The end of the regular season is often a difficult time for sports teams to concentrate. The grind of a long season can wear players down mentally, and with conference and national tournaments just around the corner, teams sometimes look past their few remaining regular season games.

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Stanford hasn’t lost in over a month and is scoring goals seemingly at will. They will face Bay Area-rival California in “Big Splash” this weekend, as well as UC-Irvine, as they try to keep their season-long eight game winning streak alive. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8953
Alex Oppenheimer

Stanford hasn’t lost in over a month and is scoring goals seemingly at will. They will face Bay Area-rival California in “Big Splash” this weekend, as well as UC-Irvine, as they try to keep their season-long eight game winning streak alive.

The Stanford women’s water polo team, however knows it does not have that option. They will have to remain at the top of their game this weekend as they host two fellow top 10 teams — No. 6 California and No. 8 UC-Irvine.

Up first is Cal on Friday at 7 p.m., in a game known as “Big Splash.” Stanford and Cal have already met once this season, during the group stages of the Stanford Invitational back in February. Stanford used a big 5-0 second period to take control of that game, and the Cardinal was also strong in 6-5 situations as it scored six goals with the extra attacker, cruising to an 11-6 victory.

The Bears’ record now stands at 15-8 overall and 6-5 in the MPSF. Their conference mark may be deceptive though — three of their five conference losses have been by a single point, and a fourth was by a two-goal margin. So even though their recent run of form may not be that impressive, Cal is still entirely capable of springing an upset, especially in a rivalry game.

“Cal is a very talented, deep team that our team enjoys competing against,” said Stanford coach John Tanner. “Big Splash will be exciting.”

After Big Splash on Friday night, the team will take on UC-Irvine on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Card has not played the Anteaters yet this year, but they can expect a tough challenge from the No. 8 team in the nation. At 13-8 on the year and 4-5 in the MPSF, Irvine’s record is actually similar to Cal’s.

They too have lost some heartbreakers over the course of the season, including two one-goal defeats at the hands of San Diego State. Unlike the Bears, however, the Anteaters seem to be on the upswing. After their second loss to San Diego State on March 7, Irvine reeled off four straight wins, including a thrilling 10-9 victory in four overtimes over then-No. 8 Arizona State and another conference win over Cal State Northridge. While their win streak was snapped last weekend by a 13-9 loss at Hawaii, Tanner is still wary.

“Irvine frustrates teams with its defense,” he said. “[They have] been improving the last month.”

In order for Stanford not to be frustrated offensively, the team will look to break on the Anteaters, not allowing them to get back into their defensive positions. Although the Card’s offensive output went down a bit this past weekend, they are still in the midst of their best goal-scoring run of the season, hitting double figures in seven of their last eight games.

The team is also on a season-long eight game win streak. The last time the Cardinal lost was over a month ago, a 9-7 defeat to UCLA.

This weekend’s matches are also significant because they will be the final regular season home games for seniors Jackie Gauthier and Megan Nesland. Both Gauthier and Nesland have been key contributors to the Cardinal’s great success over the past four years, and even though there is still about a month left in the water polo season, one last Big Splash victory would be a great way to start their send-off.