Stanford Women’s Water Polo Wins 10th NCAA Title

<p>Top ranked Stanford’s stingy defense powered a second-half surge to outlast No&period; 3 USC&comma; 11-7&comma; on Sunday afternoon to capture the 2025 women&&num;8217&semi;s water polo NCAA Championship&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The nation’s only program to have participated at every NCAA Championship since the event’s inception in 2001&comma; Stanford claimed its 10th NCAA title overall and third in four seasons&period; The Cardinal also secured national championships in 2023&comma; 2022&comma; 2019&comma; 2017&comma; 2015&comma; 2014&comma; 2012&comma; 2011 and 2002&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The winningest program in collegiate water polo&comma; Stanford &lpar;25-1&comma; 5-1 MPSF&rpar; put the finishing touches on a dominant campaign&period; In addition to producing one of only four 15-0 starts in school history&comma; the Cardinal recorded three wins apiece over fellow contenders USC and UCLA while holding the nation’s No&period; 1 ranking for most of the season&period; It’s also the fourth time in school history Stanford won both the NCAA and MPSF crowns&comma; having completed the double-dip in 2023&comma; 2022 and 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sunday’s hardware carried even more significant meaning for Stanford Athletics&comma; which extended one of the most recognizable streaks in college athletics&period; The nation’s all-time leader in NCAA team championships with 137&comma; the Cardinal has now won at least one NCAA team championship during each of the last 49 seasons&comma; dating back to the 1976-77 campaign&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a title&equals;"Juliette Dhalluin" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;gostanford&period;com&sol;sports&sol;womens-water-polo&sol;roster&sol;player&sol;juliette-dhalluin">Juliette Dhalluin<&sol;a> led the offense with a hat trick and was one of four players with multiple goals for Stanford&comma; which extended its streak of having scored at least 10 goals in every game this season&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a title&equals;"Christine Carpenter" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;gostanford&period;com&sol;sports&sol;womens-water-polo&sol;roster&sol;player&sol;christine-carpenter">Christine Carpenter<&sol;a> was named MVP of the All-Tournament Team&comma; finishing with nine saves in goal while anchoring a shut-down defense that surrendered only one goal in the second half and kept USC scoreless for a stretch of 14&colon;23 overall&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Stanford and USC have combined to win 14 of the last 15 NCAA titles&comma; fueling a rivalry that dominates the sport and boasting Olympians on both rosters&period; As expected&comma; Sunday’s final was a battle early on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>USC &lpar;29-5&comma; 5-1 MPSF&rpar; controlled the first period&comma; racing out to a 3-1 lead and immediately putting Stanford on its heels&period; It looked as if the Trojans were on track to becoming only the fifth opponent to reach double digits against the Cardinal this season&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Stanford managed to stay within striking distance in the second period&comma; eventually breaking through thanks to a key offensive sequence from Dhalluin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With 52 seconds left before intermission&comma; Dhalluin scored to force the first tie of the game at 5-5&period; USC quickly countered but Dhalluin did as well&comma; firing in a rocket with one second before the buzzer sounded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dhalluin wasn’t done&comma; completing her hat trick at the 6&colon;47 mark of the third period and accounting for the only scoring in the quarter&period; Dhalluin’s goal also gave Stanford a lead it would never relinquish&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a title&equals;"Serena Browne" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;gostanford&period;com&sol;sports&sol;womens-water-polo&sol;roster&sol;player&sol;serena-browne">Serena Browne<&sol;a> turned in an outstanding two-way performance&comma; including back-to-back goals to open the fourth quarter and increase the lead to 9-6&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>USC finally broke its scoring drought with 1&colon;56 left in regulation to make it 9-7 before <a title&equals;"Kamryn Barone" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;gostanford&period;com&sol;sports&sol;womens-water-polo&sol;roster&sol;player&sol;kamryn-barone">Kamryn Barone<&sol;a> and <a title&equals;"Jenna Flynn" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;gostanford&period;com&sol;sports&sol;womens-water-polo&sol;roster&sol;player&sol;jenna-flynn">Jenna Flynn<&sol;a> tacked on insurance goals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;