Jan. 28, 2013

2013 Stanford Invitational Central

STANFORD, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford women's water polo hosts the 2013 Stanford Invitational this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 2-3 at Avery Aquatic Center.

All-session passes will cost $25 for adults and $15 for youth, seniors and Stanford faculty and staff. Single-day passes will run $15 for adults and $8 for youth, seniors and Stanford faculty and staff.

Admission for Stanford students will be free with an SUID.

The Cardinal, which just went 5-0 over its opening weekend at home and in Santa Barbara, has won its home tournament the past three seasons, capping last year's title with a 9-5 win over UCLA.

Along with the Cardinal, this year's field features seven additional teams ranked in last week's CWPA Varsity Top 20 Poll in No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 California, No. 9 San Jose State, No. 12 Hawai'i, No. 13 UC Davis, No. 14 Indiana and No. 16 Hartwick.

The Olympic Club, based in San Francisco, will also send a squad that will take on Stanford and UC Davis Saturday.

The Cardinal will open the tournament against The Olympic Club in exhibition action at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Belardi Pool. Stanford will return to action at 4 p.m. Saturday, facing San Jose State in Avery Pool.

Stanford opened the 2013 campaign this past Friday with an 11-2 win over No. 10 Michigan at Avery Aquatic Center, then followed up with wins over No. 18 Cal Baptist, No. 6 UC Irvine, Cal Baptist and No. 8 Loyola Marymount.

Senior two-meter and 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Melissa Seidemann led the Cardinal with 14 goals over the weekend, posting four hat tricks. Stanford's rookies flexed their scoring muscle as well, as Anna Yelizarova, Gurpreet Sohi and Maggie Steffens combined to score 28 goals over the five game, paced by Yelizarova's dozen.