Cal Hosts MPSF Championship Tournament
April 22, 2013
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STANFORD (26-1 Overall/6-0 MPSF) Kiley Neushul and Maggie Steffens each delivered a hat trick in an 8-4 regular season-ending win at California. The game was tied at 4 in the third period, as Neushul went on to strike for half of the 4-0 Cardinal run. The outcome marked Stanford's fourth straight undefeated regular season conference title, and 33rd straight win over its rival, dating back to 2000. Top-seeded Stanford has an MPSF Tournament Quarterfinal bye, and will face the UCLA-Cal winner in one semifinal Saturday (Apr. 27). Melissa Seidemann is one of five in the MPSF with 60-plus goals this year.
USC (21-1 Overall/5-1 MPSF) locked up the two seed with an 11-6 win at UCLA to close the regular season. Up 5-4 at the half, the Trojans got the separation in the third quarter with a 4-1 run. Anni Espar and Kaleigh Gilchrist each had hat tricks. USC plays No. 7 seed CSU Bakersfield to open the MPSF Tournament at 11 am Friday, winning at CSUB on Mar. 30, 19-6. Monica Vavic leads the MPSF in scoring average with 2.82 goals per game. Flora Bolonyai carries a 4.95 goals-against average.
ARIZONA STATE (25-5 Overall/4-2 MPSF) is seeded third and faces No. 6 seed San Jose State in the MPSF Quarterfinals Friday at 12:45 pm. The only meeting between the two teams this year was in the Sun Devils' regular season finale on Apr. 13, an 11-8 comeback win for ASU. Alicia Brightwell put away a conference-high 76 regular season goals, while Shannon Haas was next with 67. E.B. Keeve owns an MPSF-High 328 saves (12.04 SPG).
UCLA (24-5 Overall/3-3 MPSF) is the No. 4 seed, first playing the host and No. 5 seed California Friday at 2:30 pm. Both meetings went to the Bruins this year, 7-4 and 10-7. Emily Donohoe has 62 goals (2.14 GPG), followed by Rachel Fattal with 56 (1.93 GPG), each in the MPSF Top-10.
CALIFORNIA (16-6 Overall/2-4 MPSF) is this year's MPSF Championship Tournament host, seeded fifth, opening with No. 4 seed UCLA Friday (Apr. 26). Cal's all-time leading scorer, Emily Csikos, owns 47 goals (1.14 GPG) this year.
SAN JOSE STATE (11-10 Overall/1-5 MPSF) defeated CSU Bakersfield to close the regular season, 15-7, securing the six seed. Rae Lekness tied her career-high six goals, scoring four in the final quarter, while Anna Natalizio set a new personal-best with five in the game. Lekness leads the Spartans with 49 goals. The Spartans take on Arizona State in Friday's quarterfinals.
CSU BAKERSFIELD (12-22 Overall/0-6 MPSF) plays its first-ever MPSF Tournament game Friday at 11 am against USC. The Roadrunners will then face Arizona State or San Jose State Saturday. Nicola Barrett leads CSUB with 47 goals (1.47 GPG).
KALEIGH GILCHRIST MPSF KAP 7 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
USC junior Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) scored three big goals in a key MPSF win at No. 4 UCLA. She also earned USC's first 6-on-5 advantage of the game to help the Trojans take a 1-0 lead. Gilchrist ripped in two powerful backhand scores - one in the first period and one in the last - along with a counter-attack finish in the third to complete her hat trick. Two of her goals came within a five-goal second half scoring run. Also Nominated: Kiley Neushul (STAN); Anna Natalizio (SJSU)...
RAE LEKNESS MPSF KAP 7 NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
San Jose State freshman Rae Lekness (Calgary, Alberta/National Sport School), for the second time this season, matched her Spartan freshman scoring record of six goals in the win over CSU Bakersfield. She scored four in the final quarter, as San Jose State secured the six seed in this week's conference tournament. Lekness' 49 goals led San Jose State in the regular season. Also Nominated: Anni Espar (USC); Maggie Steffens (STAN)...