LOS ANGELES – Tied at halftime, No. 1 UCLA scored three unanswered goals in the second half to beat No. 2 Stanford 6-3 in the MPSF Tournament final on Sunday.
Stanford (20-3), the only school to appear in all 16 NCAA championships since their inception in 2001, will learn its seed during tomorrow's selection show on NCAA.com at 5 p.m. PT. The 2017 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championships are May 12-14 at IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis and are hosted by Indiana and the Indiana Sports Corp.
A runner-up MPSF Tournament finish isn't an indicator of NCAA success, at least for the Cardinal. Despite winning four of the past six national championships, 2014 was the only season in the past 11 in which Stanford won a conference crown.
Stanford took its only lead, 3-2, on some beautiful ball movement midway through the second quarter. Jamie Neushul hit Maggie Steffens with a cross pass and Steffens dumped it in front to Jordan Raney, who buried the go-ahead goal past Carlee Kapana (4:47).
Rachel Fattal would tie things up on the power play at 2:24 and UCLA's defense held the Cardinal scoreless over the game's final 20:47. Stanford's three goals were its fewest since Feb. 7, 2016.
Fattal, who had a hat trick for the Bruins, scored to start things in the first quarter before Stanford responded with a Dani Jackovich goal at 1:05. The senior battled for position in front, received a pass, turned and ripped it past Kapana to make the score 1-1.
UCLA edged back in front at with 43 seconds left in the opening frame when Maddie Musselman scored in the 6-on-5.
Early in the second a contra foul gave possession to the Cardinal. Sophomore Madison Berggren drove at the near post and lofted a lob over Kapana to make it 2-2 (7:06). Stanford would go up one on Raney's goal a little over a minute later and then was unable to find the back of the cage the rest of the way.
Fattal scored on the power play with 2:24 to go until the break to level things 3-3 heading into halftime.
The Bruins would tack on two more in the third from Fattal and Alexa Tielmann and one more in the fourth from Alys Williams.
Stanford was whistled for seven exclusions, which led to three of UCLA's six goals. The Cardinal went 1-for-7 on the power play itself.
----------
Maggie Steffens and Gabby Stone were named to the 2017 MPSF All-Tournament Team following the event's conclusion. Steffens led Stanford with five goals at the event in Los Angeles while Stone made nine saves in nine quarters of work in the cage and posted a 4.89 goals against average.
No. 2 Stanford at No. 1 UCLA
April 30, 2017 • Los Angeles, Calif.
UCLA 2 – 1 – 2 – 1 = 6
STAN 1 – 2 – 0 – 0 = 3
Stanford Goals: Madison Berggren, Dani Jackovich, Jordan Raney
Stanford Saves: Gabby Stone 3
UCLA Goals: Rachel Fattal 3, Maddie Musselman, Alexa Tielmann, Alys Williams
UCLA Saves: Carlee Kapana 6
