Sept. 21, 2003
Irvine, Ca - USC's Gabi Hadar scored the game-winning, power-play goal 1:57 in sudden-victory overtime lifting USC to a 10-9 win over Stanford in the championship game of the Southern California Tournament on Sunday at the UCI Anteater Aquatics Complex.
The game featured a matchup of the two teams tied for the nation's top spot in the latest coaches' poll. Stanford's Peter Varellas sent the game into overtime on a goal with 1:40 remaining in regulation to tie the score at 7-7. USC took a 9-7 lead after the first three-minute extra period on goals by Juraj Zatovic and Hadar. Stanford counted with goals in the second three-minute session as Greg Crum and Mike Derse connected to set the stage for Hadar's heroics in sudden victory overtime.
USC upped its season record to 6-0 while Stanford fell to 4-1. The Cardinal travels to USC for a rematch on Oct. 11.
Stanford reached the finals of the tournament with a convincing 10-5 victory over third-ranked California on Sunday morning. After the first quarter in which the score was tied at 3-3, the Cardinal outscored the Golden Bears, 6-1, in the second and third quarters to take a 9-4 lead. Tony Azevedo and Thomas Hopkins scored three goals each to lead Stanford while five different Cal players scored a goal apiece.
Stanford opens the home season on Sept. 24 (Wednesday) at 7 p.m. against Brigham Young-Hawaii.
Stanford (4-1)21130-2-0=9
USC (6-0)21222-0-1=10
Stanford Scorers: Crum 3, Varellas 2, Hopkins 2, Azevedo 1, Derse 1
USC Scorers: Hadar 4, Zatovic 3, Shiun 2, Damjanov
Goalie Saves: Taylor (S); Damjanovic (USC) 8
Stanford3241=10
California3011=5
Stanford Scorers: Azevedo 3, Hopkins 3, Varellas 2, Drake 1, Moser 1
Cal Scorers: Mann 1, Kensel 1, Bacharach, Banhadu 1, Vasiljevic 1
Goalie Saves: Taylor (S) 10; Kates (C) 6
Sunday Results - Southern California Tournament
USC 10, Stanford 9 (3ot, Championship Game)
Stanford 10, California 5 (Championship Semifinal)
USC 9, Pepperdine 7 (Championship Semifinal)
Pepperdine 9, California 8 (3ot, 3rd place game)
UC San Diego 11, Long Beach State 10 (5th place game)
UCLA 5, Loyola Marymount 4 (7th place game)
UC Irvine 9, UC Santa Barbara 6 (9th place game)
Pacific 13, Cal Baptist 12 (ot, 11th place game)
Cardinal Corner: The 2003 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament from Nov. 28-30 has been moved from the Pepperdine campus to the Long Beach Belmont Plaza Pool ... Eight teams will compete. MPSF teams will be seeded on the basis of their finish in conference round-robin play ... Stanford will host the NCAA Championships (Dec. 6-7) at the Avery Aquatic Complex ... The semi-finals will be held on Dec. 6 at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. ... The championship game will be held on Dec. 7 at 5:00 p.m. ... The consolation game will be held at 3:30 p.m.