May 23, 2013
USA Water Polo Senior National Team FINA World League Prelim rosters and schedule
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's water polo will be represented by seven alumnae as USA Water Polo announced its "A" and "B" Senior National Team rosters for this weekend's FINA World League Prelims in Los Alamitos.
The event, a combination of official and exhibition games, begins Friday, May 24 and concludes Monday, May 27. Along with the two U.S. squads, Canada and Brazil will also participate in the event.
Four of the Cardinal alumnae are current members of the Stanford squad, while three, Lauren Silver '09, Melissa Seidemann '13 and Kate Baldoni '13 have wrapped their careers on The Farm.
Silver is joined by 2012 Olympic Gold Medalists Seidemann, Annika Dries and Maggie Steffens as well as junior-to-be Kiley Neushul on the U.S. "A" roster, while Baldoni and junior-to-be Ashley Grossman will play on the "B" roster.
With the exception of Silver, the other six players with Cardinal ties were part of the 2013 Stanford team that reached the NCAA Championship Game two weeks ago, falling 10-9 to USC in a quadruple-overtime thriller. All six players boast an NCAA title in their collegiate career, while two, Dries (2011) and Neushul (2012), are past Peter J. Cutino Award winners.
Seidemann ended the year leading the Cardinal with 75 goals, and along with Silver shares the Stanford career goal-scoring record of 239 goals. The Walnut Creek native was named to the All-MPSF First Team as well as to the National Collegiate Championship All-Tournament Team this year.
Steffens also earned a spot on the All-MPSF First Team, coming in second on the team with 60 goals. Neushul was third with 50 goals while Dries (35 goals) and Grossman (20 goals) each found success despite campaigns which were limited due to injury.
Baldoni, the top Cardinal goalie for the past two seasons, led the MPSF in 2013 with a goals-against average of 4.57, anchoring a Stanford defense that led the conference with just 4.59 goals allowed per game. In 2012 she was named the National Collegiate Championship MVP and this past season was named to the All-Tournament Second Team.
Silver earned All-America honors in each of her four seasons on The Farm (2006-09) and made her first Senior National Team appearance in 2006, playing on the "B" roster in Quebec.