By John Reid

Daily News Staff Writer

The highlight of Saturday’s Cardinalpalooza could be at Avery Aquatics Center, where Stanford hosts UCLA in a women’s water polo showdown. The Bruins, ranked No. 1 in the nation, sit on top of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings at 4-0, 20-1 overall. No. 2 Stanford (18-1, 3-0 MPSF) suffered its only loss of the season to the Bruins, losing 7-6 in overtime in the title game of the UC Irvine Invitational on Feb. 22.

Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, has won the national crown three of the past four years, also winning it all in 2002. Stanford coach John Tanner, in his 18th season, has built a mini dynasty.

“UCLA returned most of its players from last year,” Tanner said. “We had some holes to fill, but we’ve had a lot of players step up.”

The Cardinal is tough to defend because of its balanced scoring. Senior driver Kiley Neushul has a team-leading 44 goals, followed by 2-meter Ashley Grossman, who has 43 goals. Driver Maggie Steffens has 35 goals.

In Saturday’s 23-6 win over San Jose State, the Cardinal had five players with hat tricks — Grossman, Neushul, Jamie Neushul, Steffens and Gurpreet Sohi, who had three goals apiece.

“Players are putting themselves in position to score,” Tanner said. “And they’re shooting with confidence.”

Goalie Gabby Stone has 112 saves, allowing 4.7 goals per game.

Backup goalie Emily Dorst, from Menlo-Atherton High, is the only local on the Cardinal roster. Dorst has 46 saves.

Stanford is hosting the NCAA championships May 8-10.

Email John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at twitter.com/dailynewsjohn.