The No. 2 Stanford women’s water polo team will make the short trip to San Jose this weekend for what will be its final regular season game of the year, a conference match-up with San Jose State.

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The Cardinal will have an easy trip to San Jose State this weekend, but the match itself will be anything but simple: its opponents, the Spartans, are a top 10 team. The Spartans will be fueled by their Senior Day and, more importantly, thoughts and hopes of revenge — Stanford won the first matchup, 15-8. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8992
Alex Oppenheimer

The Cardinal will have an easy trip to San Jose State this weekend, but the match itself will be anything but simple: its opponents, the Spartans, are a top 10 team. The Spartans will be fueled by their Senior Day and, more importantly, thoughts and hopes of revenge — Stanford won the first matchup, 15-8.

The match against the No. 9 Spartans will be a rematch of a game played in the Irvine Invitational Tournament nearly two months ago. On Feb. 23, the Card had a big 5-1 second period en route to a 15-8 victory over then-No. 7 SJSU.

Senior Jackie Gauthier led the way with four goals, and the Cardinal showed its offensive balance with nine different scorers. There are many reasons to believe, however, that the rematch will be a much closer affair.

For starters, the game will have no bearing on conference positioning for Stanford, as the team has already clinched the No. 2 seed in the MPSF conference tournament next week. In addition, there is the possibility of a mental hangover after last weekend’s Big Splash and Senior Day victories at Avery Aquatic Center — going from two emotional games such as those to a relatively meaningless game always presents a challenge.

As for the Spartans, Saturday will be their Senior Day, as well as a chance for a huge momentum boost heading into the MPSF tournament. All of these factors suggest that San Jose State can pull off an upset. However, Stanford players and coaches are adamant that the Card will not be looking past this game and will have the same mentality as they do for any other match.

“Since it is our last game before [the] MPSF [tournament], it’s important to finish off our season as well as possible,” said junior Kira Hillman, who scored four goals in last weekend’s two games.

“We want to be showing improvement right through the last game, so we definitely want to be prepared and play well. Our team has already improved a lot this season, both on an individual and team level, so the next couple weeks are about sharpening our skills and working on details.”

Stanford coach John Tanner shared his player’s views.

“We are guaranteed the No. 2 seed in the MPSF tournament, but we are focused on playing more consistently Saturday,” he said. “San Jose has a strong, talented starting seven, and they play with a lot of energy and discipline.”

The talent that Tanner refers to is concealed by the Spartans’ rather mediocre record of 13-12 (4-7 MPSF). Five of their losses on the year have come by a single goal (to No. 7 Hawaii, No. 5 Cal, No. 10 UC-Davis, No. 4 San Diego State and No. 8 UC-Irvine) and another loss was by two goals (to No. 6 Arizona State). Their recent form has also been better, as the Spartans have taken three out of their last five games, with one of those losses coming in four overtimes against Irvine.

San Jose State has shown some firepower throughout the year as well, with their attack led by junior Juliet Moss (45 goals) and sophomore Bridget McKee (42 goals). The Cardinal defense, though, has been outstanding as of late. Headed by goalkeeper Amber Oland, who has made 22 saves in her last two games, the team has only allowed an average of five goals per game in its last four matches.

Ultimately though, it may be the intangibles that matter more than the statistics. Will San Jose State come out strong for their seniors? Will Stanford have the necessary focus to take care of business? These are the questions that could decide the game.