April 24, 2013
MPSF Championship Central
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STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's water polo goes for its first MPSF Championship crown since 2006 this weekend at California's Spieker Aquatics Complex.
Fans can get live updates from the event by following @MPSF_WWaterPolo on Twitter throughout the weekend.
The Cardinal (26-1), ranked No. 1 in the CWPA Varsity Top 20 Poll, earned the top seed in this weekend's tournament by virtue of its perfect 6-0 mark in MPSF play. The top seed earned the Cardinal a bye into Saturday's semifinal round where at 2:30 p.m. it will face the winner of Friday's 2:30 p.m. semifinal between No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 California.
Stanford enters the tournament on a season-high 14-game winning streak, having suffered its only setback of the campaign in a 13-10 loss to USC at the UCI Invitational on Feb. 24.
Stanford has won four previous MPSF Championship crowns (2000, 2001, 2003, 2006) and appeared in the title game 10 times entering this weekend. Since its last title in 2006, the Cardinal has thrice lost in the championship game (2007, 2009, 2012) and thrice finished third (2008, 2010, 2011).
Senior Melissa Seidemann leads the Cardinal with a career-high 60 goals and ranks fifth in the MPSF with 2.22 goals per game. Freshman Maggie Steffens is 10th in the conference with 1.89 goals per game and second on the team with 51 goals. Kiley Neushul (47 goals) and Anna Yelizarova (43) are also over the 40-goal mark for the Cardinal.
In the cage, senior Kate Baldoni is second in the conference with a 4.16 goals-against average, while freshman Gabby Stone leads the loop with a 4.09 mark. Along with sophomore goalie Emily Dorst, Stanford's goalie corps anchors a defense which is tops in the MPSF allowing just 4.19 goals per game.