Feb. 23, 2011

Saturday, Feb. 26
- vs. - CS Bakersfield - 1 p.m. - Corona del Mar, Calif.
- vs. - Arizona State OR San Jose State - TBD - Corona del Mar, Calif.

Sunday, Feb. 27
- vs. - TBD - TBD - TBD
- vs. - TBD - TBD - TBD

Weekly Notes

STANFORD, Calif. - Top-ranked Stanford makes its first trip of the season to Southern California as it prepares for the UCI Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 26-27. The Cardinal will open up tournament play Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against CS Bakersfield at Corona del Mar High School.

Last Time Out
The Cardinal made it nine in a row to start the 2011 season with a 15-4 victory at No. 19 Pacific last Sunday afternoon. Melissa Seidemann led the Cardinal with four goals in the victory, while Annika Dries and Kaley Dodson each scored twice.

On the defensive side of things, sophomore Kate Baldoni went the distance in the cage, stopping seven Tiger shots.

About The Opposition
CS Bakersfield (3-9) enters Saturday's tournament opener on a three-game slide and losers of six of its past seven contests following an 0-2 showing at the CSUN Mini-Tournament last weekend. Taylor Hanson scored five goals for the Roadrunners over the two games, while Jessica Browning and Malia Pahoa each scored four times.

Arizona State and San Jose State are the other two teams in Pool A along with Stanford and CS Bakersfield. The Sun Devils enter the weekend with a record of 2-4 overall, while the Spartans have a 7-7 mark so far this season.

In The National Rankings
The Cardinal remained atop the Varsity Top 20 Poll this week, holding its preseason ranking.

Dodson Picks Up Second Newcomer Of The Week Honor
Freshman driver Kaley Dodson picked up the second MPSF Mikasa Newcomer of the Week honor of her rookie season on Monday. Dodson, a native of Seal Beach, Calif., scored twice in Stanford's 15-4 win at No. 19 Pacific this past Sunday, and climbed into a tie for third place on the team list with 14 goals on the year. She was named Newcomer of the Week for the first time this season back on Jan. 24 following Stanford's perfect 4-0 showing at the Michigan Kickoff back on Jan. 22-23.

UCI Invitational Setup
This weekend's UCI Invitational is a 16-team tournament featuring nine of the Top 10 teams in the nation and 15 ranked teams in all. Stanford, the top seed in the draw, heads up Pool A along with No. 8 Arizona State, No. 10 San Jose State and unranked CS Bakersfield. The winner of Saturday morning's Stanford-CS Bakersfield contest will meet the winner of 10:15 a.m.'s Arizona State-San Jose contest later Saturday at 2 p.m. at Corona del Mar High School.

Should the Cardinal win its first contest, it will then play each of Sunday's two contests at UC Irvine. Two wins on Saturday would put the Cardinal into Sunday's semifinal round at UC Irvine.

Ruling The Two-Meter Area
Stanford demonstrated once again with Sunday's 15-4 win at No. 19 Pacific that its two-meter players will be a force to be reckoned with in 2011. Junior two-meter Melissa Seidemann powered her way to four goals in the contest, scoring them all in the first half as Stanford got out to a 10-2 halftime lead. Sophomore Annika Dries also provided support at the two-meter spot, tallying a pair of goals in the win to bring her season total to 15. Dries co-leads the team with 15 goals while Seidemann is right behind her with 14 through the season's first nine games.

Big Push Into The Finals Break
This weekend's trip to UC Irvine for the UCI Invitational begins a busy two-week period for the Cardinal, as the team will play six games over the next two weekends before taking a 13-day break for final exams. Following this weekend's tournament, the Cardinal will return to Southern California from March 5-6, visiting San Diego State on Saturday, March 5 before closing the weekend Sunday, March 6 at Long Beach State.

Among The MPSF Leaders
Through the MPSF statistical rankings of Feb. 21, Stanford was represented in the top-20 among the conference leaders. Annika Dries and Pallavi Menon are tied for 14th in the conference with scoring averages of 1.67 goals per game. Kaley Dodson and Melissa Seidemann are tied for 19th with 1.56 goals per game.

On the defensive side of things, goalies Amber Oland and Kate Baldoni are among the top of the list. Baldoni and Oland rank 1-2 in goals-against average with figures of 2.68 and 4.61, respectively. Oland's 9.00 saves per game rank third in the MPSF, with Baldoni's figure of 7.50 ranking fifth.

In the team rankings, Stanford leads the loop in both offense and defense, scoring 13.11 goals per game while allowing just 3.78 a game.