A weekend sweep of No. 1 UCLA and CSU Bakersfield has earned the Stanford women’s water polo team a sweep of the MPSF/Kap7 Player and Newcomer of the Week awards, which were announced on Tuesday morning.
Junior Maggie Steffens (player) and freshman Jordan Raney (newcomer) gave Stanford its third sweep of the MPSF honors, more than any other school. Junior Gabby Stone and freshman Katie Dudley first did it on Feb. 3 and sophomore Jamie Neushul and Raney followed on Mar. 10.
Steffens earned her first nod of the season after anchoring the Cardinal’s defense while also scoring four times. The junior tallied a team-high five field blocks in the wins, including three against the Bruins, which helped Stanford hold its 37th and 38th straight opponents to less than 10 goals.
Steffens also scored the final one of the Cardinal’s three-goal spurt to open the game against UCLA before firing home four in Sunday’s victory over CSUB. The results helped Stanford wrap up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming MPSF Tournament.
Raney won for the second consecutive week and fourth time overall. She scored four times as Stanford extended its MPSF regular-season winning streak to 38 matches with the pair of wins.
The freshman scored what proved to be the decisive goal in Stanford’s victory over the Bruins, putting home the Cardinal’s eighth of the day with 5:10 to go in the fourth quarter. She followed that up with her first career hat trick on Sunday against the Roadrunners, scoring once in each of the first, second and third quarters. With the efforts, Raney became the eighth Cardinal to score 20 goals this season.
Stanford (20-1, 5-0 MPSF) closes out its regular season on Thursday at California (17-5, 3-2 MPSF) in a match televised on the Pac-12 Networks at 5 p.m.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics