Fans piled into Spieker Aquatics Complex on Friday as a magnificent clash of red and blue took both sides of the pool, waiting for the Big Splash to commence.
And for most of the day, the fans got what they wanted: not just a game between the No. 1- and No. 5-ranked team, but an intense match between two rival teams.
The Cal women’s water polo team took on No. 1 Stanford (26-1, 6-0) last Friday, signaling its conference game before the MPSF tournament. The No. 5 Bears (16-6, 2-4) were looking for a win to prove they could play with their rivals, the top team in the nation.
And for three quarters, they did just that.
The most noticeable positives came from the underclassmen, who took charge of the Bears’ offense. Goals from sophomores McKee and Williams and freshman Pippa Saunders kept the Bears in the game for the first three quarters.
“[The underclassmen] definitely stepped it up today,” said senior Dana Ochsner. “They really helped the team out, and they were big key factors in our strong defense today.”
The Bears were the first on the board when a save by Cal goalkeeper Savanna Smith gave the ball back to the Bears. Sophomore driver Victoria Williams sent a shot from the weak side ricocheting off the side of the goal into the net, putting Cal on the scoreboard.
The Cardinal responded with a goal with a little less than five minutes left in the quarter as sophomore Kiley Neushul skipped a shot past Smith to tie the game, 1-1.
The game continued as a back-and-forth battle, in which the two teams traded goals for the first three quarters of the game. Cal’s defense was the pivotal part of the game, holding the Cardinal offense at bay for most of the first three quarters.
But Neushul scored a goal with 24 seconds left in the third quarter, and Stanford led, 6-4.
The same problem that plagued the Bears against the other top teams in the league seemed to be back, as Cal was not able to keep up with its opponents in the last quarter.
“We were taking some shots before that we shouldn’t have, and so we were kind of caught off guard a little bit coming back on defense,” said sophomore Kelly McKee.
The Cardinal pulled ahead, scoring two goals within one minute to put Stanford up, 8-4. The Bears were not able to answer back as the game ended.
“We got a little bit away from our game plan,” said Cal coach Richard Corso. “When you’re playing the number one team in the country, you can’t do that.”
With the regular season over, the Bears look ahead to the MPSF tournament, where a win-or-go-home attitude is necessary to make it to the NCAAs. Despite the loss, Cal is able to use this Stanford game as a gauge to determine where it stands.
“We know we can play really good defense against a really good team,” Ochsner said. “We just need to keep it up all the way through the fourth quarter next time.”