The Stanford women’s water polo team will travel to Southern California this weekend, where they will play four games in three days. And while each match on this road trip is technically worth the same on the stat sheet, there is one game in particular that clearly stands above the rest in importance: a rematch with the No. 1 UCLA Bruins.

Two weeks ago, No. 2 Stanford fell to the undefeated Bruins in the championship game of the Irvine Invitational. Yet it was not merely the loss, but also the manner of the defeat, that particularly stung and has the Cardinal itching for a rematch. After six periods of neck-and-neck play, the game went into sudden death, where UCLA was able to score for an 8-7 victory.

As tough as the loss was to swallow, it filled the Stanford women with confidence that they were just as good as the much-lauded Bruins. With a chance for vengeance on Saturday, the whole team is excited.

“No other team has played them as close as we played them two weeks ago,” said junior Heather West. “[T]hat loss only gave us more energy and desire, which has been showing in practice.”

“It would be a huge success for our team if we could beat them in their home pool,” added junior Kira Hillman.

Because the Cardinal played so well against UCLA at their last meeting, Stanford coach John Tanner does not believe that a change in game plan is necessary to pull out a victory.

“We don’t change much what we do tactically,” he said. “We’ll spend the week trying to improve in every phase of our play.”

No matter what the outcome is, the match-up is such to be exciting as No. 1 and No. 2 get set to collide once again.

“Any time the top ranked teams in the nation face off, it is sure to be an exciting match,” West said. “I know we will be bringing everything we have on Saturday.”

Not that Stanford won’t be bringing everything against their other opponents this weekend as well. The team takes on UC-Santa Barbara on Friday, and on Sunday they have a double-header, facing Pomona-Pitzer in the morning and then Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the afternoon.

Santa Barbara, No. 17 in the nation, started the year very well. They were perfect after four games, including wins over a pair of ranked teams in Hartwick College and UC-Davis. But the wheels fell off for the Gauchos as they proceeded to lose nine games in a row. Their most recent loss was a 12-0 drubbing by UCLA last weekend. While that certainly cannot leave morale very high in the UCSB camp, the Gauchos know that a victory against No. 2 Stanford would be an extremely important step to salvage their season.

“Santa Barbara has several talented players and generally plays very well at home,” coach Tanner added. This makes it all the more critical that the Cardinal not look past them this weekend.

Stanford’s Sunday opponents are from the Claremont University Consortium, with the Pomona and Pitzer Colleges forming one team and Claremont, Harvey Mudd and Scripps forming the other. Both teams play in Division III, where Pomona-Pitzer is ranked No. 1 and CMS is ranked No. 8.

At the time of this writing, neither team has collected a win this season. That fact, combined with the Cardinal’s busy schedule this weekend, could mean that Sunday’s games will provide a chance for Stanford to rest some players and give others with less game time this year a chance.

Although they will be heavy favorites — and that might even be an understatement — against the Claremont schools, West insists that the team’s preparation will not change. Whether Stanford is playing a winless D-III team or the top team in the nation, West always insists her team take the challenges at hand seriously.

“We always come ready and prepared for each opponent we face.”