Women’s water polo keeps Stanford NCAA title streak alive

No. 1 Stanford women’s water polo dominated No. 3 USC in a gutsy performance that secured the Cardinal the 2025 NCAA Championship. The final score was 11-7 as Stanford’s defense kept USC scoring at bay. 

While USC got an early lead in the first quarter, leading 3-1, Stanford came back in the second, tying the game 5-5 with a buzzer beater from redshirt sophomore Juliette Dhalluin. Dhalluin scored the only goal in the third quarter en route to a hat trick, giving the Cardinal the offensive firepower needed to preserve their lead in the final quarter of the game. 

This marks the team’s 10th NCAA title, the last one having been secured in 2023, and the 137th NCAA championship for the Cardinal as they’ve won at least one national championship each year since the 1976-1977 season.

The Cardinal had secured the No. 1 seed coming in, which wasn’t a surprise given their strong season. They had a 15-0 streak, one of only four in Stanford’s history, and have scored at least 10 goals per game, with six members of the team having scored at least 25 goals overall this season. The team was also fresh off their MPSF win 11-9 against defending NCAA champion UCLA when the latter was ranked No. 1 to Stanford’s then No. 2.

Five Olympians who redshirted the year before for the Games — Jenna Flynn, Ryann Neushul, Jewel Roemer, Ella Woodhead for Team USA and Serena Browne for Team Canada — have returned with their scoring prowess. Leading in scoring is Flynn with 59 goals, Neushul with 55 and Roemer with 44. The three players are also on the Peter J. Cutino watch list, putting them in contention for an award that honors the outstanding Division 1 collegiate male and female athlete in water polo.

In addition to the championship win, the team stacked up the awards. Neushul made the MPSF first team and was also named their Player of the Year, which is the eighth in Stanford’s history. Her teammates Christine Carpenter, Flynn and Roemer made the second team, and Dhalluin was an honorable team pick. This year marks the sixth time in seven seasons in which five of the all-conference award recipients were from Stanford. Stanford women’s water polo displayed pure domination on their title-winning run.

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