April 11, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's water polo, back atop the national rankings, hosts the fourth-ranked California Golden Bears for Senior Day and The Big Splash Saturday at 4 p.m. at Avery Aquatic Center.
Seniors Cassie Churnsie, Monica Coughlan, Alyssa Lo and Pallavi Menon will be honored prior to the contest. It will be the quartet's final regular-season home game, but the Cardinal will return to Avery to host the MPSF Championship from April 27-29.
With a win Saturday, the Cardinal (19-1, 5-0 MPSF) can clinch a top-two seed at the MPSF Championship in two weeks. The Cardinal will have the chance to clinch the top seed next Saturday at UCLA.
Saturday's meeting will be the second of 2012 season between Stanford and California. The Cardinal defeated the Golden Bears, 13-5, in the semifinals of the UCI Invitational on Feb. 26.
Stanford has won 30 straight over California heading into Saturday's game, and has not lost to the Golden Bears since March 26, 2000.
Freshman Kiley Neushul leads the Cardinal with 43 goals and is fourth in the MPSF with a scoring average of 2.15 goals per game. Fellow rookie Ashley Grossman is next with 38 goals and seventh in the conference with 2.00 goals a game, while other 20-goal scorers for the Cardinal include Alyssa Lo (29), Kaitlyn Lo (23), Cassie Churnside (23) and Kaley Dodson (20).
Goalie Kate Baldoni leads the MPSF with a goals-against average of 4.65 and is second with 9.93 saves per game.
California (17-6, 4-2 MPSF), which moved up to No. 4 in the national rankings after last Saturday's upset of then-No. 1 UCLA, comes into its regular-season finale Saturday having split its past six games.
The Golden Bears are led by the scoring of Breda Vosters (44 goals entering the weekend).
Defensively, Lindsay Dorst is fourth in the MPSF with a 6.49 goals-against average and makes 8.12 saves per game.