April 21, 2010
Saturday, April 24
- vs. -
USC - 4 p.m. - Stanford, Calif.
STANFORD, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford (21-1, 6-0 MPSF) completes its 2010 regular season Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. clash at Avery Aquatic Center with top-ranked USC. The stakes for Saturday's contest are high, with the MPSF regular season title and the No. 1 seed at the MPSF Tournament to go to the winner. Also Saturday, Stanford will honor its four graduating seniors, Kelly Eaton, Kelsey Holshouser, Alex Koran and Jessica Steffens, prior to Saturday's game as part of Senior Day.
Last Time Out
The Cardinal continued its undefeated run in MPSF play last Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center, winning its 10th consecutive Big Splash against California with a dramatic, last-second 8-7 victory over the Golden Bears. The teams battled back and forth the whole contest, playing to a 7-7 stalemate until Jessica Steffens fired home from about eight meters with one second remaining to clinch the victory. Kim Krueger also scored twice for the Cardinal while goalie Amber Oland made seven saves and held California scoreless in the final period.
About The Opposition
USC (19-1, 5-0 MPSF) will play its final two regular-season contests this weekend, facing off against San Jose State Friday afternoon before the big clash at Stanford Saturday. The Women of Troy will bring its 17-game winning streak to the Bay Area this weekend.
USC, last year's national runner-up, is led by the play of Joelle Bekhazi (40 goals) and Kally Lucas (32), while in the cage, Tumua Anae leads the MPSF with 9.95 saves per game and allows just 4.60 goals per game.
In The National Rankings
The Cardinal remained at No. 2 in the Varsity Top 20 Poll behind No. 1 USC this week.
Steffens With The Last-Second Heroics
After Stanford had spent the majority of last Saturday's Big Splash coming from behind against California, the team's lone Olympian stepped up and did what any captain is expected to do: come through in the clutch. Senior Jessica Steffens took the pass from Kelsey Holshouser with three seconds remaining, pump-faked to get California goalie Stephanie Peckham to commit, then fired home the game-winner with one second remaining.
When The Going Got Touch, The Seniors Got Going
Stanford's senior class, which will be honored prior to this Saturday's clash with No. 1 USC, showed in last Saturday's Big Splash that it has the leadership chops to pull the Cardinal through tough situations. In that 8-7 victory, each of the Cardinal seniors, Kelly Eaton, Kelsey Holshouser, Alex Koran and Jessica Steffens, scored a goal, with Steffens providing the last-second clincher. On the year, the seniors have combined to score 81 goals, with Eaton leading the quartet with 39.
Clash Of The Titans
The Stanford-USC rivalry is just as fierce in the pool as it is on the football, baseball and soccer fields, as over the past three seasons (including 2010) the schools have fought to a near standstill in women's water polo. In 2008, the teams split four meetings, but the Women of Troy got the upper hand with wins at the MPSF Tournament and NCAA Championship, while last season, USC won three of the four meetings including the two tournament wins. So far this year, the teams have each won a match, and have been the only two schools to be ranked No. 1 this season. Saturday's regular season finale could very well not be the last meeting of the schools this season, but it will go a long way in determining the postseason paths of each team.
Among The MPSF Leaders
On the individual side of the MPSF statistics, sophomore Melissa Seidemann is fifth in the conference with 1.82 goals per game and Kelly Eaton are seventh with 1.77 goals per game. Pallavi Menon is 18th with 1.36 goals a game while Annika Dries is 20th with a 1.27 goals per game figure.
Freshman goalie Kate Baldoni leads the conference with a 1.94 goals-against average, while junior Amber Oland is second with a 4.20 figure.
On a team level, Stanford is second in the MPSF with 12.23 goals a game, and is also second with a 4.96 goals-against average.
Stanford Picked To Capture MPSF Title In 2010
Stanford was the choice to take home the 2010 MPSF title, according to a poll of the conference's head coaches. The Cardinal received five of the eight first-place votes for a total of 45 points to finish atop the poll. USC was second with 42 points and one first-place vote, while UCLA was tabbed third with 38 points and the two remaining first-place votes.