In a dominating season with a 25-4 record, tournament play seems to be the only thing that has caused heartbreak for the Stanford women’s water polo team.

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Alex Oppenheimer

Sophomore driver Kelly Eaton and the second seeded Cardinal women will look to capitalize on their dominant regular season record at the NCAA tournament after stumbling in tourney play throughout the year.

The Cardinal dropped a 5-4 decision to USC in the group stages of the Stanford Invitational back in early February, keeping the Card out of the championship match. A few weeks later, the team made it to the championship game of the Irvine Tournament, only to lose 8-7 in sudden-death overtime to UCLA. Finally, two weeks ago in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) conference tournament, the team once again fell 5-4 to USC, this time in overtime of the semifinals.

So as the NCAA championships kick off at Stanford’s home pool in the Avery Aquatic Center this afternoon, the Card hopes that the fourth time will be the charm in its search for a national title this season.

As the No. 2 seed in the eight-team tournament, Stanford will face off with No. 7 seed Marist in the first round. The Red Foxes — whose home pool resides in Poughkeepsie, New York — won their conference championship in dramatic fashion to earn their tournament berth, beating Siena in double overtime in the semifinals and then winning a 7-6 thriller against Iona in the conference championship game.

Despite the fact that they are not nationally ranked — although they did receive votes for the top-20 — Marist still boasts a 27-7 record overall. And although Marist only shared two regular season opponents with Stanford — Brown and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps — the Red Foxes beat them both. The Cardinal will still be expected to advance to the second round, but Marist will not be a pushover.

If Stanford does get by Marist, the team will face the winner of the match-up between third-seeded USC and sixth-seeded Michigan. Michigan, ranked No. 10 in the country, swept through the CWPA conference championships two weeks ago to run its record to an impressive 33-9. The Wolverines played a tough non-conference schedule this year, and almost all of their losses came early in the year against MPSF opponents — in fact, the squad has been undefeated since losing to San Diego State back on Feb. 23. Michigan is on an astounding 27-game winning streak.

Even with Michigan’s hot form, though, the fact still remains that USC beat the Wolverines handily a few months ago, 15-7. The Women of Troy have been a mainstay in the top three all season, and if they go through to the semifinals they will likely meet Stanford for the fifth time this season.

Under normal circumstances, playing one team five times in a roughly 30-game season could get fairly boring, but Stanford and USC have produced instant classics in each of the games they have played this season. All four matches have been decided by one goal — with each team winning two — and three of the matches have gone into overtime. With the stakes now at their highest, another thriller can be expected if the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country square off again.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 UCLA will be playing No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 4 San Diego State will match up with No. 5 seed UC-Davis. While anything can happen in a tournament, it would take a very brave soul to bet against UCLA making it to the championship game.

The Bruins have yet to lose this season — not counting a 6-5 exhibition loss to the U.S. National team — and it would be an enormous upset if they were to fall in one of the first two rounds. Even fourth-seeded San Diego State, who compiled a 29-6 record on the year, was beaten by twelve goals, 17-5, after facing UCLA earlier this season.

That’s not to say that UCLA is a lock for the title, though — both Stanford and USC have proven that they can play right with the Bruins. USC has met UCLA three times this year, and after losing the first meeting 8-4, the Trojans lost the second and third by only a goal each. As for Stanford, the Cardinal dropped a sudden-death overtime loss to UCLA in February and also lost a close 9-7 decision a month later. Clearly, USC or Stanford could be capable of being the first — and only — team to blemish UCLA’s undefeated record this year.

The Stanford players, however, aren’t looking ahead to UCLA just yet — even senior Jackie Gauthier, who will be ending her Cardinal career this weekend, was more focused on just enjoying the experience.

“[I’d just like to say] what a great opportunity it is to have NCAAs here to showcase both Stanford and Stanford water polo,” said Gauthier. “[And] also, how important it is and great it is to have lots of fans there to support us.

With the support of the home fans and a little luck, it could be a tournament to remember for Gauthier and the Cardinal.