October 21, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Top women's golf field is teeing off at Stanford

by Rick Eymer

The best of what college women's golf has to offer will be on the par 72 Stanford Golf Course this weekend as the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate tournament gets under way today.

While the entire campus will be filled with Cardinal alumni in virtually every fall or winter sport as part of homecoming weekend, women's golf takes center stage.

Stanford coach Caroline O'Connor called the tournament the biggest in the country this side of the national championships. Six of the top 10 teams in the country, including defending national champions and top-ranked Duke, join the 24th-ranked Cardinal to make it one of the strongest fields in recent memory. Eleven schools are ranked among the top 25.

The 19-team field begins play at 7:30 a.m. today, Saturday and Sunday with free admission to the general public.

Fifth-ranked Arizona State is also back to defend its Intercollegiate title along with Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, fourth-ranked UCLA, No. 9 Vanderbilt, Tulsa, UNLV, seventh-ranked Pepperdine, California, USC, Arizona, No. 10 Texas A&M, San Jose State, Texas Tech and High Point University.

Washington State senior Anastasia Kostina also returns to defend her individual title. The native of Nakhabino, Russia earned her first career tournament title last year at Stanford.

Washington's Paige MacKenzie, who finished fifth at last year's tournament, is currently the top-rated individual by GolfWeek, followed by Duke's Amanda Blumenhurst, Texas A&M's Ashley Knoll and Duke's Anna Grzebian. Pepperdine's Eileen Vargas is ranked sixth, followed by UCLA's Hannah Jun. Pepperdine's Caroline Llano is rated ninth and Arizona State's Azahara Munoz is 10th.

Lauren Todd is Stanford's highest rated player at No. 109. Menlo-Atherton High grad Saana Rapakko is at No. 161, Mari Chun at 211 and Kelly Husted is at 226.

Stanford is coming off a sixth place finish at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Washington last week.
Men's golf

Sophomore Rob Grube placed sixth as an individual, helping Stanford finish seventh at The Prestige at PGA West, played on the par-72 Greg Norman Course.

The Cardinal shot a final round of 299 to finish with an 886, 26 strokes behind team champion UCLA.

Grube shot rounds pf 72, 70 and 73 for Stanford, which was scheduled to compete in the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in Wintermere, Fla. beginning Sunday.

"There are no majors in college golf, but if there were, this event would have to qualify for that distinction," Iseworth tournament chairman Jim English said. "The combination of the venue, the field and the first-class treatment the players will receive will make this arguably the best tournament these student-athletes will compete in during their college careers."

The field consists of 13 of the top 20 teams from the latest Golf Coaches Association of America poll, including defending Isleworth and NCAA champion Georgia. The Bulldogs are the consensus number one ranked team in the country and will be joined by the rest of the top five teams -- Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, UNLV and Duke. Seventeen of the 18 teams competing are receiving votes in the top 25 poll.

In addition, two local high school golfers made oral commitments to Stanford: St. Francis senior Joseph Bramlett, a two-time Central Coast Section champion, and Serra senior Jordan Cox. Both players have competed in the U.S. Amateur.
Women's volleyball

With yet another crucial weekend in the Pac-10 Conference, Stanford looks to climb back into second place with a victory at California today at 7 p.m.

The 14th-ranked Bears, coached by Palo Alto High grad Rich Feller, have become a national powerhouse over the past few years and Haas Pavilion has become a tough place for the fifth-ranked Cardinal.

Stanford (6-2, 17-3) has lost -- in five games -- each of the past two visits to Berkeley, and won in five games in 2002.

What makes this trip across the bay even more important is that Stanford fell into a third-place tie with Cal (6-2, 13-4) and can't afford any more road losses if it maintains designs on winning its first conference title in four years.

Washington (7-0, 16-0) and Arizona (6-1, 14-2) hold down the top two spots and the Cardinal have already lost to each team.

Stanford freshman outside hitter Cynthia Barboza continues to lead the Pac-10 with 288 kills. She could become just the second freshman ever (UCLA's Kristee Porter with 609 in 1998) to lead the conference in that category.

Junior outside hitter Kristin Richards needs 79 kills to catch Nancy Reno (1,221) for 10th all-time.
Men's swimming

Stanford will be represented on the national 'A' and 'B' teams by four current and former swimmers.

Junior Ben Wildman-Tobriner joins former Stanford standouts Randall Bal, Jayme Cramer and Peter Marshall. Wildman-Tobriner and Bal are members of the USA 'A' team, while Cramer and Marshall are on the National 'B' team.

"The national A and B teams recognize athletes who have performed at the highest level on the world stage each year," USA Swimming national team director Everett Uchiyama said. "Their performances are among many great accomplishments that allow us to target support to athletes and coaches who continue our long standing tradition of being the number one swimming nation in the world."

In related news, three Cardinal freshman were named to the Scholastic (High School) All-American Team by USA Swimming: Scott Lathrope, John McCallen, and Paul Zaich.
Women's soccer

No. 25 Stanford (2-1, 8-4-1) travels to Arizona State (3-1, 8-5-2) today at 7 p.m. in a Pac-10 contest, and then goes to Arizona (3-1, 8-4-2) for a match on Sunday.

Stanford is a half-game behind both Arizona and Arizona State in the Pac-10, in fifth-place.

Stanford holds a 4-3-1 advantage over ASU and has won two of the last three match-ups against the Sun Devils. The Cardinal has not won in Tempe since the 1999 season.

Stanford is 9-1-0 all-time against Arizona, with the only loss coming in a 1-0 double overtime loss last fall.
Men's soccer

Stanford (0-4-1, 3-8-2) opens the second half of Pac-10 play this weekend, traveling to conference leader Oregon State (4-1, 8-3-4), today at 12:30 p.m.

The Cardinal also play at Washington (2-2-1, 8-3-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Stanford has lost its last four matches and is winless in the past five. Sophomore midfielder Marcus Ryan leads the team with nine points on four goals and one assist. Junior midfielder/defender Galen Thompson is the only other player with multiple goals (two).

Junior goalkeeper Andrew Kartunen has played nine matches, posting a 0.95 goals against average and three shutouts. Sophomore Scott Bolkan, who was recently moved to forward, scored his first collegiate goal in Sunday's loss to Oregon State.
Field hockey

Stanford forward/midfielder Caroline Hussey earned NorPac Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this season.

With two regular season games remaining, Hussey leads the Cardinal in scoring with six goals and one assist.
Men's water polo

Third-ranked Stanford (1-0, 12-3) resumes Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play when it travels to eighth-ranked Long Beach State (0-0, 15-8) on Saturday at 12 p.m.

The 49ers are coached by Rick Azevedo, known in these parts as the father of Stanford grad and four-time All-American Tony Azevedo.

Stanford has won the last eight meetings with Long Beach State. The 49ers last defeated the Cardinal in 2000.
Tennis

While the Stanford men are competing in the ITA Northwest Regional at Santa Clara over the weekend, the Stanford women are hosting the ITA Northwest Regional at Taube Tennis Center.

Menlo School grad James Pade and doubles partner KC Corkery, along with freshman Matt Bruch, has already qualified for the ITA National championships in early November in Columbus, Ohio. A handful of other Cardinal players hope the join the trio.

Pinewood School grad Lejla Hodzic is seeded third in the singles tournament while Cardinal teammate Theresa Logar is seeded second.

Logar will also compete in the doubles tournament with freshman Jessica Nguyen. Stanford has a few other high-powered doubles teams set to compete as well, inc;uding two-time NCAA singles champion Amber Liu, who will play with sophomore transfer Celia Durkin (from Harvard).

Senior Anne Barnes and junior Anne Yelsey also form a doubles team as does senior Joanna Kao and freshman Meghan Doheny.

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