STANFORD, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford (0-0) opens the 2010 season on the road, heading to Berkeley to take part in three games as part of the NorCal Invitational. The Cardinal will open up the year Saturday, Jan. 30 with an 11:45 a.m. contest against No. 15 UC Santa Barbara. The following day, Stanford closes out the weekend with a doubleheader, first taking on CSU Monterey Bay at 8 a.m. then battling Pacific at 11:45 a.m. at California's Spieker Aquatics Complex.

About The Opposition
UC Santa Barbara (2-0) enters this weekend's action coming off of a pair of wins over CS Bakersfield and Pomona-Pitzer last week. Claire Buchanan and Christie Clark wach scored three goals over ther weekend to lead the Gauchos, while goalkeeper Ruth Milne made 10 saves.

CSU Monterey Bay (1-1) also opened its campaign last weekend, splitting a pair of games. The Otters opened the weekend with a 9-8 loss against Azusa Pacific before rebounding for an 11-8 victory over Fresno Pacific. Chloe McRae led the Otters with four goals while in the cage, Sarah Ford made 15 saves.

Pacific (0-0) opens its 2010 campaign Friday at the NorCal Invitational, taking on No. 3 Hawai'i at 5:30 p.m. The Tigers return 2009 leading scorer Dara Tawarahara, who scored 68 goals last year.

In The National Rankings
The Cardinal opened the 2010 season ranked No. 1 in the Varsity Top 20 Poll, and despite not playing last week, remain in the top spot, just two points ahead of No. 2 USC.

2009 Recap
Stanford claimed a national third-place finish in 2009 and finished the season with an overall record of 26-4. That record included a 6-1 mark in MPSF play, good for second in the conference. The Cardinal also reached the championship game of the MPSF Tournament before falling to eventual champion USC.

Senior driver Lauren Silver, junior two-meter Jessica Steffens, junior driver Kelly Eaton and freshman two-meter Melissa Seidemann were all named All-Americans at the end of the campaign, with Seidemann also taking home MPSF Newcomer of the Year honors. Seidemann led the Cardinal with 59 goals, while Silver was right behind her with 52. Eaton was third with 45 goals while Steffens anchored the defense and also added 12 goals.

In the cage, sophomore Amber Oland averaged 7.05 saves per game in 2009.

Plenty Of Returning Firepower
Stanford returns plenty of offensive firepower in 2010, as five 20-goal scorer from a year ago will be back in action, led by sophomore two-meter Melissa Seidemann, who led the team with 59 goals. Drivers Kelly Eaton (45 goals), Pallavi Menon (27 goals) and Kim Krueger (21 goals) along with two-meter Alex Koran (29 goals) join Seidemann in making up the brunt of the Cardinal's attack.

Defensive Standouts Also Back On The Farm
The offensive end of the tank isn't the only place where the Cardinal will benefit from its returners. Both goalkeepers, sophomores Amber Oland (7.05 saves per game in `09) and Kim Hall (4.67 saves per game) return to guard the cage in 2010, while All-American two-meter Jessica Steffens will also continue to be a disruptive force for opposing attacks.

Looking To Keep The Scoring Going
Sophomore two-meter Melissa Seidemann will look to continue her dominant play in the middle as the 2010 season gets underway, as the Walnut Creek, Calif. native hopes to build off of her 59-goal debut a year ago. With a year of collegiate play under her belt already, Seidemann should still be a force in the two-meter spot and will continue to give opposing defenses fits.

Waiting To Make Their Debuts
Stanford will also be bolstered this season by the addition of six new faces in 2010, as goalie Kate Baldoni (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar High School), two-meter offense Annika Dries (Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach High School), all-around Vee Dunlevie (Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep), driver Jillian Garton (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay High School), two-meter offense Victoria Kennedy (Corona del Mar, Calif./Corona del Mar High School) and all-around Alexis Lee (Ventura, Calif./Ventura High School) join the squad.

Baldoni and Dries were part of the U.S. Junior National Team that won gold at the 18-Under Global Championships in Australia in July, 2008. Dunlevie and Lee are both Junior Olympic All-Americans, while Kennedy helped her CdM squad to a CIF Division II title in 2006 and Garton has trained with the U.S. Junior National Team.

Among The MPSF Leaders
Stanford has not yet played this season and MPSF stats for the Cardinal are not yet available.

Stanford Picked To Capture MPSF Title In 2010
Stanford was the choice to take home the 2010 MPSF title, according to a poll of the conference's head coaches. The Cardinal received five of the eight first-place votes for a total of 45 points to finish atop the poll. USC was second with 42 points and one first-place vote, while UCLA was tabbed third with 38 points and the two remaining first-place votes.

Head Coach John Tanner
Head coach John Tanner enters his 12th year at the helm of the Cardinal program in 2009. Tanner, a five-time MPSF Coach of the Year selection, has accumulated a record of 297-52 (.853) on The Farm over that time. He has led Stanford to every NCAA Championship tournament since its inception in 2001, and has won a national title (2002) as well as turning in four national runner-up finishes (2001, `03, `05, `07). Over his previous 11 seasons guiding the Stanford program, Tanner has also produced 11 U.S. National Team members as well as six Olympians, including Brenda Villa, Alison Gregorka and Jessica Steffens at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.