STANFORD, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford (3-0) opens its home schedule this weekend as it hosts the annual Stanford Invitational at Avery Aquatic Center this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 6-7. The tournament will feature eight of the top nine teams in the national poll, while the Cardinal will open things up with an 8:30 a.m. contest Saturday against No. 6 Michigan. Stanford will continue group play Saturday at 4 p.m. against No. 2 USC and Sunday at 8 a.m. against No. 7 San Jose State.

Last Time Out
The Cardinal opened the 2010 season in perfect fashion last weekend, going 3-0 at the NorCal Invitational in Berkeley. Stanford opened the campaign Saturday with a 15-5 victory over No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, as freshman two-meter Annika Dries led the team with four goals in her collegiate debut. Stanford would go on to claim two more victories Sunday, defeating CSU Monterey Bay, 16-2, then beating Pacific, 19-8.

Melissa Seidemann led the Cardinal with seven goals and a pair of hat tricks over the weekend, while in the cage, Amber Oland, Kim Hall and Kate Baldoni all saw action and anchored the defensive effort.

About The Opposition
Michigan (3-1) returns to action at the Stanford Invitational after a two-week break. In its last competition, the Wolverines went 3-1 at the Michigan Kick-Off, defeating UC San Diego, Colorado State and No. 7 San Diego State while dropping only a 10-7 decision to No. 3 UCLA. Lauren Colton leads the team with eight goals through the opening four games.

USC (0-0) opens the 2010 season at Long Beach State on Thursday before heading up to Stanford. The Women of Troy, last year's national runner-up, return five All-Americans from a team that posted a 26-2 record in 2009.

In The National Rankings
The Cardinal remained in the No. 1 spot in the rankings for the third straight week to start the season after going 3-0 at the NorCal Invitational.

Seidemann Leads The Scoring Charge
Sophomore two-meter Melissa Seidemann, last year's leading scorer with 59 goals, opened the 2010 campaign just as brilliantly in Berkeley last weekend, netting a team-leading seven goals at the NorCal Invitational. The Walnut Creek native posted hat tricks in Stanford's victories over No. 15 UC Santa Barbara (15-5) on Saturday and against Pacific (19-8) on Sunday.

Two-Meter Domination
One part of the Cardinal's game that it showed off at the NorCal Invitational last weekend was its depth at the two-meter position. In the season opener Saturday against No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, two-meter players Melissa Seidemann and freshman Annika Dries combined to score seven of Stanford's 15 goals in the contest, and on the weekend scored 13 goals.

Glory All Around
Stanford spread the love around when it came to scoring over last weekend's trio of games at the NorCal Invitational, as 15 different players accounted for the Cardinal's 50 goals. Six players posted seven hat tricks over the weekend, with Melissa Seidemann notching two, and the rest going to Mimi Bury, Annika Dries, Alexis Lee, Alyssa Lo and Pallavi Menon.

Stanford At The Stanford Invitational
This weekend Stanford will be seeking its first Stanford Invitational title since 2003, as it has finished in third place in each of the last six years.

Stanford captured the tournament title in each of the first three years since the draw's inception in 2001, but has only managed to finish third every year since 2003. Over the tournament's nine-year history, the Cardinal has lost to only two teams, UCLA and USC, and has posted a 30-6 record in tournament play since 2001.