USC
Stanford (MPSF Championship)
USC Rolls On To MPSF Championship
April 26, 2009 | Women's Water Polo
April 26, 2009
HONOLULU, HAWAII - The No. 1 USC women's water polo tacked up another big win onto its 2009 tally to clinch the automatic seed to the NCAA Tournament with USC's first MPSF Championship since 2004 and second all-time. The top-seeded Women of Troy found themselves in a halftime hole but turned things around and had a big second half to register a 6-5 win over No. 2 seed Stanford in the title match of the MPSF Championships in Hawai'i.
Now holding an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships - held May 8-10 in Maryland - and a 24-1 overall record, USC is a likely pick for the top seed in the NCAA tournament as the Trojans also carry a 14-match win streak into the tourney.
Tied up and facing a Stanford 6-on-5 with under two minutes to go in the MPSF Championship game, USC turned away the Cardinal power play. In the final minute of regulation, USC's Forel Davies plugged in what would go down as the game-winner. Davies' goal capped off a five-goal second-half surge by the Trojans, who held Stanford to just a single second-half goal in order to manufacture their winning comeback.
Stanford opened the game the same way USC had done in the teams' previous MPSF meeting, scoring three straight goals to start. In a 3-0 hole thanks to two Stanford 6-on-5 scores in the first frame, USC saw the Cardinal move farther ahead after another 6-on-5 strike in the second. The Trojans, meanwhile, came up empty until the final minute of the first half. USC finally got to the back of the net on a power play score from Kristen Dronberger with just 15 seconds left in the half to put USC in a 4-1 deficit for the second half.
The Women of Troy pushed back in the third period, luring the Cardinal into several kickouts and cutting into Stanford's lead with a pair of goals from Michelle Stein. Her second goal of the night put USC within one, down 4-3, entering the fourth period of play. Stanford would move back ahead by two with 4:54 left in regulation, but USC would not be deterred. Dronberger's second blast came through at 3:46 to bring USC within one again at 5-4 Stanford. About two minutes later, Stein was lining up for a 5-meter penalty shot that she promptly deposited in the back of the net to lock up the game 5-5 with 2:28 on the clock. Three saves from goalie Tumua Anae helped to dash Stanford's hopes in the fourth period, and Davies' big shot with 47 seconds to go was the topper on the game for the Trojans. Leading for the first time in the game with that 6-5 edge, USC held on for victory in the Trojans' second MPSF title.
Stein led all scorers with three goals in the win for USC, with Dronberger's two and Davies' final strike standing as USC's scoring effort, while Tumua Anae finished with 10 saves in the win.
#1 USC 6, #2 Stanford 5
USC 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 = 6
STAN 3 - 1 - 0 - 1 = 5
SCORING:
USC - Michelle Stein 3, Kristen Dronberger 2, Forel Davies.
STAN - Kelly Eaton 2, Kira Hillman 2, Lauren Silver.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 10, Amber Oland (STAN) 9.
