The season (and blog) begins...

Welcome to the first entry of the Stanford Women’s Water Polo Official blog! I am so excited to have you join us this season. My name is Kim Hall and I am one of the seniors on the squad. I’m honored to be a part of the inaugural year of this media website. We hope it becomes a fun, interactive resource for you to follow us through our season toward the National Championship.

I figured that with this being the first blog entry, it would only be right to discuss our first big tournament of the season, the Stanford Invitational. This tournament, though not our first games of the year, always kicks off the Stanford water polo season in our very own Avery Aquatic Center. The Invite consistently brings the top competitors and some of the most challenging games of the season. And this past weekend certainly did not fail to deliver.

We started off the tournament against Arizona State. They have a very new squad this year, with strong international players who are sure to be very competitive as the season continues. But with strong defense anchoring us throughout the game (goalie Kate Baldoni had 10 saves) and an incredible offensive showing by sophomores Annika Dries (5 goals) and Vee Dunlevie (2 goals), we topped the Sun Devils 10-1.

Next was Cal, which is always a fun game. If nothing else, any contest against Stanford’s rival is a good one. Annika Dries had another great game, posting a hat trick, but not to be outdone by Alyssa Lo’s 4 goals. Team defense again prevailed in this game, especially in the second half where the Golden Bears only scored once. Fellow senior goalie Amber Oland had 12 saves in the 10-5 win.

Sunday morning began with San Jose State. The Spartans have always been a team to keep grinding, keep pushing no matter what the score board reads. And we expected the same from them that morning. They are incredibly strong offensively, and we were very happy to keep them to only 4 goals. On our side, we got goals out of 10 different players, which is very exciting to say the least.

And of course, Sunday afternoon always of any tournament sets the stage for the best games. And there’s nothing like having the final of the first tournament of a season be a rematch of the NCAA final from the year prior. The USC Trojans consistently play with high physicality and emotion, and we knew we were going to have to play strong and smart against them in order to be successful. Unfortunately going down 2-0 in the first quarter is not exactly the best way to go about doing that. We were able to take the lead by 2 goals a couple of times during the contest, but the ever feisty Trojans stayed with us. They tied it to go into OT, and then again to take it into sudden death. But despite a lack of 6-on-5 and penalty goals, we were able to come out on top, thanks to freshman Kaley Dodson’s beautiful near shot with 16 seconds left in the 4th OT quarter, the 2nd sudden death period, giving us the 10-9 victory. My friends commented on how composed, calm, and in control of the situation the team was despite the high stakes. Clearly they were only paying attention to the girls in the water… I don’t remember being seated for either of the sudden death periods. And I think I practically had a heart attack, a few times, throughout the contest.

But all in all, a very successful weekend. We had huge contributions from everyone, no matter their role, which is definitely very promising at the start of the season. Favorite memory: probably a tossup between Kate literally jumping into my arms at the winning goal, or the HUGE smile on Kaley’s face for hours after the game.

Keep following us! We sincerely appreciate all of the support (especially when it constitutes missing the Super Bowl). The next blog entry to come soon. Our next game is in Stockton on the 20th of this month.

We hope to see you there.

Signing off,

Kim Hall