Stanford Women's Water Polo Claims At-Large Berth, No. 2 Seed In 2008 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo ChampionshipStanford Women's Water Polo Claims At-Large Berth, No. 2 Seed In 2008 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship

Stanford Women's Water Polo Claims At-Large Berth, No. 2 Seed In 2008 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship

Stanford Women's Water Polo Claims At-Large Berth, No. 2 Seed In 2008 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship

April 28, 2008

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STANFORD, Calif. - The eight-team field for the 2008 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship, set to take place May 9-11 at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center, was announced Monday afternoon by the NCAA, and the Stanford Cardinal earned an at-large berth and overall No. 2 seed. Stanford will open tournament play Friday, May 9, in the tournament opener against MAAC champion Marist at 1:30 p.m.

The Cardinal will enter the tournament with a 25-4 overall record, and is fresh off of a third-place finish at this past weekend's MPSF Tournament in San Diego. Stanford, one of four MPSF teams in the championship tournament along with MPSF champion and top seed UCLA, and at-large entries USC (3) and San Diego State (4), also finished second in the MPSF regular season standings with an 11-1 record, falling only to undefeated UCLA.

Junior driver Lauren Silver leads the Cardinal will 66 goals and a 2.28 goals per game average so far in 2008, followed by fellow 40-goal scorers Kelly Eaton and Jacquelyn Gauthier, each tallying 45 goals through 29 games. Kira Hillman (36 goals), Koree Blyleven (22), and Megan May (20) round out the six Stanford players with at least 20 goals, as the team has scored 320 goals on the season against only 171 allowed.

In the Stanford cage, freshman Amber Oland has established herself as one of the top goalkeepers in the conference. Through 26 games played, Oland owns a goals-against average of just 5.19 while averaging 8.23 saves per game.

Following Stanford-Marist, No. 3 USC will take on CWPA champion and No. 6 seed Michigan at 3:15 p.m. Friday. At 5 p.m., No. 1 UCLA will face No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer, the SCIAC champion, and Friday's first-round action will conclude with No. 4 San Diego State battling WWPA champion and fifth-seeded UC Davis at 6:45 p.m.

The Cardinal own a 5-4 record against the other seven teams in the tournament, having defeated USC twice, and San Diego State, UC Davis, and Pomona-Pitzer once each. It's four losses were split evenly against UCLA and USC.