Dhalluin scores 3 goals, Stanford beats USC 11-7 to win NCAA women's water polo title
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Juliette Dhalluin score three goals on Sunday and the Stanford defense allowed just one second-half goal to help the Cardinal beat Southern California 11-7 to claim its 10th NCAA women's water polo championship and third in the last four seasons.
No. 1 Stanford (25-1) finished the season on a 10-game win streak, dating to a 12-11 loss to the Trojans on March 29. The Cardinal beat USC 11-7 on April 27 in the semifinals of the MPSF Championship.
Dhalluin scored with a second left in the first half to make it 6-6 and again with 6:47 left in the third — the only goal of the quarter — gave Stanford the lead for good.
Serena Browne added a goal with 6:04 to play and another with 3:06 remaining to make it 9-6.
Ryann Neushul scored a goal to give her and has 228 — fifth most in program history — in her seven-year career (after winning the 2019 national championship, Neushul stepped away from the Cardinal for two years to train with the U.S. national team) and is the first four-time NCAA team champion in Stanford history.
Christine Carpenter had nine saves for the Cardinal.
Meghan McAninch led USC (29-5) with two goals and Anna Reed finished with 11 saves.
The Cardinal are the all-time leaders in NCAA team championship with 137 and have won at least one team title in each of the past 49 seasons.
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New York Times
7 minutes ago
- New York Times
In tight series, Game 7 between Pacers and Thunder may come down to ‘contest of wills'
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One set of best-laid plans will be realized, the other doused in gasoline and tossed in a trash can, awaiting a match. 'This is going to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest game most of us ever play in our lives,' said Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, perhaps best summarizing the moment that's coming when Game 7 arrives at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. Yeah, man. Game 7 certainly has a ring to it. 'I try to look at it as a blessing and an opportunity, and then go out there and try to be the best version of myself,' Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. The Thunder won 68 regular-season games (tied for fifth in league history). They had the league's best defense and set a record for average margin of victory. They are on the brink of culminating the rebuild triggered by Sam Presti six years ago when he traded Paul George for Gilgeous-Alexander. The Pacers — the fourth seed in the East — can become just the third team to win a finals after entering the tournament seeded lower than third. They have more 15-point comebacks than anyone in playoff history, were the heaviest underdog in a finals since 2004 and are on the verge of realizing the vision laid out when they traded Domantas Sabonis for Haliburton four years ago. The Pacers won Game 1 on Haliburton's last-second shot, Game 3 behind bench player Bennedict Mathurin's 27 points and Game 6 in a one-sided wipeout of the Thunder. Advertisement Oklahoma City ruled Game 2, Gilgeous-Alexander went crazy in the fourth quarter to steal Game 4 and a lockdown defensive effort in the fourth quarter — four consecutive steals — stopped an Indiana rally and claimed Game 5 for the Thunder. Oklahoma City is averaging 1.1 more points than the Pacers in this series. The Pacers are beating the Thunder on the glass by 0.5 rebounds. The teams are within tenths of a percentage point of each other in steals, blocks and shooting percentages. 'It's a contest of wills,' Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. 'I think the reason it swung between the two teams is because these are two teams that have leaned on that heavily to get to this point. It's two teams where the whole is better than the sum of the parts. It's two teams that are highly competitive. Two teams that play together. Two teams that kind of rely on the same stuff for their success that are squaring off against each other.' Daigneault, who has coached the Thunder since 2021, called the experience of coaching against Indiana boss Rick Carlisle 'humbling.' He said 'I always feel a ton of pressure' of 'doing right by the players, serving the team, putting the team in the best possible position to be successful. 'Especially this team,' Daigneault said. 'It's a group of guys that I love coaching.' 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Associated Press
8 minutes ago
- Associated Press
The Pacers are 1 win from an NBA title. Assistant coach Jenny Boucek is 1 win from that, and history
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Yahoo
35 minutes ago
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