April 13, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - Senior driver Lauren Silver became the third Stanford women's water polo player to be named MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week this season when the conference honored her on Monday. Silver posted her fifth hat trick of the season while also scoring the game-winning goal in the Cardinal's 9-8 Big Splash victory at California on Saturday.
Silver shared the weekly honor with USC's Kami Craig.
Silver's performance helped keep the Cardinal unbeaten at 6-0 in MPSF play, and boosted the team's overall mark to 22-1. The victory was the 19th in a row for Stanford.
After Stanford fell behind 3-0 after the opening period, Silver, along with Kira Hillman, who also posted a hat trick in the contest, got the Cardinal on the board with consecutive goals. Silver converted a five-meter penalty shot for her opening goal, then later on, with 29 seconds remaining in the third period, she hit another five-meter to complete Stanford's scoring and give it a 9-7 lead that would hold up despite California notching one more score.
On the year, Silver has scored 30 goals over 15 games for a 2.00 goals per game average. The player of the week honor is her second over the past two years, and is the third overall for the Cardinal this season.
Stanford will go for the MPSF regular-season title and top seed at the conference tournament this Saturday, April 18, as it travels to Los Angeles to battle 6-0 and second-ranked USC in a highly-anticipated matchup at 4:30 p.m.