Stanford The Favorite Heading Into Tournament

Despite late season struggles, Cardinal are top seed

May 9, 2007

By Trevor Freeman

Special to CSTV.com

	Trevor Freeman Trevor Freeman covers Water Polo for CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- WATER POLO 12/2: Cal Emerges Victorious Once Again 12/1: Bears Take Defensive Battle 12/1: Trojans Too Strong For LMU 11/27: Cruising the Decks - NCAA Tournament Edition 11/20: Cruising The Decks - Going Wild 11/13: Cruising The Decks - Last Chances 11/6: Cruising The Decks: Hungry Like The Wolf 10/30: Cruising The Decks: UCLA Stuns USC 10/23: Cruising The Decks: East Up For Grabs 10/16: Cruising The Decks: Shakeout In SoCal 10/9: Cruising The Decks - Happenings From USC To...Salem International? 10/2: Cruising The Decks - Week 4 9/25: Cruising The Decks - Week 3 9/18: Cruising The Decks - Week 2 9/11: Cruising The Decks - Week 1 5/9: Stanford The Favorite Heading Into Tournament 12/1: Final Four Matchups Feature Stars 11/16: Things For USC May Get Dicey 9/3: St. Francis Has Big Dreams

The sport of water polo has undergone many a change. However, the biggest one has to be the emergence of women's water polo in this country. The days when it was barely played on the high school and collegiate levels are not that far behind us. As recently as 1999 there were very few schools sponsoring women's water polo. In eight short years, it has grown to the point that the women's NCAA tournament has more entrants than the men's.

This year's tournament has some outstanding storylines in it. It begins with a small school from Staten Island making a splash on the big stage and it extends to powerhouse Stanford trying to bring home their first NCAA title since 2002. In between you have Pomona-Pitzer qualifying for their first ever NCAA tournament, a couple of old hands in Loyola Marymount and USC looking for a taste of glory, an Eastern powerhouse of 1,480 students located in Oneonta, a team ready to wear Cinderella's slipper in San Diego State and a two-time defending champion that has to feel slighted by their seeding. Anybody looking for tremendous sports theater should make sure they tune into CSTV for what should be some hotly contested affairs. Without further ado, here is our look at the teams that comprise this great field. 

The Underdogs

"To get in we had to do something we hadn't done all season in beating Marist. I am really proud of the girls for overcoming the three previous losses and winning the MAAC Title. Now we have a daunting task in front of us in Stanford." - Wagner coach Patrick Beemer

Daunting, yes. Impossible, probably. However, Wagner qualifying for the NCAA tournament is an incredible story. Here is a school with no water polo tradition and no discernable recruiting base that was creative and daring enough to make the impossible happen. It makes you wonder why there are East Coast schools with strong men's programs like Fordham or Johns Hopkins sitting on the sideline when they could probably cobble together a competitive team immediately. 

Hats go off to Beemer for putting this team together. He was a tremendous goalie for UC San Diego. His background in the net has definitely rubbed off on goalie Katie Hauck as she is solid.  Wagner's best player is junior Billy Hoelck. She can get goals on the board in a hurry.  The national title dream will get crushed on Friday, but at least for a week this school will get a chance to close their eyes and daydream a victory over a powerhouse like Stanford on the big stage. That is better than most people who pick up a water polo ball. 

"Defense is our forte. We're not the largest in stature, but we play with heart and enthusiasm.  I can't say enough about our chemistry. We do little things to help each other." - Pomona-Pitzer coach Alexander Rodriguez

Perhaps Pomona-Pitzer's best shot at beating UCLA would be if they decided who goes to the final four based on a game of "Five Lives" between Rodriguez and UCLA coach Adam Krikorian; however that will not dull the enthusiasm that the Sagehens will bring to this game. This is a team that likes to get out and press their opposition on defense and loves to counterattack. They are a fit and well-conditioned group who play together. Spearheading the offense is SCIAC Player of the Year Laura Condon and first-team All Conference performer Janelle Gyorffy. On defense, Noelle Heise is an excellent hole guard. Her play in the trenches enables Pomona-Pitzer to press and counter.

Pomona-Pitzer's best asset is Rodriguez. Rodriguez was an All-American player on Pepperdine's 1997 national championship team. He played alongside Alan Herrman and Jack Kocur on what was one of the most physically imposing teams of the 1990s. Rodriguez said it best when asked if that experience will help his team in this game, he said, "I feel confident going into that venue. I'm not intimidated by the UCLA name.  However, it is a different world. UCLA has so much talent and athleticism."   

Looking Frisky

"I think all the games we played this season help for when we get into this situation, even the lopsided loss to USC earlier in the season. You need to take something from every game you play and learn from it.  USC is definitely a great team and we will go out there with everything we have and see what we can do.  We expect to come out of that game knowing in our hearts and minds that we gave everything we had." - Hartwick coach Alan Huckins

East Coast powerhouse Hartwick could give USC some problems in their rematch. That game against the Trojans was at USC on Senior Day. Hartwick was not as bad as they showed in the 19-5 loss.  At the same time, I guarantee emotions were high in the USC camp for the seniors. 

Hartwick is led by New Zealand national team star Kirsten Hudson. In the words of Huckins, "Kirsten has the ability to score from anywhere in the pool." That she certainly does as the freshman put 81 goals on the board this season. Hudson is also a top-notch defensive player as she registered 59 steals. Fellow New Zealanders Olivia Colebourne and Keri James play important roles as well as Colebourne anchors the defense from her goalie position and James is a nice complementary scorer to Hudson.  Keep an eye on USC transfer Ellen Sevigny. She scored 59 goals on the season and I am sure she would love to have a big game against her old squad. Kaitlin Leonard and Christina Evans also totaled over 40 goals each on the season. The Hawks have won their last seven games since that loss to USC.

Rip Van Winkles

Keep a close eye on the Loyola Marymount-San Diego State game. Whoever wins this tilt has an excellent chance of knocking off Stanford in the final four. The game between Loyola Marymount and San Diego State is the rubber match between the two schools as they split their two matchups during the season. Coach Carin Crawford of San Diego State offered that the "rubber match does make it fun and intriguing. It should be the best game of the day."

San Diego State got an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament. This is the Aztecs first trip into the Big Dance and it could be an extended stay. The team is in Crawford's words, "blessed with three great senior leaders". They are Sarah Kilgore, Stacy Werner and Elena Cervantes. Kilgore is the team's defensive anchor in goal, Werner is a deadly scorer and Cervantes is a playmaker that will leave San Diego State as its career leader in assists.  Keep an eye on All-MPSF sophomore Jenna Schuster as well as she led the team in scoring on the regular season.  All in all, San Diego State is blessed with great balance and great team chemistry and should be considered one of the most dangerous teams in the entire field. Crawford is an outstanding coach who will have them flying around the pool Friday.    

Any team coached by John Loughran is going to play hard-nosed water polo. His style hasn't changed since he coached Queens College in its heyday. His teams are always tough and play with a sense of purpose.  This Loyola Marymount team is no different. Stacia Peterson is one of the best players in the country and has what you could call "sense of the moment". She dropped in the game-winner against Stanford at the 2004 final four. Do not be surprised if she lifts her Lions into this final four. Peterson can score inside while setting and outside on the drive. She is somebody that needs to be marked at all times. Loyola Marymount has won 18 out of their last 19 games and boasts a very solid starting seven. The key will be goalie Kaylee Caster. She has a tendency to let one soft goal a game through. If the Lions want to have a tournament to remember, Caster will have to buckle down.

Stay On Danger Alert 

The USC Trojans have beaten the teams they are supposed to beat and have lost to the teams they are supposed to lose to - the Trojans went 1-5 versus UCLA and Stanford. If USC is going to do some damage in the tournament it will be up to their seniors to lead the charge. Erika Figge and Brittany Hayes are both big-time players who are capable of getting the Trojans over the top. Sophomore Kami Craig is a force at 2-meter and is the X-factor for USC. She has the ability to dominate games. USC's biggest asset is their coach Jovan Vavic. He is probably the best technical coach in collegiate water polo (both men's and women's). 

USC needs to stay focused and not look ahead to their impending matchup with UCLA. Hartwick is a lot better team than they showed in that game against USC a month ago. This has "trap game" written all over it. USC has to jump on Hartwick and put them away early.

The Two-Time Defending Champions

"We are going to have to do this again in two weeks. We have three more games left in the season; naturally we want to go 3-0, but we know that to beat Stanford again 9-3 is unrealistic." - UCLA coach Adam Krikorian

One of my personal favorite all-time college football quotations came after Nebraska had won the 1997 Orange Bowl and the argument as to who deserved the national championship between them and Michigan was raging. Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost calmly said in the post-game interview, "If you have to play us or Michigan with your job on the line, who would you rather play?" He knew the answer and so did all the rest of us. I feel the same way about the argument as to who is the better team between UCLA and Stanford. That 9-3 win UCLA had over Stanford was no aberration. They are flat-out better at this stage of the season than the Cardinal. The Bruins have been peaking down the stretch as evidenced by the fact that they have won 15 out of their past 16 games

Driver Kelly Rulon is the best player in the country. She does everything for the Bruins as she leads the team in both goals and assists. Jillian Kraus and Courtney Mathewson are both great complements to her on offense. The Bruins defense is also superb as evidenced by the fact that they held Stanford to three goals in the MPSF Championship game. That defense is anchored by superstar goalie Emily Feher.

The Favorite

Stanford earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of their 23-game winning streak during the season and MPSF regular season championship. Despite all of that, there are a lot of questions surrounding this Stanford team heading into the NCAA tournament as they did not play well down the stretch of the season. The Cardinal had closer than expected games against San Jose State and Cal and then got absolutely annihilated by UCLA in the MPSF Tournament Championship Game.

Luckily for Tanner he has four reliable seniors to count on as driver Katie Hansen, two-meter Christina Hewko, goalie Meridith McColl and two-meter defender Alison Gregorka comprise the heart and soul of a team that earned its first No. 1 seed in NCAA tournament play since 2002. Tanner had high praise for the quartet as he said, "They're happy to fulfill their roles; they do their jobs really well, and they take great pride in that, but they also relish being a part of something that is far greater, so [they're] happy to be behind the scenes and don't need to have attention." These four ladies have the talent and experience to get the Cardinal their first national title since 2002. Especially Hansen. The Coronado native can be explosive at times and is a tough cover in the open water as she brings a ton of quickness to the table.