The No. 1 women’s water polo team started off the season this past weekend with a dominant 4-game sweep in the LouStrong Memorial Tournament held at San Jose State. On Saturday, the Cardinal defeated No. 10 University of Pacific, 16-10, and No. 9 UC Davis, 11-6. They followed up these victories with two more against Cal State Monterey Bay, 19-1, and San Jose State, 10-5.
Though the Tigers scored the first goal in the Cardinals’ first game of the season, Stanford was up 6-4 by the end of the first quarter. Freshman Madison Berggren tied the game at 1-1, scoring her first goal of her Cardinal career. Fellow frosh Kat Klass followed up with her first collegiate goal less than forty seconds later. Senior Gurpreet Sohi and junior Jamie Neushul each added a goal and junior Dani Jackovich had 2 goals to round out the quarter.
In the second quarter, Klass added another goal, and Jackovich added 2 more. Senior Anna Yelizarova and sophomore Jordan Raney each knocked in a goal as well, giving the Cardinal an 11-6 lead.
Unstoppable from there, the Cardinal continued to dominate, scoring 5 goals in the second half, with Sohi and Klass completing hat tricks in the fourth quarter.
That afternoon, the Cardinal took on the Aggies, improving their record to 2-0. Shutting out the Aggies in the first quarter, Stanford got an early lead. Raney, Neushul, and Klass each scored, ending the quarter up 3-0.
The Aggies scored the first goal of the second quarter about a minute in. Neushul quickly responded with her second goal of the game, and Klass added another goal with a minute left in the half.
The second half of the game featured over eight minutes of scoreless play, which were ended by a penalty goal scored by Klass, her third goal of the game. Neushul added her third and final goal of the day 41 seconds later, and Klass scored her fourth goal about a minute later. In the last 11 seconds of the game, the Cardinal gave up a penalty shot, ending the game with an 11-6 victory.
Day 2 of the tournament started off with a bang, as the Cardinal dominated Cal State Monterey Bay with a 19-1 victory. The Cardinal took the lead less than 30 seconds into the game, with a goal from freshman Mackenzie Wiley. Junior Cassidy Papa, sophomores Shannon Cleary and Lauren Norheim, Sohi, and freshman Cassidy Wiley each added goals of their own, giving the Cardinal a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Junior Sophia Monaghan squeezed in another Cardinal goal before the Otters scored their first, and only, goal from freshman Katrina Conen. The Cardinal then had 12 unanswered goals. Ending the first half with a 12-1 lead, Stanford continued to control the game in the second half.
In the third quarter, Cleary scored a penalty goal about five minutes in, completing her hat trick. The Cardinal also earned a penalty goal in the fourth quarter, and Dani Jackovich took the shot, scoring the final goal of the game with only 52 seconds left.
In the final game of the tournament, the Spartans were no match for the powerful Cardinal. Stanford took an early lead and never let go, holding San Jose State scoreless for the first nine minutes of play. Sohi scored the first goal of the game on a power play, and Jackovich followed it up with another goal 40 seconds later.
A minute into the second quarter sophomore Katie Dudley scored a goal, and Neushul launched in a goal 57 seconds afterwards. The Spartans then recorded their first goal, changing the score to 4-1. Raney scored the final goal of the half, bumping the Cardinal lead back up to four.
Though the Cardinal scored the opening goal of the half, the Spartans followed it up with 3 unanswered goals, reducing their deficit to 2, with a score of 6-4. A penalty goal from Neushul and another goal from Raney closed out the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Sohi netted her second goal of the match and Neushul completed her hat trick with a goal in the last 46 seconds of the game, ending the contest with a final score of 10-5.
Klass and Neushul led the team in goals over the weekend with 8 apiece, while Jackovich and Sohi followed close behind with 6 each. The Cardinal had 15 players score throughout the tournament.
Stanford is ranked number one in the nation, as it seeks its third consecutive NCAA championship. This tournament allowed the Cardinal to demonstrate their dominance in the pool.
Now 4-0, Stanford next takes on the University of Michigan on February 6 at 11:00am at the Avery Aquatic Center as part of the two-day Stanford Invitational.
Contact Selby Sturzenegger at selby ‘at’ stanford.edu.