April 29, 2001
HONOLULU, HI - Top-seed Stanford captured the 2001 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship with an 8-5 win over No. 2 UCLA Sunday night at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex. With the win, Stanford remained undefeated at 26-0 and earned an automatic berth to the inaugural NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship, which they will host, May 12-13.
The Cardinal got a combined five goals from Brenda Villa and Ellen Estes and tournament MVP Jackie Frank had 10 saves in the win. Stanford scored the first goal of the match and never trailed, using a decisive 4-0 run in the second and third quarters to pull away.
Tournament MVP and All-Tournament First Team Jackie Frank collected 28 saves in three games for the Cardinal. Brenda Villa and Ellen Estes also earned All-Tournament First Team honors. Julie Gardner and Margie Dingeldein earned All-Tournament Second Team honors.
UCLA dropped to 16-4 and will likely gain the sole at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Loyola Marymount University will joined Stanford as another automatic qualifiers as they beat UC Davis 7-6 to earn the Western Water Polo Association Championship berth. Brown University earned the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship automatic beth with an 11-10 sudden death overtime win over Princeton University.
Championship 1 2 3 4 OT Final #2 UCLA (16-3) 1 0 1 3 -- 5 #1 Stanford (26-0) 1 3 2 2 -- 8
Stanford Goals: Brenda Villa (3), Ellen Estes (2), Margie Dingeldein,
Anne-Marie Keenan, Julie Gardner
Stanford Saves: Jackie Frank - 10
UCLA Goals: Coralie Simmons (3), Kelly Heuchan, Maureen Flanagan
UCLA Saves: Jaime Hipp - 5
Tournament MVP
Jackie Frank (Stanford)
All-Tournament First Team
Robin Beaugard (UCLA)
Ellen Estes (Stanford)
Sofia Konoukh (USC)
Ericka Lorenz (Cal)
Coralie Simmons (UCLA)
Brenda Villa (Stanford)
Goalkeeper: Jackie Frank (Stanford)
All-Tournament Second Team
Julia Cesnik (Cal)
Katrin Dierolf (USC)
Margie Dingeldein (Stanford)
Inna Fedoseyeva (San Jose State)
Julie Gardner (Stanford)
Aniko Pelle (USC)
Goalkeeper: Jamie Hipp (UCLA)