STOCKTON, Calif. – Top-seeded Stanford (20-2) received a golden goal from Ben Hallock on Saturday night to edge, USC 15-14, and advance to Sunday's final of the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship.
The Cardinal will face host Pacific (17-5) in Sunday's 3 p.m. championship match. The Tigers beat Pepperdine in the late semifinal, 17-13.
Playing in front of a sellout and rain-soaked crowd at Chris Kjeldsen Pool, Stanford surrendered a game-tying goal in the final seconds of regulation, then fell behind 14-13 in the first overtime. Quinn Woodhead answered in the second overtime to force sudden death in the tension-packed semifinal.
Bennett Williams won the sprint and Dunlevie Family Director of Men's Water Polo John Vargas called timeout to set up a play for Hallock. It worked perfectly, as Woodhead created space near the goal and Hallock put it away.
"We were playing moment to moment," Vargas said. "It was about Ben making a play."
Hallock recently earned his second consecutive MPSF Player of the Year honor. He cemented his status as college water polo's most prolific player by drawing 10 exclusions and two penalty shots.
"We had a lot of confidence coming in," said Hallock, despite an earlier setback at USC this season.
Woodhead scored a season-high five goals, Tyler Abramson and Hallock added three for the Cardinal.
"Our team did a terrific job of staving off emotion until the finish when we needed it," said Abramson.
Stanford held leads of 10-6 and 13-10, the latter with less than three minutes left in overtime. The Cardinal dug deep to pull out the victory.
"Credit to USC," Vargas said. "They were good."
Stanford has reached the final for the 22nd time in program history and has garnered 10 NCAA crowns, the last coming in 2002. The Cardinal also prevailed in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1993, 199 and 2000.
The finals will be lived streamed at NCAA.com. Live scoring is also available at GoStanford.com.