March 21, 2010

The second-ranked Stanford women's water polo team made a successful return to the pool Sunday after a two-week hiatus from competition due to final exams, racking up a 12-6 victory over No. 6 Arizona State at Avery Aquatic Center.

Stanford (17-1, 3-0 MPSF) will hit the road for a pair of games next weekend, traveling to Southern California where it will visit UCLA for a 1 p.m. contest next Saturday, March 27, and Long Beach State for a noon contest Sunday, March 28.

Sunday's victory was also memorable as the program honored its six Olympic alumnae. Four of the alumnae, Margie Dingeldein '02, Ellen (Estes) Lee '02, Alison Gregorka '07 and current senior Jessica Steffens '10 were on-hand for the recognition, while Jackie (Frank) De Luca '03 and Brenda Villa '03 were honored in absentia. Frank was unable to attend due to medical school commitments at the University of Hawai'i, while Villa returned to Italy last weekend to continue her professional playing career.

Melissa Seidemann led the Cardinal with three goals in Sunday's win, while Kelly Eaton and Kim Krueger each scored a pair. Additional goals were scored by Annika Dries, Kelsey Holshouser, Alyssa Lo, Pallavi Menon and Jessica Steffens.

Amber Oland got the start and made nine saves in three-plus periods of action, while Kate Baldoni came on in the fourth and finished things off.

The Cardinal would answer back just 1:21 later, as Krueger fired home a power-play goal on Stanford's first extra-attacker opportunity. The action stalemated over the next four-plus minutes until Dries broke through with 57 seconds left in the period and Menon followed up 34 seconds later to give Stanford a 3-1 lead after eight minutes.

ASU cut its deficit down to one with Sarah Harris' goal just 31 seconds into the second period, but the Cardinal answered 26 seconds after that, as Seidemann took a pass in front of the cage and backhanded a rocket past Sun Devil goalie Amanda Young to re-establish the two-goal lead.

The Sun Devils got back to within one on a Shannon Haas goal at 5:54, but the Cardinal would answer with two of its own, as Seidemann got her second at 4:36 followed by Steffens' shot through two pairs of hands from the left angle at 2:35. Thanks to the two goals, Stanford led 6-3 at the break.

The Cardinal would outscore the Sun Devils, 4-1, in the third frame to put ASU in a deeper hole. Krueger fired home a second power-play goal to start the scoring, while Kelly Eaton converted a five-meter penalty and Lo got on the board as Stanford upped its lead to 9-3 within the first 3:39 of the period.

After trading goals before the end of the third frame, the teams would each score twice in the final period. ASU would net the first two to get to within four at 10-6 with 6:51 remaining, but Eaton and Holshouser would pull those back for the Cardinal to quash the rally.

Arizona State - 1 2 1 2 = 6
Stanford - 3 3 4 2 = 12

Stanford Goal Scorers: Seidemann 3, Eaton 2, Krueger 2, Dries, Holshouser, Lo, Menon, Steffens
Arizona State Goal Scorers: Haas 2, Smith 2, Harris, White
Goalie Saves: Oland 9, Baldoni 0 (S); Young 1 (ASU)