The No. 3 ranked Stanford women’s water polo team (16-2, 2-0 MPSF) will travel to Bakersfield, California to take on the No. 23-ranked CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (13-15, 0-2) on Saturday.
The defending national champions are looking to continue their success this season after defeating No. 6 Arizona State 8-5 last Saturday. A win over CSU Bakersfield would extend the squad’s winning streak to six games and continue its momentum going into the final few games of the regular season, with its last loss coming over a month ago to No. 1 USC, 7-6.
Head coach John Tanner is looking to the future with optimism.
“We are beginning to play teams again, so we are becoming more familiar with opponents,” Tanner said. “But we also have some new different challenges, like Bakersfield, and now we are just focusing on one game a week.”
Stanford has benefitted from the combination of a well-balanced offense and a strong defense that keeps opponents on edge. In addition to leading the league in goals, in their last contest six different players for Stanford found the back of the net, and over the course of the season 10 different players have accumulated more than ten goals.
On the defensive side, the Cardinal have held their opponents to only 95 goals. Junior goalie Julia Hermann has played extremely well this season, as she has allowed an average of only 5.52 goals per game.
The Roadrunners have struggled recently and are hoping to end their four game skid with a win over Stanford. They will be led by sophomore driver Ashley Paz, who has scored an impressive 46 goals on the season.
The game will take place at 1 p.m. in Bakersfield, CA.
Contact Yousef Hindy at yhindy ‘at’ stanford.edu.