Stanford Athletics

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WHAT'S AHEAD

No. 1 Stanford (17-1, 5-0 MPSF) wraps up its regular season at home when it hosts No. 9 UC Davis (17-10, 3-2 Big West) on Friday at 6 p.m. and its final MPSF contest against No. 20 San Jose State (10-12, 2-3 MPSF) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

SENIOR SATURDAY

Saturday's contest against the Spartans will also serve as Stanford's Senior Day, at which Madison Berggren, Kat Klass, Cassidy Wiley and Mackenzie Wiley will be honored in a pregame ceremony. That group has led the Cardinal to an 83-14 (.856) record since 2016 and the 2017 NCAA title.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED

Stanford clinched the No. 1 seed at the upcoming MPSF Championship with a 13-12 victory at No. 4 Cal last Saturday afternoon. The Cardinal went up by as many as seven, 10-3, late in the first half, but Cal chipped away and closed to within a goal in the final minute. Stanford was able to hold on, its third consecutive one-goal win, and locked up the top seed at the conference tournament for the first time since 2015.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Stanford would finish a perfect 6-0 in the MPSF with a win on Saturday against San Jose State. It would be the Cardinal's first undefeated conference season in four years. Stanford had six consecutive undefeated league records from 2010-15.

HOSTING IT ALL

Avery Aquatic Center is the place to be in the coming weeks. Stanford will host the MPSF Championship from April 26-28 and the NCAA Championship from May 10-12. Last time Stanford hosted NCAA's in 2015, the Cardinal became the first host institution to win a national championship in its home pool. Tickets are on sale for both events and a hub of information for the MPSF Tournament, including an event schedule and live stream links is live on GoStanford.com. The championship and third-place games on Sunday will be carried live on Pac-12 Networks.

MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Aria Fischer was named MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week for the second time this season when the conference announced its weekly honors on Tuesday afternoon. It's Stanford's league-high sixth player of the week award of 2019.

Fischer scored a career-high five goals to lead No. 1 Stanford to its third consecutive one-goal victory, a 13-12 win at No. 4 Cal on Saturday afternoon. The sophomore scored the Cardinal's first goal and then three in a row to begin the second quarter, which opened up a 7-2 lead. Fischer's finally tally with 3:05 to go in the game was Stanford's 13th goal – its only score in the fourth – and proved to be the game winner, as the Golden Bears battled back to score five in the final quarter and pull within one with 37 seconds remaining.

FANTASTIC FISCHER

Makenzie Fischer is averaging 4.00 goals per game, has had multi-score efforts in 15 of her 17 matches this season and has been responsible for 24 percent of the Cardinal's scoring offense this season (68 of 289 goals). She's more than a full goal per game better than the No. 2 player in the MPSF (Emma Wright – Cal; 2.82). In the past 15 years, only two conference players have even averaged more than 3.00 goals per game: USC's Monica Vavic in 2015 (3.33) and Pacific's Sarah Harris in 2007 (3.64).

Fischer is sixth on the program's all-time scoring list with 189. Ellen Estes (1997-98, 2001-02) is next on the list with 214. The junior's 68 goals this season are fifth in school history. Only three Stanford players have scored 70 times in a season: Ellen Estes in 1998 (93), Melissa Seidemann in 2013 (75) and Lauren Silver in 2008 (71).

AT AVERY

Stanford is 105-9 at home since 2008.

AGAINST THE COMPETITION

Stanford is 20-0 all-time against UC Davis. It beat the Aggies on the road, 17-6, earlier this season on Feb. 16 behind six goals from Makenzie Fischer.

The Cardinal is 49-0 all-time against San Jose State. Stanford's third win of this season came against the Spartans at the Cal Cup on Jan. 27, 19-4. Makenzie Fischer had six goals in that victory and Madison Stamen added five.

CARDINAL TO CHINA

No strangers to representing Stanford on a global stage, the Cardinal women's water polo program announced a summer trip to China on March 22 for two weeks of sports diplomacy - water polo, student exchanges and exploration.

Running from June 23 – July 8, the Cardinal will start and end the trip training with and competing against the Chinese National Team. In between, the team will tour sites in an around Chengdu, where they are being hosted by China's Water Polo Federation, and also visit the Tibetan Plateau of Western Sichuan province.

Stanford's preparations for the trip began in earnest weeks ago with the formation of a robust seminar series covering Chinese history, culture and language, Sino-American relations, development economics examining health and education in rural China, entrepreneurship and diplomacy.

FULL STORY: stanford.io/2UQgvQB

USA WATER POLO HALL OF FAME

Jessica Steffens, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time, first-team All-American at Stanford, and Dunlevie Family Director of Women's Water Polo John Tanner will be part of USA Water Polo's 2019 Hall of Fame Class inducted on Friday, June 7 at ceremonies in Pleasanton, Calif.

Steffens and Tanner are two of seven members who will go into USA Water Polo's Hall of Fame as part of its 35th induction class.

A 2012 Olympic gold medalist and 2008 Olympic silver medalist, Steffens was a 2010 Peter J. Cutino Award finalist, a first-team All-American for the Cardinal in 2009 and 2010 and a three-time academic All-American.

In his 22nd season at Stanford, John Tanner took the reins of the developing women's water polo program in 1998 and has turned it into a powerhouse that has produced six NCAA Championships (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017).

A five-time national coach of the year who holds a 538-78 (.873) career record at Stanford, Tanner has tutored nine ACWPC Players of the Year, seven Peter J. Cutino award winners, 112 ACWPC All-America selections and student-athletes that have earned a total of 198 ACWPC All-Academic selections.

SEEING THE STATS

Stanford tops the MPSF in goals per game (16.06), ahead of USC (14.22), and is second in goals allowed per game (6.28) trailing the Trojans (4.04). Individually, Makenzie Fischer leads the league in goals per game (4.00) and Aria Fischer is seventh (2.06). Sarah Klass is eighth (1.94), Kat Klass is 11th (1.65), Madison Stamen is 13th (1.53), Madison Berggren is 15th (1.42) and Ryann Neushul 23rd (1.22). Emalia Eichelberger's 7.19 goals against average is fifth in the conference and her 9.29 saves per game are fourth. Thea Walsh is second in goals against average (5.19) and ninth in saves per game (6.07).

WHAT'S IN STORE IN 2019

Denied in its big for back-to-back national championships last May, Stanford is be in a strong position as it looks to reclaim the crown in 2019. The Cardinal returns its four leading goal scorers from a year ago in Makenzie Fischer (67), Kat Klass (39), Madison Berggren (36) and Aria Fischer (35) and welcomes more than 80 percent of its total scoring offense back into the fold (229 of 285) this season.

At the other end of the pool, Stanford must replace Julia Hermann in the cage as part of a class of four departed seniors. Hermann was a third-team All-American last season, finished second in the MPSF in goals against average (5.35) and had five of her seven double-digit save performances in the season's final seven games.

Stanford's six-person freshman class includes Youth National Team goalkeeper Thea Walsh and Junior National Team members Chloe Harbilas and Ryann Neushul. Neushul is the youngest sister of Stanford alums Kiley and Jamie Neushul, who each won three national championships with the Cardinal and combined for five first-team All-America honors.