March 23, 2008

STANFORD, Calif. - There will be trouble in paradise Monday as the second-ranked Stanford women's water polo team travels to the 50th state to take on No. 5 Hawai'i at 7 p.m. PT. The Cardinal (14-3, 4-1 MPSF) will be making its first trip to the islands in two years, and Monday's game will be the second meeting this season with the Rainbow Wahine (12-3, 5-0 MPSF).

The two squads have met once prior this season, in the third-place game of the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 10. Kira Hillman posted a hat trick to lead the way in the Cardinal's 10-6 victory.

Stanford ends a 15-day hiatus from game action with Monday's game. The Cardinal posted a 3-1 mark over that four-game weekend from March 7-9, defeating UCSB, Pomona-Pitzer, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Lauren Silver leads the Cardinal with 40 goals so far this year, and is fourth in the MPSF with 2.35 goals per game. Jacquelyn Gauthier (26 goals), Kelly Eaton (25), and Hillman (23) round out the Stanford players with 20-plus goals on the season.

On the other end of the tank, the freshman duo of Amber Oland and Kaneohe native Kim Hall has handled matters in the cage quite well. Oland's 4.93 goals-against average is third-best in the conference, while Hall, in eight games of action, has made 26 saves and allowed only 20 goals (2.50 per game).

Hawai'i has won six games in a row and eight of its last nine dating back to a Feb. 20 win at Arizona State. Kelly Mason leads the Rainbow Wahine with 32 goals, while Angela Turnbull and Lisa van Raalte each have 25 scores. In the cage, Serena Bredin averages 7.31 saves per game.

Monday's contest also marks the end of Stanford's stretch of five road games dating back to March 7. The Cardinal will return home Saturday, March 29 for a doubleheader, taking on Brown at 1 p.m. before hosting Long Beach State at 7 p.m.