May 12, 2001

Quotes

STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford (27-0) and UCLA (17-4) will advance to Sunday's first-ever women's water polo National Championship at the Avery Aquatic Center. Stanford downed Brown, 12-0 in the first semifinal on Saturday, while UCLA defeated Loyola Marymount 11-1. The Cardinal and Bruins will play for the championship title at 5 p.m., while Loyola Marymount and Brown will face each other in the consolation match at 3:30 p.m.

Stanford scored late in the first period, but then it never let up. Stanford closed out the game with five goals in the fourth quarter to give the Cardinal the 12-0 victory. The Cardinal capitalized on 5-of-6 power play situations to help extend the lead. Brown had four opportunities with one shot, but failed to record a goal.

Nine players tallied a goal for Stanford on 30 shots en route to the shutout. Stanford limited Brown to 13 shots, with goalkeepers Jackie Frank and Alli Henry chalking up a combined six saves. Ellen Estes scored the first goal for the Cardinal at 2:54 left in the first period. Team-leader Brenda Villa extended the lead as she recorded her 67th goal of the season to close out the second quarter and give Stanford the 5-0 halftime lead.

Brown was under pressure from the beginning. Goalkeeper Keira Heggie recorded nine saves before Alexa LaFaunce relieved her at the start of the fourth quarter. Together, they tallied 11 saves. Freshman Sonia Lamel earned her second foul with 29 seconds remaining in the first quarter, leaving the Bears short one of their top scorers. She was ejected from the game with just under five minutes in the third quarter.

UCLA put the first points on the board in the second quarter. Scoreless after the first period, UCLA barraged LMU to jump out to a 5-0 halftime lead. The Lions opened the second half with a goal 1:15 into the third period to close the gap 5-1, but the Bruins did not relent. UCLA tacked on six more goals to advance the Bruins to the title game. In power plays, UCLA went 3-of-4.

UCLA's Coralie Simmons put the Bruins on the board with 5:29 to go in the second quarter on their first 6-on-5 advantage. Kelly Heuchan chalked up three goals to push the Bruins out of reach. UCLA dominated offensively with 28 shots to LMU's 15. Jaime Hipp was a defensive force for UCLA, recording seven saves.

LMU challenged the Bruins, but could overpower them. Cara Schindler scored the Lions only goal just over a minute into the second half to cut the deficit down to four. The Bruins continued to score, though, and LMU could not catch up. Goalkeeper Devon Courtney recorded six saves to help stave off the Bruin offense.

Semifinal #1

             1  2  3  4   T
Stanford     2  3  2  5  12
Brown        0  0  0  0   0

Goals: S - Estes 2, Faust 2, Gallogly 2, Gardner, Keenan, Riddell, Shouey, Villa, Watkins.
Saves: S - Frank 1, Henry 5, B - Heggie 9, LaFaunce 2.

Semifinal #2

             1  2  3  4   T
UCLA         0  5  2  4  11
LMU          0  0  1  0   1

Goals: UCLA - Heuchan 3, Zivich 2, Beauregard, Flanagan, Joyce, Lamb, Munro, Simmons, LMU - Schindler.
Saves: UCLA - Hipp 7, LMU - Courtney 6.