STANFORD – The No. 5 Cal women's water polo team shook up collegiate water polo Sunday afternoon, sending a message it can play with any team in the country after a 5-2 victory over No. 1 Stanford in the championship game of the Stanford Invitational.

The win broke the Cardinal's 32-game home winning streak and gave the Bears (11-1) a win over the No. 1 team in the country for the second consecutive season. Cal defeated No. 1 Stanford in the semifinals of last year's MPSF Championships.

The Bears also beat No. 8 UC Davis 6-3 in bracket play Sunday morning. Cal's only loss this season is to No. 4 Hawaii.

“Our confidence is up now,” Cal coach Richard Corso said. “We had a tough loss early in the season, and that loss got us better. We learned from it. With this win, it will be a confidence boost. The girls are excited about coming back to practice.”

The Bears are establishing themselves as one of the top defensive teams in the country. The two goals allowed Sunday was Stanford's lowest offensive output since it lost 3-2 to UCLA in the 2005 NCAA Championship match. Cal entered the weekend tied for second in the MPSF in team defense (5.5 goals allowed per game), and allowed an average of four goals per game over the weekend. Three of the Bears' four opponents scored three goals or less.

“The foundation of our program is built on defense,” Corso said. “We have some seniors that have been in our program for awhile and our juniors and sophomores had success last year and the year before. In three of the four games this weekend, we played outstanding defense. It was a great team effort.”

The Bears held the potent Cardinal scoreless in the second and third quarter. The score was tied 1-1 at halftime before Cal scored three goals in a row to lead 4-1 with 5:35 left in the third. Stanford cut it to 4-2 with 5:03 left in the game, but that was it for the Cardinal offense and the Bears closed out the scoring on a goal by junior Genevieve Weed with 1:21 to go.

Weed and fellow junior Stephanie Mutafyan each scored two goals in the win.

In the victory over the Aggies, senior Brooke Vowell led the way with two goals as the Bears (11-1) built a 5-1 halftime lead and once again used their defense to close it out.

Cal is now off until Feb. 20 when it plays Brown and No. 12 Pacific in the Davis Invitational.

 

No. 5 Cal 6, No. 8 UC Davis 3

UCD 0 1 2 0 – 3

Cal 3 2 1 0 – 6

UC Davis Goals: Bryn Lutz, Carla Tocchini, Allyson Hansen.

Cal Goals: Brooke Vowell 2, Carla Carrega, Kindred Paul, Pippa Saunders, Sierra Smiley.

UC Davis Saves: Haley Cameron 7.

Cal Saves: Madison Tagg 2, Madeline Trabucco 2.

 

No. 5 Cal 5, No. 1 Stanford 2

Cal 0 1 1 3 - 5
Sta 1 0 0 1 – 2

Cal Goals: Stephanie Mutafyan 2, Genevieve Weed 2, Carla Carrega.

Stanford Goals: Dani Jackovich, Kat Klass

Cal Saves: Madison Tagg 4, Madeline Trabucco 4.

Stanford Saves: Julia Hermann 6.