The Stanford men’s water polo team won’t be the only attraction of the weekend at Avery Aquatic Center.
While the No. 6 Cardinal (12-4) hosts No. 4 Pacific (15-5) at 10 a.m. on the main stage, the Collegiate Cup, hosted by USA water polo, will be underway at Belardi pool.
The tournament features many of the top teams in women’s college water polo. Defending NCAA champion USC is the top seed for the event that includes the likes of host Stanford and defending Collegiate Cup champions UCLA.
Other college teams in the mix include Cal, Michigan, San Jose State and two entries from UC-Davis. The USA Women’s Youth National Team gearing up for competition this December at the FINA Youth World Championship in New Zealand will join the USA Academy squad to round out the field.
There are a few modifications for the event, including a 35-second shot clock and a shootout in the game ends in a tie.
For Michigan juniors Katherine Moore and Caroline Anderson, it will be a homecoming of sorts. Moore, an Atherton resident, graduated from St. Francis and Anderson, a second team all-CWPA pick last year, is a Gunn grad.
Anderson is Michigan’s single-season record holder with 61 assists last year. She recorded 99 points and 46 steals.
Field hockey
Katie Keyser scored in the 68th minute to lift No. 13 Stanford past UMass-Lowell, 3-2, in the first round of the America East Conference tournament at Pacific on Thursday.
The first half opened up fairly even-keeled for the first ten minutes of action before the River Hawks (8-12) struck first with a peppering of three straight shots and a rebound that they put away to make it 1-0 in the 11th minute.
Fran Tew continued on her tear in the 14th minute pushing her scoring streak to five games with a rebound goal off a penalty corner to make it 1-1.
The Cardinal (13-5) kept the pressure up, outshooting UML 9-7 in the half, with an interception by Jordan Barry leading to a perfect set-up to Marissa Cicione in the circle to make it 2-1 with just over six minutes remaining in the half.
Rebounds still proved to be the Achilles heel for the Cardinal as the River Hawks were awarded their first penalty corner of the game with 3:40 remaining that Christa Doiron put in off the rebound of the first save by Kelsey Bing to make it 2-2 headed into the break.
The Cardinal offense started surging in the latter part of the second period, taking 11 shots at the River Hawks, and putting UML goalie Kelsey Federico to the test.
It came down to the last three minutes when the Cardinal forced two penalty corners that paid off, as Kennedy Schumacher set up a goal by Keyser to make it 3-2 and send the Cardinal to its second America East semifinal.
Men’s tennis
The Cardinal opened the USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships Thursday with Tom Fawcett and the doubles duo of Yale Goldberg and Sameer Kumar falling in the first and second rounds, respectively.
Fawcett dropped a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 6-3 match to eighth-seeded Arthur Rinderknech of Texas A&M in the round of 32.
On the doubles side, Goldberg and Kumar came out in the round of 32 to take a gritty three-set match over Notre Dame’s Edward Covalschi and Josh Hagar 7-6 (5), 1-6, 1-0 (6).
The round of 16 saw the Cardinal facing the second-seeded team of Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim of Wake Forest that put up a 6-4, 6-4 win to knock the Cardinal duo out of the main draw.
The Cardinal returns to action Friday with Fawcett competing in the singles consolation draw at 9:30 a.m. before Goldberg and Kumar compete at 1:30 p.m. (PT) in the doubles second round consolation draw.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports