STANFORD – Cal goalie Madison Tagg spent Sunday evening doing her job.

As a result, freshman Kitty Lynn Joustra was able to do hers.

Tagg made a career-high 16 saves and Joustra scored a couple of potentially season-defining goals as the No. 4 Cal women's water polo team upended No. 1 Stanford 8-7 in triple overtime in the Big Splash at the Avery Aquatic Center.

Tagg's heroics in the cage were especially crucial early on, when the Bears' offense struggled to create scoring opportunities. Joustra eventually tied the game at 5-5 with 30 seconds left in regulation and then netted the game-winner with 51 seconds remaining in the first sudden death overtime.

"I'm a center. That's my job – offense," said Joustra, who finished with a team-high four goals. "But it doesn't matter who scores the goals. It's a team effort."

Tagg was spectacular from the outset, making six saves in the first period when the Cardinal took a 2-0 lead. Slowly but surely, Cal (13-3, 1-0 MPSF) began to get better looks at Stanford's cage, and back-to-back goals by seniors Anna Illes and Carla Carrega knotted the game at 2-2 midway through the second quarter.

It was 3-3 at halftime and 5-4 Stanford at the end of the third quarter, but the Bears held the Cardinal scoreless for the final 12:36 of regulation, allowing Joustra to score the equalizer and force overtime.

Stanford led 7-6 after the first  overtime but Illes' lob goal with 1:08 to go in the second overtime resulted in the sudden death session.

"My confidence in this team is endless, and it started on day one when I stepped on campus and saw their faces and how excited they were about the possibilities of building a new legacy," said Cal second-year coach Coralie Simmons. "With that comes a lot of growth. I think we are finally putting some pieces together."

Tagg is proving to be one of the big pieces. Her save total Sunday is the second-most by an MPSF goalie this season, and many of them came on high-percentage shots by the Cardinal.

"I've been waiting for her to come out of her shell," Simmons said. "I think she's been a little hesitant to really take ownership of the cage and ownership of the team in a way. I think her presence in the cage is really strong. The team is going to have to lean on her at times, and it was nice that at times when we had to lean on her tonight, she was there for us."

The win was Simmons' first over a team ranked in the top-4 in her 1½ years on the job. Cal fell 6-5 to No. 3 USC and 7-5 to No. 4 UCLA last weekend at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine. The Bears play UCLA again Saturday in MPSF play.

"The whole team brought a lot of energy from the moment we got on the bus," Tagg said. "The energy was so high when we got here. There was no way we weren't going to play at the highest level we could."
 
 
No. 4 Cal 8, No. 1 Stanford 7 (OT)
Cal 0 3 1 1 1 1 1 - 8
Stan 2 1 2 2 0 0 - 7
Cal Goals: Kitty Lynn Joustra 4, Anna Illes 2, Carla Carrega, Emma Wright
Stanford Goals: Madison Berggren 3, Kat Klass 2, Aria Fischer, Shannon Cleary
Cal Saves: Madison Tagg 16
Stanford Saves: Julia Hermann 6