The women's water polo team knows all about redemption.
Last year the Cardinal seemed destined to win the sport’s first-ever NCAA championship. The setting was perfect: Stanford entered the tournament ranked No. 1 after an undefeated season. The team boasted a slate of stars, including Brenda Villa, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team and the sport’s dominant player. And the Cardinal got the home advantage, swimming before a partisan crowd at the Avery Aquatic Center. But UCLA scored the winning goal with just over a minute remaining in the championship game, robbing Stanford of that big win.
This year, the odds of coming out on top seemed much longer. Seven players graduated from that strong 2001 squad. Then Stanford lost a crucial league championship game—to UCLA—on April 28, just two weeks before the NCAAs. And the Cardinal had to play the final game against the Bruins in their home pool. Still, the players managed to pull out an 8-4 victory in the May 12 game, earning the national title. Six of the seven who graduated last year were in Los Angeles to see the match.
“We had a great feeling from the beginning,” said head coach John Tanner after the win. “We dominated the game for the first quarter-and-a-half, but we continued to make plays. We were anchored by [goalie] Jackie [Frank], who was the key to the win. Despite everything that has happened in the last few weeks, it all came together for us today.”
Stanford took an early lead, scoring four goals in the first quarter. In all, six different players—Ellen Estes, ’02, Julie Gardner, ’03, Jeanine Jackson, ’04, Kelty Luber, ’05, Villa, ’02, and Wendy Watkins, ’04—scored for the Cardinal. Frank, ’02, who was named the tournament MVP and Division I player of the year, made 12 saves.
Stanford lost three players to graduation in June: Margie Dingeldein, Kate Pettit and Estes, a first-team All-American and former Olympian. But All-Americans Villa and Frank will be back. And ready for a repeat.
