Stanford and USC to Play for NCAA Title
May 15, 2010
No. 1 seed Stanford and No. 2 seed USC play for the 2010 NCAA title Sunday at 5 p.m. PT at San Diego State Aztec Aquaplex.
No. 1 Stanford 6, No. 4 California 3
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - No. 1 seed Stanford will play for a chance at its second national title as the Cardinal punched its ticket to the National Collegiate Championship title game with a 6-3 win over California Saturday at Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego.
The Cardinal (26-2) will meet USC in Sunday's title game, set for a 5 p.m. start. The contest will be televised live on CBS College Sports.
Stanford will be playing in the fifth national championship game in program history Sunday, and will seek its second national title after last lifting the golden trophy in 2002.
Melissa Seidemann found the back of the net twice in the victory to lead all Cardinal scorers. Additional goals were scored by Cassie Churnside, Alex Koran, Kim Krueger and Pallavi Menon.
Junior goalie Amber Oland started the contest and anchored a Stanford defense that held California scoreless in the second half. Oland would end up with 12 saves in the contest.
An evenly-played first half would see the teams knotted at 3-3 following 16 minutes of action Saturday afternoon. After the Cardinal took a 2-1 lead after the opening frame, California would answer with two goals of its own in the second to pull even.
The Cardinal defense would take over, though, in the second half, as Oland anchored the line that kept the Golden Bears off of the scoreboard for the final 16 minutes.
A pair of Cardinal goals in the third period helped put Stanford in front for good, and a final tally in the fourth built a three-goal cushion that held to the final buzzer.
Dana Ochsner scored twice for California while Meghan Corso added a goal. In the cage, Stephanie Peckham made eight saves.
California - 1 2 0 0 = 3 Stanford - 2 1 2 1 = 6
Stanford Goal Scorers: Seidemann 2, Churnside, Koran, Krueger, Menon California Goal Scorers: Ochsner 2, Corso Goalie Saves: Oland 12 (S); Peckham 8 (C)
No. 2 USC 10, No. 6 Loyola Marymount 6
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. -- The USC women's water polo team has another trip to the NCAA championship game on the docket after the Trojans topped LMU 10-6 in today's NCAA semifinals at the Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego, Calif. No. 2-seeded USC never trailed in its semi with the No. 6-seeded Lions, but LMU did close to within one during the fourth period of play. The Women of Troy would rattle off three straight goals, however, wrapping up the win and punching a ticket to the NCAA title match. Now 24-3 overall, USC will square off against top-seeded Stanford at 5 p.m. tomorrow (May 16) in the teams' first-ever faceoff in an NCAA championship match.
This will be USC's third straight appearance in the NCAA final, and fourth in the last five seasons. USC's last NCAA championship came in 2004 when the Trojans posted an undefeated season. USC has faced Stanford twice in NCAA semifinals, but never before in the title match until this year. In 2005, Stanford beat USC 5-4 in the semis. In 2007, the Trojans claimed a 10-6 win over the Cardinal. This year, USC and Stanford enter the NCAA final having played each other three times. Stanford won the first match 10-7, followed by a USC win by a 10-6 margin weeks later. When the teams last faced in MPSF play on April 24, Stanford won in overtime, 7-6.
In order to earn another tangle against the Cardinal, USC first had to power past upset-minded LMU, which had dealt a 5-4 loss to No. 3 seed and MPSF champion UCLA in the first round. The Bruins had claimed the past five NCAA crowns, but the Lions put a stop to that with their win on Friday. Today, USC jumped out ahead of LMU and managed to ward off any comeback hopes with a well-rounded offensive performance. Six different Women of Troy scored in today's NCAA semifinal, led by a hat trick from Kristen Dronberger and two goals each from Joelle Bekhazi and Patricia Jancso. Meanwhile, goalie Tumua Anae turned away eight LMU shots to help stymie the Lions' efforts to fight back.
Dronberger opened the game by shoving the ball in after a Bekhazi lob rainbowed over LMU goalie Kristine Cato. Dronberger made it back-to-back goals with a score off a Kally Lucas feed to two-meters, giving USC an early 2-0 edge. LMU managed to sink a pair of lobs around a Nadia Dan bar-in strike on a USC 6-on-5, making it a 3-2 USC lead at the close of the first period. In the second, LMU equalized with a sliding score, but the Trojans shrugged off the tie-up as Sarah Van Norman ripped a backhand bar-in for the lead, and the Bekhazi also blasted one in off the bar as she finished off a pass from Forel Davies to make it 5-3 USC at halftime. USC's biggest lead of the game would come in the third frame as Alexandra Kiss sailed a smooth lob in to put USC ahead 6-3. LMU got one to go after a 6-on-5 chance with a score out of set, but 30 seconds later Patricia Jancso rocketed in a nearside strike to get it to 7-4 USC. LMU's Kimberley Benedetti scored her second straight with a tip-in on a Lion power play to bring the score to 7-5 with three minutes left in the third. Kiss earned a 5-meter penalty shot for the Trojans with her counterattack push, but USC's shot attempt was off the mark to leave it with a two-goal lead. LMU got a great opportunity to pull closer with a 6-on-5 became a 6-on-4 opportunity with a series of USC kickouts, but a field block stopped things and the Lions next shot attempt went wide, leaving USC up 7-5 as the fourth quarter came into the picture.
LMU had yet another good chance to cut the lead to one early in the fourth by earning a 5-meter penalty shot. USC's Tumua Anae had other plans, however, as the senior goalie slammed down the shot. In a strange trend, USC failed to convert another 5-meter shot of its own at the other end soon after, and LMU managed to answer with a successful even score to pull it to a one-goal game at 7-6 with 6:18 on the clock. But that would be all the Trojan defense would allow from the Lions the rest of the way. Meanwhile, USC rattled off the next three goals of the game. Dronberger plugged in her third of the day on a USC 6-on-5 to boost things to 8-6. Bekhazi served up yet another assist on USC's next 6-on-5 chance, with Jancso served up a blazing bar-in, making it 9-6. And Bekhazi herself had the final word with a shot to the low left with 2:42 to go as the Trojans jumped ahead 10-6 to leave LMU out of reach.
Tomorrow's NCAA Championship game between USC and Stanford will be held at 5 p.m. at the Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego, Calif. The game will be televised live by CBS College Sports with announcers Chris Dorst and Jason Knapp.
2010 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Semifinals - May 15 - Aztec Aquaplex (San Diego, Calif.) [2] USC 10, [6] Loyola Marymount 6 USC 3 - 2 - 2 - 3 = 10 LMU 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 = 6
SCORING: USC -- Kristen Dronberger 3, Joelle Bekhazi 2, Patricia Jancso 2, Nadia Dan, Sarah Van Norman, Alexandra Kiss. LMU -- Kimberly Benedetti 2, Erin Manke, Diana Romero, Mary Ann Campos, Anne Scott.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 8, Courtney Ray (USC) 0, Kristine Cato (LMU) 10.
No. 3 UCLA 14, No. 7 Marist 3
SAN DIEGO - The No. 3 seed UCLA Bruins women's water polo team (21-8) led the entire match, dominating Marist (18-16) in a 14-3 win in the consolation round of the 2010 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship at the Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego on Saturday afternoon (May 15). "Anytime that you have a big loss, you wonder how the team is going to respond and what kind of effort the team is going to give the next morning," UCLA Head Coach Brandon Brooks said. "I thought we did a good job. We came out strong and we came out aggressive. We looked a little angry, which is good."
The Bruins jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. UCLA got goals from KK Clark and Sarah Orozco before Grace Reynolds scored back-to-back goals at the 5:00 and 4:25 mark of the opening period. Her second goal was a quick fire on a power play after she had drawn an exclusion on a Marist player.
UCLA goalkeeper Caitlin Dement opened the second period with a save on a penalty shot with 6:20 to go. Then Hannah Sebenaler put the Bruins up 5-0 with a low shot that found the right corner, beating Marist keeper Jessica Getchius with 5:54 left in the first half. Clark scored her second goal of the day to push the lead to 6-0 with 2:32 left in the second quarter when she faked a shot and then fired cross-cage for her 27th goal of the season. Megan Burmeister scored her 16th of the year on a 6-on-5 opportunity off a rebound save with 1:45 remaining in the second to end the scoring for the first half, giving the Bruins a 7-0 lead at the break. Dement ended the first half with four saves while Getchius record six for Marist.
The Bruins pushed the lead to 8-0 in the third quarter on a counter attack on a skip shot from Clark to complete her hat trick with 6:00 minutes to go in the third. Katie Estrada made it 9-0 with her fourth goal of the year with 4:22 left in the third period when she fired a shot off the post and into the corner. UCLA scored on another counter attack by Clark, her fourth of the day, to make it 10-0 with 3:13 to go. Estrada scored her second of the match on a backhanded shot that beat Getchius on her left that gave UCLA an 11-0 lead with 59 ticks left in the third, ending the scoring in the period. Dement left the match at the end of the third period with nine saves.
Junior Morgan Ronimus relieved Dement in the UCLA cage for the fourth quarter. Samantha Swartz beat Ronimus on a penalty shot with 6:08 left in the match to make it 11-1. But the Bruins answered back with a penalty score of their own by Priscilla Orozco with 5:25 remaining to extend the lead to 12-1. Swartz scored her second of the match, this time on a power play with 4:05 to go to make it 12-2. Angie Rampton just squeezed the ball past Ronimus for the second straight goal for Marist to make it 12-3 with 2:52 remaining. Emily Greenwood scored on a catch and shoot for her 17th goal of the season to push the lead to 13-3 with 54 seconds left in the match. Kelsey McGinley ended the scoring with six seconds remaining on a strong side skip shot.
Dement finished with nine saves and Ronimus picked up one in the fourth period while Getchius recorded 11 for Marist. The Bruins will face the Michigan Wolverines in tomorrow's fifth-place match at 1:35 p.m. at the Aztec Aquaplex.
No. 7 Marist vs. No. 3 UCLA (NCAA Consolation Match) Marist 0 - 0 - 0 - 3 = 3 UCLA 4 - 3 - 4 - 3 = 14 Marist Goals: Samantha Swartz 2, Angie Rampton Marist Saves: Jessica Getchius 11
UCLA Goals: KK Clark 4, Grace Reynolds 2, Katie Estrada 2, Sarah Orozco, Hannah Sebenaler, Megan Burmeister, Priscilla Orozco, Emily Greenwood, Kelsey McGinley UCLA Saves: Caitlin Dement 9, Morgan Ronimus 1