2024 Women's Water Polo Campaign Begins Jan. 20

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford opens its 2024 campaign on Jan. 20, seeking its first national championship three-peat in school history and 10th NCAA title overall.

Two-time defending champion Stanford has appeared in 12 of the last 13 NCAA finals and is the nation's only program to have participated at every NCAA Championship since the event's inception in 2001. The Cardinal is bidding to join UCLA (2005-09) as the only programs to capture three straight NCAA crowns.

Stanford's quest for an NCAA three-peat will be especially challenging without the services of Jenna Flynn, Ryann Neushul, Jewel Roemer and Ella Woodhead. The quartet will miss the season taking a leave of absence while training and competing with the U.S. National Team in preparation for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Neushul and Roemer are three-time ACWPC All-Americans who combined for 108 goals and 70 assists in 2023, Flynn is the reigning MPSF Newcomer of the Year and one of four freshmen in school history to score at least 60 goals in her first season while Woodhead was an MPSF All-Freshman team performer who appeared in all 25 games and totaled 10 goals and nine assists.

Overcoming that loss in production would eliminate many teams from NCAA title consideration but the Cardinal returns several key performers with postseason experience in addition to maintaining its championship pedigree. Sophie Wallace (28 goals, 10 assists, 38 points, 54 shots), who has yet to miss a game in four seasons, is back for a fifth year as Stanford's leading returning scorer. Maggie Hawkins (17 goals, 20 points, 28 shots, 6 multi-goal games), Skyler Jones (12 goals, 8 assists, 32 shots), Christina Hicks (10 goals, 6 assists, 24 shots) and Celeste Wijnbelt (10 goals, 21 shots) were the Cardinal's other double-digit scorers in 2023.

Stanford is also anchored by the nation's top returning goalkeeper in two-time ACWPC All-American Maya Avital, who made the jump to a first-team selection in 2023 after being appointed to the second team in 2022. In 23 games last season, Avital was named an All-MPSF second-team selection, with her 189 saves ranking eighth all-time on the Cardinal's single-season list. Avital made at least 10 saves in seven contests, including a career-high 17 stops in a win against California on April 22.

The Cardinal will kick off its season on Jan. 20-21, with an appearance at Fresno State's Polo-Palooza that features four matches over two days.

After a pair of exhibitions at the Cal Cup to close out January, Stanford makes its Avery Aquatic Center debut the following week. The Cardinal hosts the Stanford Invitational from Feb. 3-4, welcoming a field of Biola, California, Cal State East Bay, Pacific and Santa Clara.

A road match at UC Davis leads into an appearance at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational (Feb. 23-25), an event the Cardinal has won in back-to-back seasons and six times overall.

MPSF play begins on March 2, with Stanford visiting San Jose State. The Cardinal travels south the following weekend to compete at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego.

Stanford returns home on March 24, hosting Arizona State in the first four conference matches at Avery Aquatic Center. All four home MPSF contests will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.

After visiting UCLA on March 30, the Cardinal hosts USC on April 6. Stanford and USC have combined to win the last 13 NCAA titles, fueling a rivalry that dominates the sport. However, the Cardinal has won six of the last eight meetings overall, with each of those victories clinching a tournament title (NCAA -2, MPSF - 2, Barbara Kalbus Invitational - 2).

The regular season concludes with home tilts against Indiana on April 14 and California on April 19. The matchup against the Golden Bears will also serve as Senior Day, with the Cardinal entering the 2024 campaign having won 13 of the last 14 meetings in the rivalry series.

The MPSF Championship is scheduled for April 26-28 in Bloomington, Indiana, with the Cardinal chasing its third consecutive conference crown and eighth in program history.

The NCAA Championship is scheduled for May 10-12 and will be hosted by California.