stanford wrapped up the top seed with a 13-12 victory at No. 4 Cal on April 13. Aria Fischer scored a career-high five goals to lead the Cardinal to its third consecutive one-goal victory. The sophomore scored the Cardinal's first goal and then three in a row to begin the second quarter, which opened up a 7-2 lead. Fischer's finally tally with 3:05 to go in the game was Stanford's 13th goal – its only score in the fourth – and proved to be the game winner, as the Golden Bears battled back to score five in the final quarter and pull within one with 37 seconds remaining.

The Cardinal is 50-0 all-time against San Jose State.


CARDINAL TO CHINA

No strangers to representing Stanford on a global stage, the Cardinal women's water polo program announced a summer trip to China on March 22 for two weeks of sports diplomacy - water polo, student exchanges and exploration.

Running from June 23 – July 8, the Cardinal will start and end the trip training with and competing against the Chinese National Team. In between, the team will tour sites in an around Chengdu, where they are being hosted by China's Water Polo Federation, and also visit the Tibetan Plateau of Western Sichuan province.

Stanford's preparations for the trip began in earnest weeks ago with the formation of a robust seminar series covering Chinese history, culture and language, Sino-American relations, development economics examining health and education in rural China, entrepreneurship and diplomacy.

FULL STORY: stanford.io/2UQgvQB


USA WATER POLO HALL OF FAME

Jessica Steffens, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time, first-team All-American at Stanford, and Dunlevie Family Director of Women's Water Polo John Tanner will be part of USA Water Polo's 2019 Hall of Fame Class inducted on Friday, June 7 at ceremonies in Pleasanton, Calif.

Steffens and Tanner are two of seven members who will go into USA Water Polo's Hall of Fame as part of its 35th induction class.

A 2012 Olympic gold medalist and 2008 Olympic silver medalist, Steffens was a 2010 Peter J. Cutino Award finalist, a first-team All-American for the Cardinal in 2009 and 2010 and a three-time academic All-American.

In his 22nd season at Stanford, John Tanner took the reins of the developing women's water polo program in 1998 and has turned it into a powerhouse that has produced six NCAA Championships (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017).

A five-time national coach of the year who holds a 541-78 (.874) career record at Stanford, Tanner has tutored nine ACWPC Players of the Year, seven Peter J. Cutino award winners, 112 ACWPC All-America selections and student-athletes that have earned a total of 198 ACWPC All-Academic selections.


SEEING THE STATS

Stanford tops the MPSF in goals per game (16.75), ahead of USC (14.00), and is second in goals allowed per game (6.25), trailing the Trojans (4.21). Individually, Makenzie Fischer leads the league in goals per game (4.00) and Aria Fischer is seventh (2.16). Sarah Klass is eighth (1.95), Kat Klass is 12th (1.58), Madison Berggren is 13th (1.57), Madison Stamen is 14th (1.53) and Ryann Neushul 17th (1.35). Emalia Eichelberger's 7.28 goals against average is fifth in the conference and her 8.99 saves per game are fourth. Thea Walsh is second in goals against average (5.08) and ninth in saves per game (6.20).


WHAT'S IN STORE IN 2019

Denied 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.