In many college sports, teams can go through an entire season without truly earning their ranking. In football, for example, the No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA will often face a few tough challenges in their conference, maybe even another top-5 team, but we rarely know with any certainty whether or not they would beat the teams ranked No. 2 through No. 8. Luckily for fans of the sport, women’s water polo does not have this problem.

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Alex Oppenheimer

Sophomore Kelly Eaton and the Cardinal will face a daunting conference schedule in 2008, as all of the top eight ranked teams in the nation reside in the MPSF. Stanford is slated to open its conference schedule on March 1 when it hosts San Diego State. The Aztecs have jumped out on a startling 11-0 run to open the year.

Currently, the top eight teams in the nation all compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, including our very own No. 2 Stanford squad. The conference also boasts the No. 10, 12, 14 and 17 programs, meaning that even teams that finish with mediocre conference records will still be some of the best in the country.

“The MPSF is brutal,” Stanford coach John Tanner said.

Tanner points to No. 8 — in both the conference and country — Arizona State’s recent victory over then-No. 2 USC as an example of the conference’s parity. For the Stanford women, this means that even though the Cardinal is considered one of the early favorites for the national championship, it will need to be on top of its game for the whole season just to finish as one of top teams in its conference.

At the moment, UCLA sits at the top of the MPSF standings. The Bruins are the defending MPSF and national champions and have played like it so far. They have compiled a perfect 13-0 record, with eight of those victories coming by eight points or more. Stanford has yet to play UCLA this season, but the Card can gain confidence from the fact that many of the other MPSF teams that UCLA has beaten have played them close.

Stanford is currently second in the rankings, one spot ahead of the team that handed the Card its only loss of the season, USC. After beating the Cardinal, the Trojans lost two close games in the Stanford Invitational to Arizona State and UCLA. They have bounced back of late, however, defeating Irvine and winning their rematch with the Sun Devils, both on the road, showing why they are still ranked in the top three.

Hawaii and Cal hold the No. 4 and 5 spots in the rankings, respectively. The Cardinal women topped both in hard fought games at the Stanford Invitational, beating Cal 11-6 and Hawaii 10-6.

Rounding out the top eight are San Diego State, San Jose State and Arizona State. All three have started the season strongly, especially the Aztecs, who have amassed an 11-0 record, although they have yet to play any teams in the top five.

As if having the top eight teams in the country were not enough, No. 10 UC-Irvine, No. 12 Long Beach State, No. 14 UC-Santa Barbara and No. 17 Cal State Northridge all play in the MPSF as well. These four teams may well find themselves in the awkward position of being top-20 mainstays while not even posing a serious threat for their conference title.

In fact, only one of the conference’s 13 teams is unranked — Pacific. It is without a doubt one of, if not the strongest conferences in all of Division I athletics.

This concentration of power has both good and bad consequences for Stanford, along with the other top teams in the MPSF. One negative effect is that Stanford has very little room for error if it wants to win the conference title. If the Cardinal women don’t play up to their full potential against any given conference opponent — and even if they do sometimes — they will have a tough time winning that game.

As coach Tanner said, “We have to be sharp in every game against a conference opponent.”

However, Stanford can also benefit from its strong conference. Because the second-ranked women will be playing the best of the best, they will be able to measure themselves against top-tier talent while finding their weak spots and improving upon them. Also, by the time the NCAA tournament rolls around they will have seen most of their fellow title contenders already, and will know what strategies work well against them.

Ultimately, the difficulties posed by the Cardinal’s trying upcoming conference schedule are exactly why the team cannot wait to get started.

“Our athletes are here because they love challenges,” said Tanner. “So we wouldn’t want it any other way.”