April 3, 2008
STANFORD, Calif. - Riding a five-game winning streak, the second-ranked Stanford women's water polo team heads down south this weekend to battle a pair of MPSF foes. The Cardinal open the weekend Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. against No. 15 CS Northridge before closing things out with a 12 p.m. showdown Saturday at No. 3 USC.
The Cardinal (18-3, 6-1 MPSF) is coming off of a successful weekend which saw it nab home victories over Brown and MPSF foe Long Beach State before hitting the road for a Sunday win at CSU Monterey Bay. Stanford scored 50 goals over the three contests, led by Jacquelyn Gauthier's pair of hat tricks and seven goals. Allie Gerrity and Lauren Silver also posted hat tricks in games on Saturday.
On defense, the freshman duo of Amber Oland and Kim Hall handled their business, with Hall stopping 13 shots over the three games and Oland making 10 saves.
CS Northridge (10-13, 1-6 MPSF) heads into Friday's contest having lost three of its last four. The Matadors, led on offense by Allison Brookes (34 goals), Jessica Coy (27 goals), and Chelsea Curran (27 goals), will be meeting the Cardinal for the first time this season.
USC (14-5, 6-1 MPSF) is paced by the scoring of Michelle Stein (39 goals) and Veronika Bartunkova (33 goals), while in the cage, Tumua Anae allows only 4.4 goals per game and is making 9.42 saves per contest.
The Cardinal and Women of Troy have met twice already this season, splitting the two contests. USC captured a close 5-4 victory on Feb. 9 at the Stanford Invitational, while the Cardinal took a one-goal decision of their own, a 7-6 overtime win at the UC Irvine Invite on Feb. 24.