The Stanford women’s water polo team was extremely busy this past weekend. It faced San Diego State on Friday, UC-Irvine on Saturday and Cal State Bakersfield and UC-Davis on Sunday.
On Friday afternoon, the No. 2 Cardinal (14-1, 2-0 MPSF) was victorious against the Aztecs by a final score of 11-2.
Freshman two-meter Annika Dries skipped three goals in the net. Sophomore driver Pallavi Menon tacked on two more goals. Sophomore driver Cassie Churnside, sophomore two-meter Melissa Seidemann, senior driver Kelsey Holshouser, junior driver Kim Krueger, senior driver Kelly Eaton and senior two-meter Jessica Steffens each added a single point. Junior goalkeeper Amber Oland saved seven shots while freshman goalkeeper Kate Baldoni saved six.
On Saturday, Stanford dominated the Anteaters. The Cardinal came out strong, ending the first half with a 7-0 lead. As the second half unfolded, UC-Irvine only scored three points during the third period and a single point during the final period. The final score was 10-4, giving the Cardinal its second win this weekend.
Eaton and sophomore driver Alyssa Lo each smashed in two goals. Churnside, Dries, Steffens, Krueger, Menon and Seidemann all skipped in a single goal. Oland saved three shots while Baldoni saved six.
On Sunday, Stanford capped off the weekend with two even bigger blowout victories at the Aggie Shootout. The Cardinal defeated Cal State Bakersfield 17-1 in its most dominating win of the season. Just hours later, Stanford beat the shootout’s host, No. 15 UC-Davis, 11-1 to cap off a 4-0 weekend.
On March 21, the Cardinal will play Arizona State; on the 27th it will face off against UCLA; and finally on the 28th the Card will go head to head with Long Beach State.
Arizona State is currently ranked sixth in the country. At the UC-Irvine Invitational, Stanford defeated the Sun Devils 15-8.
Arizona State also fell to Hawaii, 9-7, at that tournament. Since then, the Sun Devils have gone undefeated, with victories over Michigan, Cal State Northridge and Cal State East Bay.
The Cardinal will then play UCLA in Los Angeles. Stanford faced off against the Bruins on Feb. 28 at the UC-Irvine Invitational and took a 10-4 victory. Later that day, however, UCLA went head-to-head with California and came out with a close 7-6 victory.
The Bruins will be playing Hawaii, UC-Irvine and Arizona State before they see the Cardinal again. UCLA is currently ranked No. 3.
Long Beach State has not yet played the Cardinal. Its most recent matches were against USC, Loyola Marymount, UC-Davis and UC-San Diego at the UC-Irvine Invitational. The 49ers were unable to return to Long Beach with a win, as they lost 12-1 to USC, 12-7 to Loyola Marymount, 8-7 to UC-Davis and 10-9 to UC-San Diego.
After Stanford’s loss to USC at the UC-Irvine Invitational, the team feels optimistic about all of its upcoming matches.
“We know what we need to work on, and we will be able to carry this feeling throughout the rest of the season as motivation,” Krueger said.
With its No. 2 ranking, the Cardinal is now more motivated than ever to earn back the top national ranking, which it lost after the USC match.
“If anything, it has motivated us even more to work hard and to come back out and show what this team is really about,” Baldoni said. “If we do that, we will still have a good shot at the title.”
After a two-week break for finals, the next matches for Stanford will be against Arizona State at the Avery Aquatic Center at 1 p.m. on March 21, against UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif. at 1 p.m. on March 27 and finally against Long Beach State in Long Beach, Calif. at 12 p.m. on March 28.