Dhalluin leads Stanford over USC in NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship

INDIANAPOLIS — Juliette Dhalluin score three goals on Sunday and the Stanford defense allowed just one second-half goal to help the Cardinal beat USC 11-7 to claim its 10th NCAA women’s water polo championship and third in the last four seasons.

No. 1 Stanford (25-1) finished the season on a 10-game win streak, dating to a 12-11 loss to the Trojans on March 29. The Cardinal beat USC 11-7 on April 27 in the semifinals of the MPSF Championship.

Dhalluin scored with a second left in the first half to make it 6-6 and again with 6:47 left in the third — the only goal of the quarter — gave Stanford the lead for good.

Serena Browne added a goal with 6:04 to play and another with 3:06 remaining to make it 9-6.Ryann Neushul scored a goal to give her 228 — fifth most in program history for the redshirt senior from Goleta — in her seven-year career (after winning the 2019 national championship, Neushul stepped away from the Cardinal for two years to train with the U.S. national team) and is the first four-time NCAA team champion in Stanford history.

USC (29-5) led early 3-1 and was poised to take a lead into halftime but Dhalluin, a redshirt sophomore from France, scored in the final second of the first half for a 6-6 tie at the break, and she scored again 6:47 of the third quarter for a 7-6 lead Stanford would not relinquish.

Kamryn Barone added two goals and an assist, and Jenna Flynn had two goals and two assists for Stanford. Christine Carpenter, a sophomore from Yucaipa High, had nine saves for the Cardinal.

Emily Ausmus, a freshman from Riverside King, had a goal and two assists, Meghan McAninch, a sophomore from Orinda, had two goals, and Anna Reed, a redshirt freshman from Newport Harbor High, had 11 saves for USC (29-5).McAninch, Ava Stryker, and Ausmus scored as USC took a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. Isabel Zimmerman, Alma Yaacobi and Tilly Kearns scored for the Trojans in the second quarter. Yaacobi’s goal gave USC a 5-3 lead with 3:28 left before half but a team goal and a Dhalluin score tied the championship at 5-5 with 52 seconds left.

Kearns gave USC its last lead with 23 seconds left in the first half before Dhalluin beat the horn.

The Cardinal are the all-time leaders in NCAA team championship with 137 and have won at least one team title in each of the past 49 seasons.