After beating the Claremont schools on March 9, the Stanford women’s water polo team had a 15-day lay-off before its next game. When it returned to action, the No. 2 Cardinal looked fresh as ever as it picked up four more victories over spring break to run the team’s record to an impressive 18-3 on the year. Perhaps even more impressive is the amount of firepower the women showed, scoring an outrageous 60 goals over the course of the four matches.

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Alex Oppenheimer

Sophomore Kelly Eaton at a meet in February. Eaton scored to force OT against Hawaii and Stanford went on to win 10-9.

The Card resumed play against the University of Hawaii on March 24. The Rainbow Warriors came into the game ranked No. 5 in the nation and with an undefeated record in the MPSF. They were also playing in their home pool in Honolulu, which gave them even more confidence against the Cardinal. It was Stanford who won the first period though, taking it by the score of 2-1. The margin would get no greater than one goal for either team for the rest of the game.

Hawaii responded in the second quarter with three goals to Stanford’s one, giving them a 4-3 halftime lead. Each team netted three times in the third period as Hawaii’s lead stayed at one. After the teams once again traded goals to bring the score to 8-7, Kelly Eaton equalized with just over a minute remaining to force overtime. Jackie Gauthier put the Card back in front in the first overtime, but Hawaii quickly responded to tie the game at nine. Stanford once again took the lead in the second overtime through Kira Hillman, and this time the team shut Hawaii out to pick up a thrilling 10-9 overtime win.

“We played well at critical moments in the Hawaii game,” said Stanford coach John Tanner. “Each time we needed a power play stop or goal, we were at our best. And although neither team led by more than a goal the entire game, we created more quality scoring chances [than Hawaii] but hit the goal posts more often than we got the ball on goal.”

The Card had seven scorers in the match, with Hillman, Lauren Silver and Koree Blyleven leading the way with a pair of goals each. Amber Oland came up big in the net, notching 11 saves.

The team returned home five days later to face its first<\p>--<\p>and only<\p>--<\p>east coast opponent of the regular season, Brown University. It was the team's first home game in almost a month, and the Card marked its return with a dominant performance. By the end of the first period the team had already built up a 7-1 lead, and it extended it to 10-2 before halftime. The remainder of the game was more of the same, and the final score ended up at 16-5 in favor of the Cardinal.

Stanford used great offensive balance to take down the Bears, as its 16 goals were scored by 11 different players. Freshman Allie Gerrity highlighted the attack by notching her first career hat trick. Kim Hall spent most of the match in the cage, turning away five shots.

The Cardinal returned to the pool that evening for its second match of the day, this one against No. 13 Long Beach State. The game stayed close through the first period, as Stanford ended the quarter with a slender 3-2 lead. However, the Card was able to use a 5-1 second period to put some distance between the sides, and scored five goals again in the third quarter to put the score at 13-6 and effectively bury the 49ers. The game would end 15-7. Jackie Gauthier and Lauren Silver paced the Cardinal with three goals apiece, and Amber Oland did most of the work in goal, stopping nine shots.

The Card stayed hot as it traveled to Monterey to face CSU-Monterey Bay the next day. Stanford took control from the start, scoring the game’s first nine goals. In fact, Gauthier had already recorded a hat trick by the time the Otters got on the board, at the 5:35 mark of the second quarter. The Cardinal was relentless though, and ended the half on top by the score of 13-3. Both teams would add six goals in the second half for a final score of 19-9, giving the Card its second double-digit victory of the weekend. Stanford posted four hat tricks on the day<\p>--<\p>from Gauthier, Silver, Alex Koran and Chelsea Smith-Carmichael<\p>--<\p>and Kim Hall again played in goal, stopping six shots.

Before last weekend, the Cardinal had reached 15 goals in four games this season, none of them back-to-back. The win over Monterey gave the team its third straight 15-goal game and set a new season-high with 19 goals.

The Card will hope to continue its astounding offensive success against two top-20 teams this coming weekend: No. 15 Cal State-Northridge and No. 3 USC, one of only two teams to defeat the Cardinal this year.

@@line:Contact Sam Svobodoa at ssvoboda@stanford.edu.