The offensive output slowed down, as it inevitably would. But the Cardinal did not.

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Alex Oppenheimer

Kelsey Holshouser and the Stanford women's water polo team won two games this weekend in Los Angeles. The No. 2 Cardinal beat Cal State Northridge on Friday and USC in overtime on Saturday.

After averaging almost 17 goals per game over their last three matches, the Stanford women’s water polo team had 13 and eight in their two games this weekend. But the Cardinal defense came up big to help the team defeat both Cal State-Northridge and No. 3 USC, securing another SoCal sweep and extending the team’s current win streak to a season-high eight games.

The No. 2 women started their weekend against Northridge on Friday afternoon. The Matadors were ranked No. 15 in the nation, but had only picked up one conference win in seven tries. Stanford started a little slow but was able to take a 2-0 lead on goals from sophomore Kelly Eaton and junior Heather West before Northridge got one back. The Card would then go on a 5-0 run for the rest of the half, with three goals coming from junior Lauren Silver which brought the score to 7-1.

The Matadors grabbed the first goal of the second half, but Stanford squelched any comeback hopes by scoring four unanswered goals, ending the third period up 11-2. The Cardinal would go on to win 13-4.

Stanford coach John Tanner was pleased with the win, especially given what he called “some difficult circumstances.”

“Northridge plays much better at home, in part because they have a small pool, which creates problems for spacing on offense and doesn’t allow much counter attack,” said Tanner. “We missed our first five shots [but] then got into rhythm, and our defense was good throughout.”

Silver ended the day with four goals, while Eaton, West and senior Jackie Gauthier each chipped in with two for the Card. Freshman goalkeeper Amber Oland put in a very strong defensive effort with eight saves.

Next up was a Saturday matchup with USC in Los Angeles. The Women of Troy were one of only two teams to beat the Card this year — the other being undefeated UCLA. The two teams had played twice previously, with USC winning by one in the Stanford Invitational, and Stanford winning by the same margin in overtime later that month in the Irvine Tournament. It was clear that the rubber match would be just as tense.

However, the beginning of the game did not stick to that script, as Stanford scored the first three goals of the match, two by Eaton and another from sophomore Kelsey Holshouser. But USC soon made it close again, scoring the game’s next two goals to make the halftime score 3-2.

USC scored the first two goals of the second half to take their first lead of the game, but Eaton tied it up on an extra-attacker situation before the quarter was over. Both squads tightened up their defense in the fourth quarter, but USC was able to once again gain the advantage through a goal by Veronika Bartunkova with just over three minutes left. It looked as though USC would hold on for another one goal victory, but once again it was Eaton to the rescue for the Card. She tied the score with just 45 seconds remaining in the game to force overtime.

Stanford came out firing in the first overtime period, getting goals from West, Silver, and Gauthier, while USC only scored once. The score was 8-6 in favor of Stanford heading into the final period, but USC scored once more to cut the deficit to one. However, Oland blocked a backhand by USC’s Miranda Nichols with 30 seconds left to preserve an 8-7 Cardinal victory.

“At USC we let a good lead slip away, which was disappointing, but we came up with goals when we needed them to force overtime,” said Tanner. “Then we played well in the extra periods.”

Eaton turned in a monster performance on offense, leading the way for the Card with half of the team’s eight goals. Oland was once again great in the cage, this time stopping 11 Trojan shots. The win brings Stanford’s record to 20-3 on the season and 8-1 in the MPSF with only three regular season matches remaining. The team returns to the pool this Friday when it takes on rival Cal at Avery Stadium.