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By Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Sports Staff

Until last year, no Pac-10 women's soccer team finished the regular season unbeaten. There's still no conference team that has finished the regular season unbeaten and untied.

Top-ranked Stanford (8-0, 19-0) has that chance Sunday when California (4-4, 10-7-1) visits for a 1 p.m. Pac-10 contest that completes the regular season. The Cardinal would become the first Bay Area women's team since Santa Clara in 1999 to finish the regular season with a perfect record.

Stanford beat Arizona State, 3-1 last Friday, and Arizona State, 4-0, Sunday to get to this point.

The Cardinal already has clinched at least a share of its first conference title since 2002, and its sixth overall. There's one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament awaiting Stanford, too. The team will watch Monday's selection show together on ESPNews at 5 p.m.

With its postseason presence guaranteed, is there a chance the Cardinal will be looking past the Bears?

"There's still something specific at stake," Stanford assistant coach Jay Cooney said. "I don't think they want to share the title. They are very focused. This team has done a great job of taking each game for that game."

UCLA finished the regular season last year with an 18-0-2 overall record, winning its sixth consecutive Pac-10 championship. Both Stanford and the Bruins have previously finished the regular season with one loss.

Of course, a win over Cal would do more then give Stanford bragging rights. It would also clinch the outright conference title and, probably, the overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament.

"Plus it's a local rivalry," Cardinal assistant coach Theresa Wagner said. "Records basically get thrown out the window."

Last year's Stanford team finished with 71 goals and a Pac-10 record 209 points in 25 games. UCLA holds the team record for goals scored with 76 in 2000.

Cardinal senior forward Kelley O'Hara owns school single-season records with 20 goals and 49 points. UCLA's Lauren Cheney matched the conference record with 23 goals in 2006. Cal's Laura Schott also scored 23 in 2000. UCLA's Traci Arkenberg holds the points' record with 52 in 1995.

Stanford junior forward Christen Press needs one assist to match Marcie Ward's school record of 14, and another four to match the Pac-10 record of 18 set by Washington State's Melissa Bennett in 2002.

It's also Senior Day and Stanford will honor O'Hara, Ali Riley, Alicia Jenkins and Kristin Stannard, a group that stands as a torch-bearer in helping return the Cardinal to national prominence.

On Sunday, Jenkins will be appearing in her 89th career match and will be making her 79th start, both tops among the seniors.

Stanford has had great teams and great players in the past, but perhaps this has become the best era in school history.

In the 90 games (so far) the four seniors can take some credit for winning 71 of them, tying eight others and losing 11.

There are other remarkable numbers that support their legacy, as in outscoring opponents by a 220-50 margin, which averages to 2.44-0.56 per contest. In 2006-07, Stanford scored a combined 83 goals and allowed 31. The past two years saw a dramatic shift: 137 goals scored to 19 allowed.

The past four years have produced Olympians, U.S. national team members, future pro soccer stars and other exceptional players. What the senior class would really like to accomplish is giving Stanford its first NCAA women's soccer title.

To get there, however, means to show up each day ready to play.

"This team is so workmanlike that they take whatever comes," Cooney said. "They go out and enjoy the 90 minutes of soccer."

For Dave Kiefer's Cardinal Insider, please click here.

Men's water polo
Third-ranked Stanford heads to Long Beach State for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest on Saturday at noon, and then goes to UC Irvine for a Sunday match, also at noon.
The Cardinal (4-0, 17-1) defeated UC Davis Wednesday night in a nonconference game, 10-2, as Jacob Smith scored three goals for the host Cardinal.

Stanford looks to remain in contention for the No. 1 seed in the MPSF tournament. While a loss to California in the SoCal tournament cost its top ranking, the Cardinal maintains its own destiny, with conference matches against both USC and California ahead.

Stanford certainly cannot afford to look past either the eighth-ranked 49ers or the seventh-ranked Anteaters.

Long Beach State goalie Derek Wiebe-Bailey is second in the MPSF with 9.18 saves per game. UC Irvine has won eight of its past 10 games.

Stanford senior Drac Wigo leads the MPSF with 2.87 goals per game, while Janson Wigo is fourth with 2.13 goals per game. Smith's five-goal effort against UCSB bumped him into a tie for 16th with 1.47 goals per game, and Travis Noll's hat trick moved him up to 22nd with 1.35 goals per game.

On the goalkeeping side, Jimmie Sandman's 8.82 saves per game is third in the MPSF while his 4.94 goals-against average is fifth.

Stanford boasts the most potent offense in the conference, scoring 12.77 goals per game while on the defensive end the Cardinal is second, allowing just 5.47 goals per game.

Women's volleyball
The Pac-10 conference lead and possibly the title will be at stake Friday night when fifth-ranked Stanford (8-3, 15-6) visits fourth-ranked Washington (9-2, 19-2) for a 7 p.m. first serve.

The Cardinal handed the Huskies their first loss of the season in their last meeting. Washington is particularly tough at home (6-0) and is the only Pac-10 team to successfully defend its home court every time out.

The Huskies also feature one of the top liberos in the country in senior Tamari Miyashiro, who is second on the Pac-10 all-time digs list with 2,233, 152 behind Arizona State's Sydney Donahue.
The Cardinal counters with junior Gabi Ailes, who is on pace to threaten the conference career mark. She is 18 digs away from moving into second place on Stanford's all-time digs list.

Stanford also visits 24th-ranked Washington State on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Cougars handed Washington its only other loss of the year to date, beating the Huskies in Pullman.

Women's swimming
Three of the top teams in the country will meet in Gainesville, when Stanford (1-0) crosses the country to take on fellow NCAA championship participants, Michigan (3-2) and Florida (3-1) on Friday at 4 p.m. (PT) and Saturday at 5:30 a.m. (PT).

The Cardinal finished fourth at the NCAA meet last year, while the Gators were seventh and the Wolverines were 24th.

The Cardinal feature 12 All-Americans, Florida returns 11 and Michigan five. Each has at least one individual champion on its roster.