Top-Ranked USC Edges Stanford

Freshman Brittany Hayes scored with 16 seconds left in regulation to tie the score and USC prevailed over Stanford in overtime, 8-7, to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s water polo tournament at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Center on Sunday.

Anna Pardo and Moriah Van Norman scored for the Trojans in overtime to give top-ranked USC an 8-6 lead before Stanford’s Lauren Faust scored with 33 seconds left.

But the Trojans (27-0) ran out the clock and earned their first MPSF title and the league’s automatic berth in next weekend’s NCAA championships at Stanford.

Stanford (20-4), which suffered all its losses to USC this season and had won three of the last four MPSF titles, was led by Faust’s three goals. Kelly Luber had two goals for the Cardinal, which had a seven-game winning streak ended.

Pardo had three goals and Hayes had two. Kelly Graff of USC made nine saves.

In the third-place game, UCLA (22-5) got two goals apiece from Molly Cahill and Kristina Kunkel in a 6-4 victory over Long Beach State (21-9).

Emily Feher of UCLA had seven saves.

Bri Hawkins of Long Beach State finished with 12 saves.

From Staff Reports