April 13, 2011
Saturday, April 16
- at - No. 2 California - 7 p.m. - Berkeley, Calif.
STANFORD, Calif. - The MPSF regular-season crown and top seed at April 29-May 1's MPSF Championship will be at stake this Saturday night in Berkeley as No. 1 Stanford (21-0, 5-0 MPSF) and No. 2 California (21-3, 6-0 MPSF) square off in the Big Splash at 7 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
Last Time Out
The Cardinal improved to 21-0 overall and 5-0 in MPSF play with last Saturday night's 10-8 victory over No. 5 Hawai'i at Avery Aquatic Center. The Cardinal and Rainbow Wahine battled in a seesaw contest much of the way until Stanford scored four of the final six goals over the final 6:50 to break a 6-6 tie.
Annika Dries scored three goals to lead all players while Kaley Dodson, Jillian Garton and Melissa Seidemann each scored twice and Kim Krueger added a goal.
In the cage, all three Stanford goalies saw action. Sophomore Kate Baldoni got the start and made six saves while limiting Hawai'i to just three goals in the first half. Senior Amber Oland came on to start the second half and stopped five Hawai'i shots before giving way to Kim Hall in the final minutes.
About The Opposition
California (21-3, 6-0 MPSF) carries a national ranking of No. 2 and a perfect MPSF record into Saturday's Big Splash. The Golden Bears defeated San Diego State in a high-scoring 15-12 affair last Saturday to set up this week's clash for the top seed at the MPSF Championship.
Offensively, California is paced by the play of Breda Vosters (52 goals) along with Dana Ochsner (33 goals), Ashley Young (32) and Emily Csikos (24).
In the cage, goalie Stephanie Peckham leads the MPSF with 10.46 saves per game and ranks seventh with a goals-against average of 6.42. Fellow goalie Lindsay Dorst ranks third in the MPSF with a 4.86 goals-against average.
In The National Rankings
The Cardinal remained atop the Varsity Top 20 Poll this week, and have been in the No. 1 spot since the beginning of the season.
A Cardinal Tint To The Stanford-California Rivalry
If history is any indication, then Saturday's Big Splash looks favorable to the Cardinal. Stanford carries a 29-game winning streak against California into Saturday's meeting, a run that includes one win already this season. The Cardinal defeated the Golden Bears, 10-5, in a group game of the Stanford Invitational at Avery Aquatic Center back on Feb. 5. The last time that Stanford lost to California was on March 26, 2000, meaning it has been over 11 years since the Cardinal has lost to the Golden Bears.
Saturday Decides Stanford's MPSF Championship Opener
USC's loss to UCLA last weekend, which dropped the Trojans to 3-3 in the conference standings, means that Stanford and California's Big Splash this Saturday night will determine the first and second seeds at the MPSF Championship, set for April 29-May 1 at San Jose State. Saturday's meeting is California's regular-season finale, while Stanford still has its April 22 meeting with San Jose State on the ledger. But with both teams being unbeaten with no more than two games left to play, it means that Saturday's victor will claim the No. 1 seed at the tournament and a 1:30 pm meeting with No. 8 Arizona State on April 29.
Two-Meter Power
Saturday's win over No. 5 Hawai'i showcased Stanford's unmatchable depth at the two-meter position, as five of the team's 10 goals came from two-meter players Annika Dries and Melissa Seidemann. For Dries, her three goals in the game marked her sixth hat trick of the season. Together, the duo has combined to score 82 of Stanford's 257 goals, accounting for 31.9 percent of the team's offense.
Plenty Of Options
Heading into Saturday's Big Splash against California, the Cardinal is blessed with a vast array of options on the offensive end. So far in 2011, six different Cardinal players have scored at least 20 goals, led by 47 from Annika Dries. Melissa Seidemann (35) and Alyssa Lo (31) have each crossed the 30-goal threshold, while Kim Krueger (25), Kaley Dodson (22) and Pallavi Menon (21) round out the 20-goal scorers.