UCLA-Stanford in All-MPSF NCAA Final
May 10, 2014
MPSF Notes at the NCAA's
1) The MPSF will win its 76th all-sports combined NCAA Championship on Sunday (4th this academic year), including a perfect 14-for-14 all-time in women's water polo.
2) Since women's water polo became an NCAA-sponsored sport in 2001, the national championship game has featured an All-MPSF final every year.
3) UCLA seeks an 8th NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship (7-1 in an NCAA Final), while Stanford looks for a 4th.
Story courtesy of Stanford Sports Information
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford stands just one win away from its fourth NCAA title and third in four years after a 12-8 victory over No. 4 California in Saturday's National Collegiate Championship semifinal in Los Angeles.
Stanford will face No. 2 UCLA, which defeated No. 3 USC 5-3 on Saturday, in the NCAA Championship Game Sunday at 5:30 p.m. It will be the Cardinal's fifth straight appearance in the title game and 10th overall.
"We've had a ton of great players year in and year out and the standard and expectations are always high. You get people who are really hungry and have great coaching coming up and want to be a part of Nerd Nation, and that's what has put us in five straight championship games," said Stanford head coach John Tanner.
The Cardinal (24-1) also claimed its 39th straight victory over California (20-9), a streak that dates back to the 2000 season. Maggie Steffens paced the Cardinal with three goals, two coming on penalty shots, while Kaley Dodson and Annika Dries each scored twice in the run of play. Goalie Gabby Stone made eight saves as part of the Cardinal's defensive effort.
After falling behind by a pair of goals early, Stanford tightened up the defense while the offense came alive over an 8-2 run that spanned 13:05. California's Roser Tarrago netted the first two goals for the Golden Bears, the second coming with 4:09 left in the opening period to put Stanford in a two-goal hole.
The Cardinal defense made a crucial kill of a California power play less than a minute later, and a minute after that Stanford converted a 6-on-5 of its own as Dries punched in the rebound of a Kiley Neushul shot with 2:13 left in the frame. Stanford pulled even with 51 seconds to go as Gurpreet Sohi made a nice move past her defender on the right flank, turning the corner and pump-faking to get California goalie Madeline Trabucco out of position before firing home.
"Games are won over the course of 32 minutes and beyond, but that 5-on-6 stop was a huge deal," Tanner said in regards to the Cardinal's penalty kill while down 2-0.
After Dora Antal put California back in front with 24 seconds to go in the period, Stanford took its first lead of the game with two goals in a span of 32 seconds thanks to Kiley Neushul's penalty shot just 19 seconds into the second period followed by Ashley Grossman's fast-break goal.
Grossman caused problems inside for the California defense all game, as in addition to her goal the Santa Monica native drew two five-meter penalties for the Cardinal. The second of those penalties was converted by Steffens with 1:20 to go in the second period, giving the Cardinal a two-goal lead at 6-4 after the Golden Bears had knotted things up at 4-4.
With 17 seconds to go before the break, Kelsey Suggs balanced her strong two-meter defense with a frozen rope from the left wing that beat Trabucco and gave the Cardinal a 7-4 halftime lead.
Things firmly turned Stanford's way in the first minute of the second half, as the Cardinal was gifted a penalty shot thanks to a brief lapse in concentration by the California defense. California's Tiera Schroeder was called for an exclusion on a Stanford attack, but did not respond to the official's whistle and leave the playing area in sufficient time, resulting in the penalty call. Steffens stepped up and buried her second from five meters and the Cardinal lead was doubled to 8-4.
Despite Terrago's third goal 19 seconds later, the Cardinal extinguished any Golden Bear hope for a comeback as Anna Yelizarova skipped a shot into the cage from the near post 29 seconds after Terrago's goal, and Kaley Dodson fired home with 3:47 to go in the period to make it 10-5. The Stanford lead would eventually get up to 12-6 with three minutes remaining in the contest before California added a pair of late goals.
California - 3 1 1 3 = 8 Stanford - 2 5 3 2 = 12
Stanford Goal Scorers: Steffens 3, K. Dodson 2, Dries 2, Grossman, K. Neushul, Sohi, Suggs, Yelizarova
California Goal Scorers: Tarrago 4, McKee 2, Antal, Smiley
Goalie Saves: Stone 8 (S); Trabucco 3 (C)
Story Courtesy of UCLA Sports Information
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Second-seeded UCLA advanced to the finals of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday evening, defeating the defending champions USC, 5-3, at the Trojans' Uytensu Aquatics Center. The Bruins improved to 27-4 while the Trojans dropped to 25-4.
Seeking its 111th NCAA title, the Bruins will face top-seeded Stanford (24-1), which is making its fifth-straight appearance in the title game. Stanford defeated No. 4 California, 12-8, in the first semifinal. The Bruins are the only team to defeat the Cardinal this season and will face Stanford at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.
UCLA was led by freshman Mackenzie Barr with two goals. Monica Vavic led the Trojans with two scores.
Sophomore Kodi Hill got the Bruins on the board first with a cross-cage score off a feed from senior Kelly Ronimus at the 5:49 mark. Freshman Mackenzie Barr fired a shot near post to put UCLA up 2-0 with 1:46 left in the first. Monica Vavic fired a low skipper that found the back of the net to trim the lead to 2-1 with :28 to go, ending the scoring in the opening period.
Vavic tied it at 2-2, her second score of the game, on a penalty shot with 6:58 to go in the second quarter. Barr then scored her second of the game on a near post skip shot, giving the Bruins a 3-2 lead with 3:32 to go. Sophomore Rachel Fattal scored her first goal against USC this season on a power play strike off a nice feed from Kodi Hill to push the lead to 4-2 with :30 remaining, giving the Bruins a two-goal advantage at the break.
USC scored its second goal on a penalty shot to open the third when Stephania Haralabidis fired a low skipper cross-cage with 5:01 to go to make it 4-3. It was the only score of the period in a defensive battle that saw both teams unable to capitalize on power plays.
In the fourth quarter, junior Emily Donohoe fired a shot from deep to push the Bruins' lead to 5-3 (5:54), ending a 10-minute scoring drought for UCLA. From there, the Bruins' defense stymied USC, holding the Trojans scoreless in the final period.
Sami Hill ended with eight saves, allowing just three goals in the cage for the Bruins. Flora Bolonyai was credited with seven stops in goal for the Trojans.
No. 2 UCLA 5, No. 3 USC 3
USC (1, 1, 1, 0 -- 3) UCLA (2, 2, 0, 1 -- 5) Goals: UCLA (Barr 2, K. Hill, Fattal, Donohoe); USC (Vavic 2, Haralabidis) Saves UCLA (S. Hill-8); USC (Bolonyai-7)
Story Courtesy of Arizona State Sports Information
LOS ANGELES - The Arizona State University water polo team picked up its first-ever NCAA postseason victory on Saturday, riding the impervious goalkeeping of E.B. Keeve and some hot shooting in the second half to a 13-9 victory over Indiana in the consolation bracket of the 2014 NCAA Water Polo Tournament in Los Angeles.
With the victory, the fifth-seeded Sun Devils advanced to the fifth-place game against sixth-seeded UC Irvine tomorrow at 1:45 p.m. PT at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
Keeve set a school record for a regulation game with 20 saves in the contest, second to only her overall school record of 23 set against UC Irvine in sudden victory earlier this season. The sophomore was a brick wall in the cage, making several pivotal stops on breakaways and powerplays that kept Indiana within ASU's sights, even when the Sun Devil offense was struggling.
"I know I could have gotten more because I know some of the shots I definitely was responsible for," Keeve said of her performance. "That's what makes people better. You realize your mistakes and you just work on it and hopefully, I'll be able to get more next time."
The Hoosiers (22-7 overall) provided a stiff test for the Sun Devils (16-11 overall), using relentless offensive pressure and forcing Keeve to face over 30 shots in the contest.
"I think it's always tough when you want to advance and you lose that first game to have the energy to come back the next day," ASU head coach Todd Clapper said after the game. "I think we started off pretty slow and weren't really gelling as a group and the intensity was a little lower than it should have been, but I'm proud of the team there in the fourth quarter to have stepped up, put things together, and come away with the win."
The turning point of the game came with 3:03 left in the third quarter as Indiana took a 7-6 lead on the powerplay after Keeve made two point blank saves but couldn't get in front of the third shot. The play seemed to light a fire under the Sun Devils, who closed out the quarter with four consecutive goals in the final 2:42 as Kate Enoka immediately evened things up on the following possession.
ASU then scored the next five goals in the game, taking a 12-7 lead with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter on Alkistis Benekou's third goal of the game. Indiana would score back-to-back goals to climb back within 12-9 with 2:44 remaining but Petra Pardi provided the dagger for ASU with a laser from the elbow with 1:16 left in the game to give the Sun Devil's their final marging of victory at 13-9.
The Sun Devils were able to overcome a sluggish first half, which saw the offense only muster five goals while being forced into an unusual amount of turnovers as the team seemed to lack energy following yesterday's tough loss to Cal in the tournament opener.
It was the impermeable goalkeeping of Keeve and the wise shot decisions of Izabella Chiappini that kept the Hoosiers from taking over the game when it appeared the momentum was going their way.
Chiappini scored two of her team-high four goals in the second quarter on a pair of beautiful off-speed lob shots. Chiappini, who had just one shot against Cal yesterday, took five on Saturday and found paydirt on four of them and added two assists for good measure.
"Yesterday, I wasn't confident in my shot because in the warm-up, I was doing horrible and I got kind of scared," Chiappini, a freshman, said after the game. "Today, I felt more confident because all the girls talked to me before the game and I was feeling more comfortable."
Indiana took its first lead of the game at 6-5 with 6:05 left in the third quarter but it was Chiappini who answered with a penalty shot goal just over a minute later.
The next goal sparked ASU offensive, which finished the half with eight goals and improved to 14-2 on the season when scoring 10 or more goals.
The Sun Devils will look to finish the season on a high note tomorrow against the Anteaters of UC Irvine. The two teams have faced off twice this season and split those two matches. The opening sprint will go off at approximately 1:45 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on the NCAA.com website.
SCORING:
IU - Candyce Schroeder 3, Shae Fournier 2, Rebecca Gerrity 2, Colleen McNaught, Meghan Lappan.
ASU - Izabella Chiappini 4, Alkistis Benekou 3, Petra Pardi 3, Kate Enoka 2, Abigail Kerth.
SAVES:
IU - Jessica Gaudreault 7.
ASU - E.B. Keeve 20.