March 1, 2013

STANFORD, Calif. - Second-ranked Stanford women's water polo looks to bounce back from its first loss of the campaign, suffered Sunday against USC, when it hosts CSU Bakersfield for an 1 p.m. MPSF contest.

The Cardinal (12-1) suffered its first loss of the season in Sunday's UCI Invitational title game, falling 13-10 to USC.

Saturday's game against CSU Bakersfield opens a three-game homestand for the Cardinal, which will host San Jose State next Saturday, March 9, then Harvard on March 22.

Saturday will mark the third meeting this season between the Cardinal and Roadrunners. The Cardinal captured the two previous contests, defeating the Roadrunners 20-3 at the UCSB Invite on Jan. 27 then capturing a 12-4 decision in the UCI Invitational opener last Saturday.

Senior Melissa Seidemann leads the Cardinal with 33 goals while Anna Yelizarova (27), Kiley Neushul (22) and Maggie Steffens (21) are each over the 20-goal mark already. The quartet sparks an offense that averages 12.92 goals per game.

Stanford's defense, anchored by senior goalie Kate Baldoni, has allowed just 58 goals over 13 games for an average of 4.46 per game.

CSU Bakersfield (4-13) enters Saturday's contest on a five-game slide, most recently finishing 16th at last weekend's UCI Invitational. The Roadrunners are led by the play of Nicola Barrett (23 goals) and Shannon McKenzie (18) while in the cage Alex Bayer averages 6.38 saves per game.