Even though UCLA was the heavy favorite coming into the weekend’s NCAA Championship Tournament, the Stanford women’s water polo team still believed they could knock the Bruins off. The Cardinal had played them extremely close in two games earlier this season, and with the tournament being played at Avery Stadium, it seemed like the third time could be a charm.

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Stanford’s run for the national title ended on Saturday with the team’s 10-6 loss to USC. The Card bounced back yesterday, however, beating UC-Davis, 15-7, to capture third place honors in the process. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/9165
Alex Oppenheimer

Stanford’s run for the national title ended on Saturday with the team’s 10-6 loss to USC. The Card bounced back yesterday, however, beating UC-Davis, 15-7, to capture third place honors in the process.

Alas, Stanford never even got the chance, losing to a familiar foe in Southern California in the semifinals. The team did end the season on a positive note, though, capturing third place after beating UC-Davis.

The Card started off the tournament with a first round match-up against seventh-seeded Marist. Although Stanford was heavily favored to advance, the Red Foxes played the Cardinal even for most of the first quarter. Junior Heather West scored the game’s first goal with 1:50 left in the opening period, but heading into the second quarter the score was just 1-0 to Stanford.

The Card got three more goals in quick succession in the second quarter while still keeping Marist off the board to make the halftime score 4-0.

Less than two minutes into the second half it was already 6-0 as freshman Allie Gerrity and sophomore Kelly Eaton scored for the Card. Two more scores from Stanford before the end of the third effectively put the game on ice. The only question: Could the Cardinal pitch a shutout?

As Stanford scored four more goals to take a 12-0 lead, it looked as if they might get their first shutout since 2003. Marist kept fighting though, and eventually was able to get on the board with 50 seconds left. Nevertheless, it was still a dominant effort from Stanford, who gave up the least amount of goals in a game since 2005.

The 12 Cardinal goals were scored by nine different players, as Eaton, senior Jackie Gauthier and junior Lolo Silver each scored a pair. Freshman goalkeepers Amber Oland and Kim Hall stopped 14 shots between them in the cage for Stanford.

In the semifinals, the Card faced a familiar nemesis in USC — in four matches this season the Cardinal and the Women of Troy had produced four nail-biters.

With a shot at the national championship on the line, it looked like the large crowd on hand was in store for another classic. The game’s first goal came about halfway through the first quarter, courtesy of Gauthier.

It looked like the Card would keep the advantage heading into the second period, but USC’s Veronika Bartunkova scored with just five seconds remaining to knot things up.

Things began to heat up in the second period. Oland had to make a point-blank stop just over a minute in, but at the 6:04 mark USC got past her for a 2-1 lead. Stanford answered with two six-on-five scores, one from junior Megan May and one from junior Kira Hillman. However, USC regained the lead once again with two more goals before halftime to put the score at 4-3.

Alexandra Kiss opened the second half with her second goal for Southern Cal, but Eaton halved the deficit for the Card on another six-on-five score. With the score at 5-4, it looked as if the two teams that could not be separated all season were going down to the wire again.

At that point though, the wheels came off for the Cardinal. USC scored the game’s next four goals — three of them coming on extra-attacker situations — and suddenly Stanford found itself down 9-4 with five and a half minutes left in the game.

West pulled one back for the Card, but USC’s Michelle Stein sealed the outcome with her third goal of the match. Silver would convert a 5-meter shot with three seconds left in the game, but it was only a consolation goal. USC moved on to the championship game, where they would lose to UCLA as the Bruins topped off their undefeated season with a 6-3 victory on Sunday.

Although the team was out of the running for the championship, Stanford still had the third place game on Sunday against fifth-seeded UC-Davis; it was clear from the start that the Card was ready to take out its anger from the previous day’s loss on the Aggies.

Stanford tallied six goals in the first period alone, as many as it scored the entire game against USC. The team would add four more in the second period, taking a 10-5 lead into halftime. After shutting out Davis 2-0 in the third period, the game was basically in the bag, and the Cardinal cruised to a 15-7 victory to earn third place.

Even though the season ended up being trophy-less for the Card, it does not reflect the type of year the team had. The squad finished with a 27-5 record, was ranked in the top-three the whole year, and overall played some great water polo.

“I’m so proud of everything this team has done this season and in the previous three years,” said Gauthier, a departing senior. “We’ve lost before but that’s not what we remember. We remember the wins we’ve had, the fun times in practice, the competition and the family that we’ve built throughout this season.”