NCAA WATER POLO : Stanford Holds Off USC, Wins Title

Stanford Coach Dante Dettamanti knew what to bring to the NCAA water polo final.

A change of clothes.

No winning coach can escape being thrown in the water by his team. And when Stanford defeated USC, 14-10, to win the NCAA title Sunday, Dettamanti gladly took a bath.

“I bring them every year,” Dettamanti said. “You have to be prepared. The guys think it’s bad luck, but you have to do it.”

In a season in which Stanford (27-1) was ranked No. 1 from start to finish, rarely had Dettamanti’s team been tested as it was in the final.

It seemed every time Stanford scored, USC (18-7) answered. But a turning point came after a couple of fourth-quarter ejections put USC in too big a hole.

With about two minutes to play and Stanford leading, 11-9, USC stole the ball but possession was returned to Stanford because a foul was called that drew a series of complaints from the USC bench. However, with USC playing strong defense, it appeared that the Trojans would take possession when the shot clock expired.

But with two seconds left on the shot clock, USC’s Ivan Hurtado was ejected for fouling Frank Schneider. That gave Stanford a six-on-five advantage and brought USC assistant coach Jovan Vavic poolside to complain. He was warned but continued to complain and was ejected when he cursed at referee Bret Bernard. That gave Stanford a six-on-four advantage, which the Cardinal turned into a score and a 12-9 lead.

USC went for a quick score but missed. Stanford killed any comeback hopes by controlling the ball for 51 seconds on a rebound.

USC and Stanford both had late scores, but for the second consecutive year, Stanford won the championship and USC was second.

In the third-place game, Mike Sparling scored three times for California (21-10) in an 8-5 victory over UCLA (17-14). Pepperdine (17-9) won the fifth-place game, 13-10, against Navy (26-7), and Air Force (20-10) won, 7-5, against Massachusetts (31-8) in the seventh-place game.

Water Polo Notes

Stanford’s Jack Bowen, Jeremy Laster and Frank Schneider shared most valuable player honors in the tournament. Also on the all-tournament team were Stanford’s Wolf Wigo, USC’s Drew Netherton and Hrvoje Cizmic, California’s Brent Albright and UCLA’s Scott Turner. . . . It is the eighth national championship for Stanford.