Ace righty Mark Appel (above) needs just 11 strikeouts to break a school career record, and he has two starts left to do it, beginning with tonight’s tilt at Cal. (ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily)

There’s only one thing left for the Cardinal to do.

“I think at this point, we’re just trying to finish strong,” said senior Justin Ringo, whose days playing college baseball are numbered. “Hopefully, we can turn it around this weekend.”

When Stanford travels across the Bay to face Cal (22-28, 10-17), it will carry a six-game losing streak into Berkeley. That stint has included consecutive losses to midweek opponents San Francisco and Santa Clara and a sweep at the hands of conference-leading Oregon State that effectively ended Stanford’s bid for a regional spot.

“Oregon State’s a really good team,” Ringo said. “I think they’re better than us. I think they played better than us. But I think we battled for the most part and it’s just been a tough stretch.”

The Bears are just two weeks removed from being swept by the Beavers themselves and have won just four series all season.

At the very least, this has the potential to be an entertaining rivalry matchup between two teams that have nothing else left to play for. When these two squads met at Sunken Diamond last season, Cal won a 5-4 classic on Friday night that was at once both a thriller — Stanford had a walk-off home run called back — and a snoozefest — the contest lasted 18 innings, six hours and 569 pitches. The Bears then came out to dominate the Saturday matchup 15-5 to clinch the series against the demoralized Cardinal, which did bounce back with a 5-3 win in the finale.

Stanford is once again the favorite in this series, but that says more about Cal’s struggles this season than anything else. The Bears are one of the lowest-scoring teams in the Pac-12, with just 4.6 runs per game, while their 4.55 team ERA is second worst in the conference.

In contrast to the Cardinal’s seasoned lineup, which includes veterans such as Ringo, Wilson and junior first baseman Brian Ragira, Cal is often forced to start five freshmen in the field. Junior catcher Andrew Knapp is by far the Bears’ most prolific hitter, leading his team in batting average (.353), RBI (39) and extra-base hits (22), while centerfielder Devin Pearson has also impressed by hitting .327 as a freshman.

Cal is also inexperienced on the mound, with freshman righty Ryan Mason (5-3) taking the ball on Friday night. The Bears have not named a Sunday starter, a telling similarity with a Cardinal pitching staff that, besides Appel, has been incredibly inconsistent this season.

Appel will try to shake off his worst start of the year, a 7-3 loss to the Beavers, in tonight’s 7 p.m. series opener. He needs 11 strikeouts to become Stanford’s career leader in that category.

The series will conclude with a 6 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. matinee on Sunday. After this weekend, Stanford will host four straight games to end the season: a Tuesday matchup with Pacific and a three-game series against No. 10 UCLA.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next seven games,” Ringo said, “but I hope at the very least we’ll have fun and battle and compete.”

Contact Joseph Beyda at jbeyda “at” stanford.edu.

Sophomore Patrick Rodgers (above) is one of two Stanford golfers in the top 10 after the first round of play at the NCAA Columbus Regional. (NORBERT VON DER GROEBEN/isiphoto.com)

Stanford sophomore Patrick Rodgers, a 2012 All-American, sits in a tie for 10th after recording a 1-over-par 72. He started Thursday’s round by birdieing two of his first four holes but bogeyed three of his next four. Senior Steve Kearney, appearing in his second regional, made the turn at even par before double bogeying the par-4 15th, slipping into a tie for 17th at 2-over.

Two-time All-American Andrew Yun, competing in his last postseason, continued his struggles from the Pac-12 Tournament by recording two double bogeys on the front nine en route to a 6-over-par 77. Freshman David Boote shot 5-over-par with two doubles as well.

No. 68 Charlotte (+3), the third-lowest ranked team in the tournament, is the leader after day one, one stroke ahead of No. 23 South Carolina and four in front of the Cardinal. No. 5 New Mexico, the highest-ranked team in the field, is in a tie for sixth at 10-over.

Today’s second round begins at 8 a.m. EST with live scoring provided by golfstatresults.com.

Contact Cameron Miller at cmiller6 “at” stanford.edu.

Something about overtime just grips you. In any moment, the game could end. Hopes can be crushed, legends made and dreams fulfilled in a split second — or an hour.

It doesn’t even really matter whether you care about the teams playing, or the sport they’re playing, for that matter. The drama and intensity of overtime can just take over your life.

This past weekend, I had this happen while watching the Stanford women’s water polo NCAA Tournament final against USC. On a day when I had to finish an absurd amount of homework and work for The Daily, I found myself unable to focus. I couldn’t stop myself from watching.

Throughout most of regulation, I would go back and forth from my work to the stream of the game. It was pretty easy. During timeouts, lulls in the action or breaks between quarters, I could be at least moderately productive.

But during overtime, I couldn’t do anything. After the soccer-style first overtime periods ended in a tie and the game entered sudden-death format, I couldn’t even work during the breaks. Three minutes wasn’t even enough time to digest what had happened in each successive overtime period.

And Stanford came oh so close to winning on a few occasions. Senior Olympic gold medalist Melissa Seidemann hitting the crossbar was the most notable. All of us in The Daily’s office became entranced, gasping or cheering after every play.

But we barely know anything about water polo. To be fair, all of us care about Stanford, so we did have a dog in the fight, but it wasn’t like my Philadelphia Eagles were playing in overtime in the Super Bowl.

That’s when something I should’ve realized a while ago became very clear to me. Overtime, and especially sudden-death overtime, is not fun when you care who wins.

It’s simply torture. Think back to Stanford football’s 2011 game against USC. Having to sit through three overtime sessions with everything on the line almost gave me a heart attack, and I was only 19.

Someone in my dorm said it best a few weeks ago. When your team is playing, blowouts, not close games, are fun. Sure, it’s great to look back at that 2011 USC game and think, “Wow, I witnessed one of the greatest football games of all time.” But until then-sophomore linebacker A.J. Tarpley fell on Curtis McNeal’s fumble in the back of the end zone, it was nothing short of torture.

But when you don’t care who wins, is there anything better than overtime? Take the NHL Playoffs, for example. My Philadelphia Flyers didn’t make the postseason — did you know teams could actually miss the playoffs in a sport that seems to allow everybody join the party? Watching overtime games has been awesome. There were days last week where there were two overtime games in the same night. Who could ask for anything more?

This phenomenon is interesting but makes sense. I guess I just don’t often try to examine why I watch sports; I just keep watching them. But I do think we can learn something by looking at this difference in the enjoyment of overtime games.

Sports are fun for two very different reasons. On one hand, sports give you the opportunity to go all in behind a cause; in many cases, an entire city will unite behind a team. Look at Boston after the Red Sox broke the Curse of the Bambino in 2004 or Philadelphia after the Phillies broke the curse of William Penn four years later. Winning can make boring, everyday life feel special, fun and exciting again.

But that’s only why we watch our sports teams. Nuts like myself spend hours every week watching teams that we don’t even care about it. Why is that? Part of it is that we enjoy watching the best people in the world play the sports that we care about. But more importantly, I think we love drama.

Look at the ratings of the playoffs. As the stakes get higher, interest keeps growing. When Stanford football won the Pac-12 Championship Game, one of my friends from The Daily and KZSU started bawling with joy. Sports did that. Isn’t that awesome?

But with that passion and drama comes a flip side. Sports can also crush hopes and dreams. As a Philadelphia sports fan, I’ve seen that devastating side way more often than the other. And for the joy of victory to be so immense, the pain of defeat must be just as sharp.

I’m okay with that. Just let me prepare for it.

Don’t let it happen in overtime.

Sam Fisher was once found on the floor of the Autzen Stadium press box rolled up in a ball and sucking his thumb. Remind Sam of how awkward that made his KZSU broadcast at safisher “at” stanford.edu, and follow him on Twitter at @SamFisher908.

Sophomore Kristian Ipsen (above), who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, qualified for the 2013 FINA World Championships in the 1-meter on Wednesday. (DAVID ELKINSON/StanfordPhoto.com)

Ipsen, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and three-time NCAA champion, won the 1-meter comfortably with a score of 835.60. The NCAA Diver of the Year beat out runner-up Harrison Jones by over 50 points.

“I’ve always wanted to do 1-meter at a world meet, but I’m usually doing 3-meter [springboard] and 3-meter synchro, and three events is a little tiring,” Ipsen told GoStanford.com. “Since I’m not diving synchro with anyone this year, I thought I might as well do 1-meter.”

The World Championships is the second most prestigious competition in the sport of diving, behind only the Olympics.

Ipsen is well known for his clutch performances on the big stage. In addition to winning bronze in London last summer, Ipsen took silver at the 2009 World Championships in the 3-meter synchro with diving partner Troy Dumais.

Hoping to go two-for-two, Ipsen also competed in the semifinal round of the 3-meter springboard yesterday. The sophomore star led the field with 872.25 points, 54.50 points clear of Miami junior Sam Dorman. The 3-meter final session will begin Sunday morning.

Stanford men’s crew is looking to build off its Big Meet win this weekend at the Pac-12 Championships. (MICHAEL PIMENTEL/StanfordPhoto.com)

The Cardinal is coming off mixed results at the Big Row against Cal two weeks ago, when the men won the Schwabacher Cup for the first time in five years while the women lost the Lambert Cup for the fourth consecutive season. Sunday represents a chance for No. 10 Cardinal women to get their revenge, though No. 1 USC is expected to come away with the conference title.

It has been four years since either Stanford rowing team won gold at the conference championships. In 2009, the No. 1 Stanford women set a course record en route to the Pac-10 title.

Freshman Kelsey Stevens (above) and the Cardinal will take on Tulsa in the opening round of the Lincoln Regional. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

In the regular season, featuring a fairly young squad with six underclassmen starters that was picked to finish sixth in the pre-season Pac-12 poll, Stanford finished in fourth place in the final conference standings, three games clear of rivals Cal and UCLA.

In addition, the Card secured its first winning record in conference play since 2009, a noteworthy accomplishment given that six Pac-12 teams were ranked in the top 20 of the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll and eight out of the nine Pac-12 squads earned postseason berths.

However, for all of its success in Pac-12 play, Stanford also had some significant setbacks in non-conference play. In particular, losses early in the season to non-NCAA tournament teams Iowa and Oklahoma State hurt the Cardinal’s resume. Ultimately, the Card’s hopes of hosting a NCAA regional were dashed by a string of three straight non-conference losses to Saint Mary’s, Pacific, and UC-Davis, all ranked 70 or lower in the NCAA Women’s Softball RPI.

As a result, the Cardinal will begin the NCAA tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska, competing in a double-elimination regional against No. 14-seeded University of Nebraska (40-13, 16-6 Big Ten), No. 24-ranked University of Tulsa (42-14-1, 19-5 C-USA), and the University of Northern Iowa (26-24, 13-8 MVC). At first glance, runs may be at a premium in this regional, as all four teams feature accomplished pitchers in their rotations. Of Stanford’s opponents, Nebraska has the best 1-2 combination in junior Tatum Edwards and freshman Emily Lockman.

Edwards and Lockman, both Southern California products and members of the same travel ball club in high school, anchor a Cornhuskers pitching staff that led the Big Ten in ERA (1.79) and opponent batting average (.205). Edwards was this season’s Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, posting 25 complete games and nine shutouts. Edwards’ aggressive style has caused her to periodically struggle with command issues—the Murrieta, Calif. native hit 33 batters, while walking 114 during the regular season.

Lockman, the capable freshman who was California’s 2012 Gatorade Player of the Year and a first team All-American as a senior in high school, has solidified her position as the No. 2 starter behind Edwards with an impressive first campaign in Lincoln.

In 24 starts, the Corona, Calif. native has posted a 14-5 record while allowing only 44 total runs in 142 innings. Her best win of the season came against the No. 1 overall seed and consensus national championship favorite Oklahoma Sooners on Mar. 2—in the 1-0 win, Lockman stymied the potent Sooner lineup, scattering seven hits in the complete game victory.

Tulsa also boasts a star pitcher in junior Aimee Creger. Creger, a 2011 NFCA Third Team All-American selection as a true freshman, has an outstanding 1.04 ERA in 29 starts this season. Like Lockman, Creger has also fared well against elite competition on the national softball landscape. In a 1-0, eight-inning loss to No. 4 national seed Texas on Feb. 23, the Yukon, Okla. product did not allow an earned run while yielding only five hits in the complete game, 128-pitch effort.

At the plate, Stanford is clearly the most talented offensive team, posting the highest team batting average (.302) and scoring the most runs (316) against the strongest conference schedule of the four teams at the Lincoln Regional.

Nebraska was an above average hitting team in the Big Ten this season, batting .291 while driving in nearly five runs per game.

In turn, Tulsa had the best batting average in Conference USA (.298) while also driving in the most runs in the nine-team league. All four teams feature balanced lineups, rather than relying upon any one individual player.

Stanford begins play in the Lincoln Regional against Tulsa this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. PST at Bowlin Stadium. The Cardinal will continue playing this weekend until accruing two losses or winning the regional. For box scores, game times and live streaming, visit www.gostanford.com. Every game will also be broadcast live on KZSU-2 at KZSUlive.stanford.edu.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Junior Cameron Wilson (above) will try to use his prior experience with Ohio State’s course to guide the Cardinal to a win at the Columbus Regional. (SHIRLEY PELFEY/The Stanford Daily)

The field, which Cardinal head coach Conrad Ray characterized as “very competitive,” includes No. 5 New Mexico, No. 19 Auburn, No. 22 South Carolina, UNLV, Missouri, Texas Tech and Chattanooga. In addition, the event features eight of the country’s top-50 individuals. The top five teams plus the lowest-scoring individual not on those teams will advance to the NCAA Championships on May 28-June 2 in Atlanta, Ga.

The Cardinal will be looking to get off the ground quickly and start better than it did at the Pac-12 Championships a few weeks ago, when the team found itself in sixth place after 18 holes.

Course familiarity won’t be a huge issue for the Cardinal, as the team’s top three players—senior Andrew Yun, junior Cameron Wilson and sophomore Patrick Rodgers—have all played on the Ohio State Scarlet Course, which will host the regional.

“The keys to playing well on that course are good driving and lag putting,” said Yun, who said he played the course as junior in high school as well as the past two years for a Nationwide Tour event.

“If you can find the fairways, you can be really aggressive to any pin location on the greens, Yun continued. “That said, the greens are very large and undulating. If you miss an iron shot, you will most likely find the green, but have a lengthy putt. If you can lag your putts well, then you can minimize your mistakes.”

Ray concurred, adding that he had talked to the Ohio State women’s golf coach at the women’s NCAA West Regional about the condition of the course the team will face.

“She said that the rough was up and the greens were fast, and so it’ll be a good test of golf,” Ray said. “I like the fact that this course is a little bit harder than some of the other regional sites. It provides some separation in scoring, and our guys seem to play decently well on more challenging courses. So we’re looking forward to that.”

Wilson—who has won a junior event on the OSU Scarlet Course—will certainly be looking to continue his solid play from the recent Pac-12 tournament where he finished ninth for his first ever top-10 finish at the conference championships.

In the junior’s two previous regional appearances, Stanford has landed on both sides of the coin, falling short in 2011 but advancing to NCAAs last year. With both experiences under his belt, Wilson knows that pressing too hard in what could be a season-ending tournament isn’t beneficial.

“I don’t think we’ll treat this differently than our other events,” Wilson said of the regional. “We’ve been finishing in the top five for most of the season against fields that are a little deeper than this one. If we keep the same attitude and mindset I like our chances to advance.”

If the team is to vie for the win in Columbus, both Rodgers and Yun will need bounce-back tournaments after disappointing Pac-12 showings. After placing eighth in the Pac-12 tournament his freshman year in 2011, Rodgers wasn’t able to replicate that top-10 performance down at L.A. Country Club, finishing 11^th. But the No. 6 ranked collegiate golfer in the nation is still dangerous, and is confident that the regional will be an entirely different story.

“I had a disappointing last few days after getting off to a nice start in Pac-12′s but that’s the nature of golf and it’s going to happen,” Rodgers commented. “I was well-prepared for the event and just didn’t have my best stuff come tournament time. This time, my game is again right where it needs to be and if I can stay disciplined mentally throughout the event and control my golf ball, the result will be in my and the team’s favor.”

Yun, the 2012 Pac-12 individual champion, endured a rough title defense campaign in southern California, tying for 29^th. Even though the regional could be his final collegiate tournament, the ‘Iceman’ has seemingly rubber-skin that even the most disheartening of performances can’t permeate.

“You have disappointing performances and good performances,” Yun said. “Every day, every round, and every shot is a new beginning. What a great golfer does is learn from their mistakes and maintain their confidence/belief in themselves. It is easy to lose confidence with a bad tournament, but I’m confident in both my ability and in my preparation so I believe that my best golf lies ahead.”

Contact Cameron Miller at cmiller6 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

That’s right—our annual trophy-room stuffer is not a given this time around. Although the Cardinal has won the award 18 years in a row, Stanford might not even be the 2013 favorite entering the final round of spring playoffs.

For those not familiar with how the Directors’ Cup winner is chosen, up to 20 team sports (10 men’s and 10 women’s) can earn a school points for the award according to their final postseason bracket position. All sports—even football—have the same maximum point value.

As of April 25, when official results were last released, Stanford was in second place with 902.75 points, just slightly behind Michigan at 914.25. The Cardinal likely jumped into first last weekend when its women’s water polo team lost the national title game to USC, but it still isn’t safe because the Cardinal teams that haven’t finished their seasons yet are unlikely to make deep postseason runs. Men’s volleyball failed to make its tournament, lacrosse lost in the second round (exceeding just about everyone’s expectations, I should note) and baseball, a traditional strength, is going to have to pull off a miracle to qualify for a regional.

One school that will likely gain on Stanford across the board is Florida, looming at No. 4 in the last official standings with 748.50 points. Its women’s lacrosse team is playing in the Elite Eight on Saturday; its baseball team should make the postseason even despite its struggles in the ultra-competitive SEC. The Gators are also dominant in women’s tennis (No. 1 in the country), women’s golf (No. 5) and softball (No. 2), three sports in which the Cardinal is an outside title contender at best.

Several factors have put Stanford in an unusually tenuous position this year, among them, the relatively early exit by women’s basketball in the Sweet Sixteen and Final Four losses by women’s soccer and water polo, teams that won titles in 2011-12. Baseball is probably most to blame.

But my goal here isn’t to point fingers at the dedicated student-athletes here who, like any other sports players, suffer disappointments every now and then. Instead, I’ve been asking myself a different question for the last couple weeks: How upset should we be if Stanford doesn’t win this year’s Directors’ Cup?

Even when the award was a foregone conclusion, the Directors’ Cup had special meaning to Cardinal fans. We could boast that Stanford truly had the top athletics program in the country, and when our friends scoffed at the idea—how could an elite academic institution be any good at sports?—we always pointed right at our 18 sparkling trophies. The Directors’ Cup record has become almost a catchphrase, heard and seen across campus. The University uses it to recruit prospective student-athletes, prints it on t-shirts and brags about it on one of the banners at The Axe & Palm.

But I can’t help but think that the rest of the college athletics world is a little bit resentful. North Carolina won in 1993-94, when the Tar Heels edged Stanford by 21.5 points for the inaugural trophy, but it’s been all Cardinal since then. Capital One even created two alternate awards weighted towards big-name sports, just so that someone other than Stanford could win. Of course we can take pride in our athletic department’s success, but we’ve also got to admit that we’ve been hogging this one award a little bit—and at a school that is too often misidentified as elitist, maybe that’s not for the best.

I’m not suggesting that Stanford try to lose; I’m still going to be pulling for the Cardinal to win a 19th straight Directors’ Cup over the next month. But let’s not bite our nails over the prospect of someone else winning the trophy, and let’s not be sore losers if our crystal collection fails to grow this year.

You know what they say: Sharing is caring.

Joseph Beyda shares his care for consecutive consonants quite commonly. Send some similar sentences—silly or serious—to jbeyda ‘at’ stanford.edu or @DailyJBeyda.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): Let’s start from the beginning. How did you start playing tennis? What made you want to play tennis competitively?

Ellen Tsay (ET): Well, my dad got me started at the age of three, so it’s basically been with me my entire life. I started playing tournaments when I was seven, and it just went from there because I guess I did kind of well. So then my parents put me in some more tournaments, and I liked playing tennis a lot. Around the age of 12, I started playing more national tournaments, so it’s kind of stuck with me ever since then.

TSD: Coming out of high school, how difficult was it to adjust to the team aspect in college?

Stanford sophomore Ellen Tsay (above) plays at No. 5 in singles and with senior Stacey Tan is part of the No. 2 doubles pairing.(Stanford Daily File Photo)

ET: I didn’t actually play for my high school because I was traveling a lot, but I did play on several teams in the past. But it’s just really different because at Stanford, the girls on our team are amazing competitors. We’ve shared a lot of the same experiences because we played in the Juniors and in the national tournaments together. So it’s pretty cool because instead of playing and competing against them, I get to work and practice with them [now]. It’s definitely great to hit with such high level players every day. For me, it didn’t take too long to get used to because at the bottom line, [tennis] is still an individual sport and you have to focus on your own match. You can’t rely on other people to pick up slack for you. It’s great if they can, but you need to do your part and take pride in your own court.

TSD: Who were some of the players on the team that you used to compete with before coming to Stanford?

ET: I basically knew everyone on the team before I came to Stanford. In the tennis community, everyone knows each other. Natalie Dillon and I go way back because we’re both from NorCal, so I remember playing against here when I was ten years old. She’s a senior now, and I never thought I’d be on the same team with her.

TSD: Does this apply to outside of the Stanford community, too? Do you go up against a lot of players on other college teams who you previously played against?

ET: Yeah, there are a lot of people who I played against in the Juniors and are still around. There seems to be this notion that the best players [immediately] go pro and college is kind of the fallback. But actually in college, a lot of players start improving a lot. So players who you used to beat all the time in Juniors could get really good because maybe they thrive in the college environment. It’s pretty cool to see how different people develop in college.

TSD: How do you tackle both tennis and the academic workload, especially as a premed? How taxing is it? 

ET: There are definitely a lot of events or things that I wish I could attend or do, so I’m limited in that sense. I’m also a little limited in how much I can explore my academic or extracurricular interests. I chose the two things that I envision myself doing in the future: tennis and the medical field. But in the Juniors, I got a lot of practice [balancing] that. I remember in seventh grade, I basically missed school every other week, so I had to make up stuff, like labs in the morning. So in a sense, that was good preparation. It’s actually not too bad in college because you’re playing for your school, so your professors are more understanding.

TSD: What are some of your strengths on the court?

ET: My strengths are my serve — when it’s on — and my overheads, which are very reliable. I probably come into net more than most players, so that has helped me a lot in the doubles — and poaching in doubles and taking advantage of when Stacey hits a heavy shot. One thing I continue to work on is staying very solid throughout every match because there’s times when I’m up and times when I’m down, so I need to try to even that out.

TSD: You went 24-8 overall in singles last season. Considering that it was your freshman campaign, how pleased were you with your performance?

ET: I guess I don’t really look at numbers too much. I felt pretty good throughout the year. I’ve definitely tried to play a lot more aggressively in college because everyone hits very aggressively, so if you want to compete, that’s what you have to do.

TSD: You and Stacey Tan have been playing doubles since last year. How did that come about?

ET: It wasn’t pre-planned or anything. The coaches just tried us out together and we won the first tournament we played in and so from there, they’re just like, “Okay, we’ll keep you two together.” It’s really fun playing with Stacey. I’m really sad that she’s going to be leaving after this year. We’ve gotten to know each other really well, both as people and players. I’m looking forward to this week of doubles with her.

TSD: Describe your relationship with Tan off the court.

ET: Stacey is an amazing person. She’s very even-keeled. When she wants something, she’ll get it done in a snap. But most of the time, she’s very laid back and a great person to talk to. I feel like we have such a great relationship that when we’re playing doubles, if we’re losing or getting frustrated, all it takes is something like eye contact or some laughter to get back on track.

TSD: You guys swept both Miami (OH) and Rice to advance to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. What’s the plan against USC?

ET: We all know the girls on the USC team. We all know what they’re like, we’ve played them multiple times. If we execute what we need to, we’ll pull through.

Contact George Chen at gchen15 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

On Tuesday evening, the Cardinal (26-21, 11-13 Pac-12) hit rock bottom as it fell to Santa Clara (13-37, 0-21 WCC) by a score of 3-0 as Stanford extended its losing streak to six games, spanning arguably the most important stretch of its season.

Senior designated hitter Justin Ringo (above) was the only Stanford player to record multiple hits faced with a masterclass performance by Santa Clara pitcher Tommy Nance. The Broncos did not give up a single run. (Stanford Daily File Photo)

Stanford’s bats fell completely lifeless as Broncos senior righty Tommy Nance tossed a complete-game masterpiece and kept the Cardinal hitters from making solid contact all evening. Nance only allowed one Stanford hitter to reach second base and was dominant all the way through, going the distance with a gutsy 112-pitch effort.

Nance collected six strikeouts, walked only one, and scattered six hits, never facing more than five batters in any inning. The strong pitching came as a complete surprise to the Cardinal, as Santa Clara’s pitching staff entered the contest with an atrocious 5.60 staff ERA. Nance himself dropped his ERA by almost a full run as a result of the performance from a mediocre 4.58 to a more respectable 3.72.

“For the most part he was just throwing strikes,” said Stanford senior designated hitter Justin Ringo. ”I don’t think we gave our best effort today hitting. He was better than the average guy we faced on Tuesdays but he wasn’t much better than a lot of guys we see on the weekend. I don’t think it was a lack of effort, I just think it was one of those days.”

Ringo had a 2-for-4 day at the plate against Nance, the only Stanford hitter to record multiple hits off of the Broncos right-hander. Both times he was left stranded at first base, highlighting the major problem of the night for Stanford hitting: a chronic inability to advance runners and make use of its limited offensive opportunities.

In the third inning, freshman shortstop Drew Jackson singled to right field before being caught stealing second base to quench the potential threat. In the seventh, junior centerfielder Austin Wilson singled to center to lead off the inning but was unable to advance, as junior backstop Brant Whiting hit into an inning-ending double play.

The Cardinal had one final hope in the bottom of the ninth inning down three runs when junior first baseman Brian Ragira walked to lead off the inning. However, the next hitter, the usually powerful Wilson, hit a routine ground ball to shortstop that was turned into an easy 6-4-3 double play and put the final nail in Stanford’s coffin.

Freshman righty Bobby Zarubin took the hill for the Cardinal, hoping to bounce back from a less-than-stellar outing last Tuesday against San Francisco in which he was pounded for four runs on nine hits. This time around he was more solid, allowing only two runs in four innings of work. Unfortunately, those two runs were enough to do him in on a night when his offense couldn’t get anything going.

The bullpen, however, deserves its share of credit as it limited the Broncos to only three more hits in the remaining five innings of play. Sophomore righty Jordan Kutzer, redshirt junior lefty Garrett Hughes, junior righty A.J. Vanegas and freshman lefty Logan James kept the game close to keep the offense within striking distance.

Of the quartet, only Vanegas struggled in his outing, allowing a runner to cross the plate on a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning. However, that was not necessarily his fault, as he was the victim of sloppy defensive play.

He struck out the first two hitters in order before inducing a lazy pop-up to second base that should have ended the inning but was allowed to drop by junior second baseman Danny Diekroeger, who was yielding to a charging Wilson from center field. The batter made it all the way to second base once the dust cleared.

Vanegas was able to induce a playable ground ball to short from the next hitter, but normally sure-handed freshman shortstop Drew Jackson was unable to play it cleanly and both runners advanced. After that, Vanegas’ control failed him and he walked the bases loaded before walking in an insurance run for Santa Clara.

Going into a three-game series at rival Cal next weekend, the Cardinal desperately needed the victory today against the clearly worst team in the WCC. The Broncos’ 0-21 conference record was not a typo. However, Stanford, now all but eliminated from playoff contention, will be forced to push into the final stretch of the season with a bad taste in its mouth thanks to the surprisingly dominant right arm of Tommy Nance.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The idea is that if you lead by two and give up a goal, you’re leading by one and your goalie is rattled. Hockey is a very momentum-based sport, but not wanting to have a two-goal lead doesn’t seem to make sense, and more shockingly, some people have actually proposed that a three-goal lead is even worse. I challenge any hockey player to pass on scoring when his team is up by one so that he can avoid leading by two. I don’t think it has ever happened. On Monday, I watched the most entertaining game of hockey I’ve seen in a while, and it was only that morbidly compelling because the Toronto Maple Leafs had (correctly) first chosen to score, and score, and score and score again.

The reason why losing a two-goal lead is more feared than losing a one-goal lead is that you don’t expect to lose the former. No hockey player will ease up on the accelerator with only a one-goal lead. Up by two and some teams begin to relax and end up coughing it all up. Moreover, you absolutely expect to cough up one-goal leads every now and then; hockey is like that. A two-goal lead is more embarrassing and it sticks in your mind more deeply.

Case in point: I went to high school in Massachusetts, and while I’m not a Bruins fan I’ve watched enough games to know that the B’s have lost their fair share of one-goal leads. It’s always the two-goal leads (and greater) that stick in your memory.

One of my most enduring hockey memories is of UMass-Lowell choking away a four-goal lead to Boston College. And who could forget the Bruins giving up a three-goal lead in Game 7 of the conference semis against Philadelphia? Perhaps the most ridiculous ending I’ve seen occurred in the 2009 NCAA National Championship Game when Miami (OH) led Boston University by two goals with a minute left and proceeded to lose in overtime. When people ask me about the mystique of the ice, I will point to these games and tell them: “This is hockey.”

Which brings us to last Monday night.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are quite possibly the most hated team in hockey (combining the riches and hatred of the Yankees and the failure of the Mets). I would have compared them to the Boston Red Sox, but people didn’t really start hating the Sox until they started winning; the Leafs could lose every game for the next three years and people would still hate them. This year, they snapped a seven-year postseason drought — in a league where more than half the teams make the playoffs every year, that’s just plain embarrassing — and people didn’t pity them at all. The hate persisted.

They had rallied back from a 1-3 deficit in their series against the Bruins and forced a Game 7. Some stellar play had given them a 4-1 lead, but Nathan Horton scored midway through the third period to make it 4-2. At that point, the Leafs needed to hold the line for 10 minutes and 42 seconds in order to make it to the next round. Needless to say, the lead lasted for nine minutes and 51 seconds.

After Bergeron tied the game with less than a minute remaining, it was almost destined that the Leafs would lose the game in overtime, just as Miami did four years ago.

Regarding the actual loss, some truly horrendous defense and an inability to corral puck rebounds was to blame. But I’m sure that when the dust clears, when Toronto fans stop crying and everybody else stops laughing, people will start talking about the two-goal lead being the worst in hockey, again.

Maybe at this point I should stop complaining about the pundits. This was a rather impressive meltdown on Toronto’s part, and I’m sure that Boston chipping away at its lead had something to do with it. The Leafs haven’t made the playoffs in a while, as I noted. Maybe a lot of the Toronto players simply lacked the sort of experience that trains players to hold leads. That will come with time. Toronto has a good team and all the money in the world to throw at its remaining problems.

But it certainly seemed to me at least that the Leafs’ anti-legend has permeated the Leafs themselves — the fanbase, certainly, and perhaps even the team. Once the Bruins brought the game within one, the mood seemed to change; the Boston atmosphere was nice and rowdy and the fans never let the Leafs forget it. Like Boston’s Curse of the Bambino, the idea of the Leafs’ failure has gotten into the entire city’s heads. And isn’t that what the concept of the “worst lead in hockey” is all about?

When the Leafs lost in overtime, all the Toronto fans congregating in Maple Leaf Square turned away from the screen as one. In a split second, everyone went from watching the game to staring at the ground or filing out of the square. It was a uniformity of utter resignation absolutely stunning to behold. Far away in California, I watched their despair. Not quite agony. Agony implies that you actually thought you had a chance to win.

I’m not sure anybody deserves to feel that way.

But this is hockey.

When Winston Shi isn’t contemplating the best lead to have in hockey, he’s trying to think of the perfect way to ask his date to The Daily’s Banquet. Shannon Turley, you are officially being asked. If you’d like to accept his invitation, email Winston at wshi94 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Former Stanford great Mark Madsen ’00 is taking over as a head coach for the D-League Los Angeles D-Fenders after a one-year assistant coaching stint on the Farm. (KYLE TERADA/StanfordPhoto.com)

“I am very grateful for the opportunity that Coach Dawkins gave me to join the Stanford program and learn under his direction and mentorship,” Madsen said. “I appreciate the support, encouragement and feedback of Coach Dawkins in particular over the past several weeks during this decision-making process. I whole-heartedly express my personal gratitude not only to Coach Dawkins, but to every player, staff member and coach I had the chance to work with this year. I also look forward to following the team’s success next year and wish them the best of luck.”

A two-time All-American on the Farm, “Mad Dog” was a member of the 1998 Final Four team and averaged 10.9 points and 7.9 rebounds for his Cardinal career while ranking among the school’s top-10 all-time performers in field goal percentage (fourth at 58.7 percent), and total rebounds (sixth with 857).

Madsen went on to play in the NBA for nine seasons, including a stint as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for three seasons, helping the franchise capture two consecutive championships in 2001 and 2002. He gained notoriety for his dance moves at the Lakers’ Championship Parade, and was a fan favorite throughout his time in L.A.

After retiring from the NBA, Madsen worked as an assistant coach in the D-League with the Utah Flash in 2009-10 before returning to Stanford and earning his MBA from the Graduate School of Business in Public Management in 2012.

Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins hired Madsen as an assistant coach for the 2012-2013 season, and noted that he was particularly happy for Madsen to be moving up the coaching ladder.

“I am truly excited to see Mark earn an opportunity to be a head coach at the professional level,” Dawkins said. ”Mark proved to be a terrific role model for our student-athletes on and off the court while several of our post players improved tremendously under his guidance. Mark’s professionalism and enthusiasm were invaluable assets to our program over the past year.”

Thursday’s first round saw Stanford post a 17-over 301, putting itself in an uncomfortable 4-way tie for 12th. Star freshman Mariah Stackhouse made an uncharacteristic six bogeys in the first round, while the rest of her teammates combined for six double-bogeys. The story of the end of a great season seemed to write itself: A young team—with only two out of five players having collegiate postseason experience—ran out of gas and was ready to fold.

“We were obviously disappointed in our first round because our goal this week was to win,” said head coach Anne Walker. “After shooting plus-17, we knew that to win we had to do something special in the final two rounds.”

Freshman Lauren Kim (above) helped lead a comeback charge in Friday’s second round as the Cardinal earned a spot in next week’s NCAA Championship.  (DON FERIA/StanfordPhoto.com)

That it did. The Stanford women improved their play dramatically in the second round, recording the lowest team score of the day with an even-par 284. Stackhouse lowered her score six strokes from the previous day, shooting a 2-under-par 69.

Stackhouse could have finished even better; the freshman was sitting at 5-under for the round after back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th, but went 3-over in her final three holes.

“Honestly, nobody on the team seemed to be downcast after Thursday’s rough performance,” Stackhouse said. “I think we all expected to go out Friday and put up much better numbers and jump back into the top eight. I was very proud of the way we handled that initial setback and our positive attitudes moving forward.”

Fellow freshman Lauren Kim also played much better in second round, going from a 3-over 74 to an even-par 71. Though Kim knew the course would play tougher than it had during the Peg Barnard Invitational in February, the home course advantage played in the team’s favor.

“We have played that course so many times that it really didn’t play that [differently] during Regionals,” commented Kim. “The pins were tougher, which I think is what contributed to the higher scores, but other than that the course was pretty similar to how we have been playing it in practice.”

Both Kim and Walker noted that the team was more comfortable starting in the afternoon wave—as it did on Friday—since that is usually the time of day the team practices on the course.

Another reason for Stanford’s vault into the top eight on Friday was the solid play of sophomore Mariko Tumangan. Tumangan followed her opening day 3-over 74 with a second round 1-under performance that included three birdies and two bogeys. That put her in a tie for 12th in the individual race with Stackhouse and three others at 2-over-par.

“Mariko had a terrific tournament,” Walker said. “We have been working hard on Mariko’s confidence all year and it is beginning to pay off.  It is no surprise to me that we have seen Mariko rise to the top at the end of the season. She is a big-time player.”

Senior Sally Watson bounced back from her worst competitive round ever at the Stanford Golf Course on Thursday to shoot 3-over 74 on Friday.

Saturday’s third and final round saw the Cardinal hold steady and retain its fifth place position. Individually, Tumangan and Watson tied for the team low at 1-over-par, while Stackhouse, Kim and junior Danielle Frasier all concluded their tournaments with 2-over-par final rounds.

For the second year in a row, Tumangan ended up being her team’s lowest scorer at the Regionals, finishing in a four-way tie for 10th at 3-over-par. Stackhouse was one stroke behind her in a tie for 14th, and Kim one off Stackhouse in a tie for 18th.

The overall team race saw No. 1 USC (+7) come from behind to knock off No. 7 Purdue (+8), as the Trojans overcame a two-stroke deficit heading into the final round. No. 8 Vanderbilt (+17) placed a distant third, and tournament surprise No. 33 South Carolina (+22) was fourth, one stroke in front of Stanford.

The other NCAA Tournament qualifiers out of the West Region were Pac-12 teams No. 9 Arizona and No. 38 Oregon, which finished in a tie for sixth, and local squad San Jose State.

The individual race was quite a show on Saturday, as Purdue’s Paula Reto fired a 5-under 66 to tie tournament frontrunner and NCAA No.1 Annie Park of USC at 7-under. Both golfers were credited with a victory.

Also on Saturday, Park’s teammate Kyung Kim scorched the course with an 8-under 63, recording a birdie on five of her final seven holes to move into a tie for third place.

This will be the fourth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance for Stanford. In the three previous years, the team has finished 19th, 23rd and 24th, respectively, in the 24-team field. In order to avoid placing in the bottom-half of the field, Walker believes that her team has to focus on their driving.

“We have to work on our ball striking,” Walker said of the team. “The National Championship course is very long, over 200 yards longer than the average in-season course. For us to play well, we have to be striking the ball well.”

For Stackhouse, the trip will be a homecoming and an opportunity to play in front of her family and many in-state supporters. The No. 3 ranked golfer in the country knows the UGA course well, having played the local circuit many times.

The 2013 NCAA Championship begins May 21 at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens.

Contact Cameron Miller at cmiller6 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Stanford made quick work of the RedHawks in the first round. The duo of senior Stacey Tan and sophomore Ellen Tsay blew past Nimisha Mohan and Alix Thurman 8-0 on Court No. 2 in doubles. Junior co-captains Nicole Gibbs and Kristie Ahn then captured an 8-2 victory over Christine Guerrazzi and Ana Rajkovic on Court No. 1 to secure the doubles point.

Junior Kristie Ahn (above) combined to go 3-0 in singles and doubles as Stanford cruised into the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Entering singles play with momentum, the women delivered three crushing defeats to clinch the match 4-0. Tan finished first with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win over Guerrazzi. Gibbs’ 6-1, 6-0 victory over Mohan came next before Tsay clinched the match 6-0, 6-1 over Rajkovic.

“I think the quote ‘to fear no one, but respect everyone’ couldn’t have been more relevant this weekend,” Ahn said. “Just because Miami (OH) is a small name in tennis doesn’t mean they can’t have a big impact.”

The Cardinal didn’t even have a full day’s rest before its second-round match against Rice on Saturday. Rice, who barely slid past Pepperdine 4-3 the day before, fell quickly to the Cardinal.

Tan and Tsay cashed in another shut out over Katie Gater and Liat Zimmermann on Court No. 2 to kick off the match. Once again, the eighth-ranked nationally pairing of Gibbs and Ahn prevailed as well, capturing an 8-4 victory over Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath to clinch the doubles point.

In singles, it was the three co-captains who put up quick victories. Gibbs defeated Beazant 6-2, 6-2 while Ahn beat Harmath 6-4, 6-2 to put the Cardinal on the brink of advancing. Senior Natalie Dillon clinched the match—her last home match at Stanford—over Solo Zinko 6-3, 6-1 to send the Cardinal to the Round of 16.

“It’s been so much fun playing with [Gibbs] this whole season,” Ahn said of her doubles teammate. “I think we feel comfortable with each other and have fun, which is when we’re playing our best tennis. We’re trying to work on staying aggressive both at the baseline and at the net, and I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Gibbs and Ahn will be one of several on the Stanford squad to get a chance at redemption this Friday against USC (23-2, 9-0 Pac-12). The Trojans crushed the Cardinal earlier this season 6-1 in Los Angeles. Ahn and Gibbs themselves fell 8-1 to the No. 2-ranked doubles team of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria.

“Our biggest challenge is the mental part, dealing with our history,” Ahn said. “But I think we’ve been waiting for our revenge as soon as we lost to them.”

USC is currently on a 15-match win streak and is one of two teams, along with top-seeded Florida, to have as few as two losses. Both of the Trojans’ losses came against top-eight opponents.

The Women of Troy are also looking for redemption in this year’s tournament after losing a close battle to UCLA 4-3 in last year’s semifinals.

The Stanford women leave for Urbana, Ill., on Tuesday. Receiving a day of rest on Sunday, the team has time for just one day of practice before flying east.

“The weather is going to be different, and there’s a time change, so we’re hoping to be all geared in by the time Friday rolls around,” Ahn said. “I think at this point, it’s about trying to make every player feel good about her game and getting ours minds right more than anything.”

The Cardinal and the Trojans meet this Friday at 10 a.m. at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex on the campus of University of Illinois. The winner will take on the winner of No. 4 Georgia and No. 13 Clemson Sunday at 10 a.m. for a berth in the semifinals.

Contact Chrissy Jones at chrissyj ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The match marked the first time the Cardinal (12-12, 3-4 Pac-12) has lost to LSU (16-12, 5-9 SEC) in the seven times the teams have played each other. After defeating Stanford, LSU lost 4-0 to No. 12 Pepperdine on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Denis Lin (above) won his final collegiate doubles match, but Stanford fell 4-2 to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (AVI BAGLA/The Stanford Daily)

“There was a lot of positive energy,” said freshman Nolan Paige. “I really felt like we had a good opportunity, but unfortunately we came up a little short.”

The Cardinal earned an at-large berth in the tournament after suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of No. 1 UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championships.

Stanford ended the season with a 12-12 overall record and 3-4 Pac-12 record, while LSU finished with a 16-12 season record and 5-9 SEC record.

Though LSU fell 4-3 the first round of the SEC Championships to No. 17 South Carolina, the team was one of 11 SEC schools to book a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Arkansas was the only team in the SEC that failed to earn a spot in the 64-team field.

The Cardinal started strong against LSU, with senior Denis Lin and sophomore John Morrissey picking up an 8-6 victory at No. 1 doubles over the Tigers’ Stefan Szacinski and Tam Trinh.

Juniors Jamin Ball and Daniel Ho lost 8-5 to LSU’s Boris Arias and Chris Simpson, but the Cardinal managed to take the doubles point with an 8-6 win at No. 2 doubles from freshman Maciek Romanowicz and sophomore Robert Stineman, who defeated Roger Anderson and Olivier Borsos.

However, LSU quickly put an end to Stanford’s momentum by taking the first three singles matches. Paige, who played No. 3 singles, was the first to finish, losing 6-1, 6-1 to Borsos.

“I played really badly,” Paige said. “I’m kind of in a slump right now, which is frustrating because I couldn’t help the team to win.”

Senior Matt Kandath, who played No. 2 singles, lost 6-0, 6-2 to Szacinski in the final match of his collegiate career, and the Cardinal’s No. 6 singles player, Lin, suffered a closer 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss to Trinh.

LSU needed one more point to close the match, but Ho, who played No. 5 singles, put Stanford back into play with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Arias. LSU managed to clinch the victory when Morrissey, who played No. 1 singles, lost 7-5, 6-1 to Simpson.

“I think it was just maybe not the best day for some of us, and we didn’t take advantage of some opportunities,” Paige said. “There wasn’t too much of a gap between us [and LSU], which was frustrating.”

While Stanford has amassed a 103-19 NCAA Tournament record and racked up 15 national team championships since 1977, the Cardinal struggled this year with a relatively young team. The singles lineup was composed of three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior for most of the season.

Last year, Stanford advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals under the leadership of Bradley Klahn ’12 and Ryan Thacher ’12. Klahn was an NCAA singles champion in 2010 and the duo of Klahn and Thacher finished second in doubles in 2011. Needless to say, the team has gone through a difficult rebuilding period after they graduated last year.

Though Paige expressed disappointment in the Cardinal’s failure to progress further in the NCAA Championships, he said that the team is already looking forward to future seasons, and hopefully benefit from the experience gained this year.

“We have a lot of starters coming back next year,” Paige said. “We should be able to have a big year, so that’s exciting.”

Contact Justine Moore at jmoore94 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Carter’s 54.21 in the 400-meter hurdlers was the fastest time in the world this year, breaking the meet and stadium records in the event. Her 12.76 in the 100-meter hurdles—taking place 90 minutes before the 400-meter hurdle—beat out UCLA’s Brea Buchanan by one hundredth of a second and was the seventh-fastest time in the world this year.

Junior hurdler Kori Carter (above) won the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles at the Pac-12 Championships. (IAN GARCIA-DOTY/The Stanford Daily)

Carter’s 100-meter hurdles time met the IAAF World Championships ‘A’ standard, a mark she had already met in the 400-meter hurdles.

The junior’s two individual victories earned a total of 20 team points. The Cardinal finished with 86.5 points, over 50 points behind Pac-12 champion Oregon.

Stanford’s other individual title on the weekend came from sophomore javelin thrower Brianna Bain. Bain set a stadium record in the javelin with a throw of 176 feet 8 inches to win the conference title for the second consecutive season.

Junior Jessica Tonn had a strong weekend in the distance events for the Cardinal. On Saturday, Tonn finished second in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 34:41.68, 24 seconds behind first-place finisher Jennifer Bergman of Arizona. It was Tonn’s personal record by a whopping 30 seconds.

On Sunday, Tonn fought through fatigue to earn another top-five finish, this time in the 5,000-meter run. Tonn just edged out her teammate, sophomore Aisling Cuffe, for fifth place to earn four more team points, bringing her total to 12 points on the weekend.

The Stanford men struggled to mirror the women’s fast pace.

Senior thrower Geoffrey Tabor finished fourth in the shot put Saturday with a throw of 55-11.25, his fourth-consecutive top-five performance in the event at the conference championships.

On Sunday, Tabor came back with a season-best 189-10 in the discus, a distance farther than his Pac-10 winning throw in 2011. However, Tabor would finish third behind a stadium-record 214-07 from Julian Wruck of UCLA.

Tabor finished with 11 team points over the two events, accounting for over a quarter of the men’s team total.

Freshman Steven Solomon, a 2012 Olympic finalist for Australia in the 400-meter, faced a tough fight in the event on Sunday. USC’s U.S. Olympian Bryshon Nellum took first with a stadium-record time of 44.76. Solomon finished in third, breaking the Stanford freshman record with a time of 46.12.

Stanford’s total of 43 points put the team in last place of the 10-team field, just two points behind ninth-place Washington State but over 100 points shy of Oregon, who distanced itself from runner-up USC by over 40 points.

The Ducks won both the men’s and women’s team titles, marking their fifth consecutive sweep of the conference championships.

The 2013 Pac-12 Championships represented a steep drop-off for both Cardinal squads from last season. In 2012, the Stanford women finished second and the men finished in a tie for fifth.

Next up for the Cardinal is the NCAA Regional Championships from May 23-25 in Austin, Texas.

Contact Sam Fisher at safisher ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Sunday saw the retirement of perhaps the greatest-ever soccer manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. It is impossible not to respect the phenomenal achievements that the departing boss of Manchester United had in his 26 years in charge, whether or not you hate him for that success.

He bullied referees and players around and arrogantly refused to ever see blame in his actions, or in those of his team. He also took Manchester United to 13 English Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies and five F.A. Cups, plus a sprinkling of other trophies. In the process, he turned United from a mid-level club into one of the handful that can claim to be the biggest and best in the entire world. Few fans in their right mind would not wish he had been in charge of their favorite team instead.

On the same weekend that he finally stood down, across the other side of Manchester, rival Manchester City was on the brink of waving goodbye to its own manager in far less friendly circumstances. Following an uninspiring performance in Saturday’s F.A. Cup Final loss to Wigan, a game in which City was the clear favorite to win, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was fired Monday.

In Mancini’s short four-year spell at Manchester City, his team picked up one English Premier League title and one F.A. Cup. It also qualified for the Champions League for the first time in club history in 2011 and has repeated that feat in the following two seasons. However, performances in the top European competition have left a lot to be desired, and an overall winning percentage of 59.2—for comparison, Ferguson’s was 59.7—will not save him.

Turn the clock back 20-odd years though, and Ferguson had a far worse record. Joining the club halfway through the 1986-87 season, he could only rescue 11th place in his first year. A second-placed finish the next year hinted at future success, but that was followed by 11th and 13th in his third and fourth seasons, respectively. Only an F.A. Cup trophy in 1990 saved his job, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In today’s world, Ferguson would not have survived. The average life of a Premiership manager is painfully short. Just five of the current 20 have been in their posts longer than Mancini while 11 were appointed within the last 12 months. The expectations of immediate and lasting success have gotten out of hand; the threat of the axe perhaps even makes that very success impossible, as managers are never given the breathing space or time to mold the club in their image.

Viewed through this same lens, the Stanford women’s water polo team has had a poor season and perhaps head coach John Tanner should be worried. On Sunday, it came up short for the third time this season against USC, losing the NCAA Final in quadruple overtime.

This shouldn’t have happened, of course. The national champion over the previous two years, Stanford was joined by three gold-medal winning Olympians this season, including freshman Maggie Steffens, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the women’s water polo tournament at the 2012 London Olympics. The Cardinal was justifiably the preseason favorite, expected to cruise to a third-straight national title in an undefeated fashion.

But it didn’t. Not because the players failed, not because Tanner failed the players, but because there are simply no guarantees in sports. The best personnel that money can buy—or recruiting can secure—will never guarantee success.

Stanford has a lot in common with some of the world’s biggest soccer clubs. It has far more money than it could ever need, and few would turn down the opportunity to play or coach at Stanford. But the Cardinal’s approach to success is the complete opposite; this university could teach all the soccer clubs a lot.

Faced with men’s basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins’ struggle to live up to the expectations set by Cardinal athletics in general, Stanford’s approach is to stand by him. Though he may need a place in the 2014 NCAA Tournament to save his job, few other colleges might have even given him that chance at salvation.

As a fan, Stanford’s refusal to give up on Dawkins can seem frustrating. Less than 10 years ago this university was a men’s basketball power, a far cry from this past season’s failure—in the NIT.

But the alternative—drifting mindlessly from new signing to new signing in the desperate hope of a miracle—could be far, far worse. Lasting success is never guaranteed, but it can also only come from putting faith in a coach, even in the darkest days of his career.

The Stanford Daily is still waiting for its decade of patience with Tom Taylor to pay off. To tell Tom it’s a lost cause, email him at tom.taylor ‘at’ stanford.edu and follow him on Twitter @DailyTomTaylor.

The Cardinal had won the previous two national titles, but the chance at a three-peat ended abruptly when USC freshman Anni Espar fired home a shot in the third period of sudden-death overtime and the fifth overtime period overall.

Freshman Maggie Steffens ended her freshman campaign with two goals in the Card’s 10-9 loss to USC. She finished the season with 60 goals, second to senior Melissa Siedemann, and ranked 10th in the nation with 1.86 goals-per-game.   (ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily)

Stanford led for the majority of the game before USC put together a furious comeback late in the second half. After the Women of Troy took their first lead in the final minute, Stanford sophomore Ashley Grossman scored with 12 seconds left in the game to force overtime.

Stanford had the better scoring opportunities throughout the game, but USC’s efficiency on the power play combined with USC goalkeeper Flora Bolonyai’s 17 saves ultimately proved to be the difference.

The Cardinal reached the final game by crushing Iona 20-3 in the first round of the tournament and then sliding past UCLA 5-3 in the semifinals to set up a fourth meeting with the Trojans this season. Coming into the game, USC had won two of three previous meetings, including an 11-7 victory in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament Final on April 28.

Before the weekend, Stanford head coach John Tanner had said that getting off to a quick start would be key for his team. The Cardinal took that message to heart in the championship game as they broke out to a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter behind goals from freshman Maggie Steffens, senior Melissa Seidemann and junior Kaley Dodson.

Early in the game, Stanford’s defense completely stifled USC’s attack and allowed very few clean looks at goal. When shots did get through, senior goalkeeper Kate Baldoni, who made 11 saves on the day, was there to keep the ball out of the net.

The Women of Troy finally got on the scoreboard on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 6:05 remaining in the first half and then added a second goal a minute later when USC’s Nicolina McCall backhanded a shot past Baldoni. After Stanford sophomore Kiley Neushul put away an outside shot, USC’s Madeline Rosenthal took advantage of another power play opportunity to make the score 4-3 going into halftime.

The back-and-forth action continued after the break as the Cardinal maintained the lead but was unable to pull away. Dodson and Seidemann both scored in the third quarter, but after each tally USC junior Hannah Buckling—who had a game-high five goals—answered to keep the Women of Troy within one.

Stanford clung to its 6-5 lead deep into the fourth quarter until Buckling came up big once again. With just under two minutes to go in the game and two seconds on the shot clock, the junior skipped a long shot past Baldoni to tie the game for the first time since 0-0.

USC capped off the comeback when Espar scored to give USC a 7-6 lead with just 45 seconds remaining the game—the first time the Trojans had led all game.

On the ensuing possession, the Cardinal drew an exclusion and coach John Tanner called timeout. Junior Annika Dries had the first attempt for Stanford, but Bolonyai made a huge save to preserve the lead. The Cardinal maintained possession and worked the ball inside to Grossman, who poked it past Bolonyai to keep Stanford’s hopes alive.

NCAA rules dictate that once teams enter overtime, they will play two three-minute periods regardless of score. If the game is still tied after the guaranteed six minutes, then sudden death comes into play.

USC scored to open overtime, but Steffens added her second goal with 10 seconds remaining in the first period. Dodson, who won all nine sprints on the day, gave the Cardinal possession to open the second period and Stanford took advantage when Seidemann put away her third goal of the game to give the Cardinal a 9-8 lead.

But another Stanford exclusion gave USC the chance to tie and Buckling capitalized once again to even the game with 55 seconds to go.

Both defenses locked down as they entered sudden-death overtime. Stanford continually forced USC into turnovers or weak attempts at goal, but was unable to take advantage at the other end. In the second sudden-death period, USC had close to a minute of sustained possession but Baldoni and her defense stood tall. When the Cardinal finally got the ball, Seidemann fired two rockets that hit the crossbar and stayed out.

In the fifth period of overtime, the Cardinal seemed to be on the verge of breaking through as Seidemann, Dries and Steffens all had good looks at goal, but Bolonyai came through time and time again to keep the ball out.

After more than 45 minutes of play, Espar finally ended the game by placing an outside shot past Baldoni, off the crossbar and down into the net, and with that, the Cardinal’s hopes of a three-peat were extinguished.

Although the Cardinal only lost three games all year, a team that was billed as potentially one of the best teams in collegiate water polo history ends the season in disappointment after failing to capture either the conference or the national title.

The loss also puts the Stanford athletic program’s record of 36 straight years with a national championship at risk. The Cardinal has yet to win an NCAA title in 2012-13—the synchronized swimming national title came from U.S. Collegiate competition—and many observers believed that the women’s water polo team was Stanford’s last legitimate chance at earning a championship this year.

Contact Jana Persky at jpersky “at” stanford.edu.

Freshman Julia Burns (above) had three goals, but it wasn’t enough for the Cardinal, which fell to No. 2 Northwestern 15-8 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. (HECTOR GARCIA-MOLINA/stanfordphoto.com)

After knocking off No. 9 Notre Dame on Friday for the program’s first NCAA tournament win, the No. 20 Cardinal was looking to pull off a second consecutive upset against Northwestern, which have won seven of the last eight national championships including the last two.

Stanford hung close with the Wildcats through halftime, but ultimately the firepower of Northwestern’s attack proved too much to overcome.

Twenty-five minutes into the game, the score was tied 4-4 as sophomore Kyle Fraser, junior Rachel Ozer and freshmen Meg Lentz and Lucy Dikeou each scored once to match the Wildcats goal for goal. Northwestern scored twice in the final five minutes of the half to take a 6-4 lead at halftime, but freshman Julia Burns scored just over a minute into the second half to keep the Card within one.

At that point, Northwestern scored seven of the next eight goals–broken up by a Hannah Farr tally for the Cardinal–to take a controlling 13-6 lead with just under eight minutes remaining. Burns added two more scores in the final seven minutes, but the Wildcats put away the final two goals of the game to wrap up the 15-8 win.

Stanford junior goalkeeper Lyndsey Munoz made two saves on the day.

The Cardinal ends the season with a 14-6 overall record and as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champions.

Stanford now looks forward to the 2014 season, in which it will return all but two players from this year’s roster.

Contact Jana Persky at jpersky ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The Oregon State Beavers came into Sunken Diamond and mercilessly demonstrated why they are the class of the conference, dominating the Cardinal en route to a three-game sweep to put Stanford’s postseason hopes in doubt.

Junior center fielder Austin Wilson gave Stanford its first runs of the game in the sixth inning with a two-run homer. (BOTAO HU/The Stanford Daily)

The series got off to an ominous start from the very first at-bat. Oregon State leadoff hitter Tyler Smith grounded to Stanford sophomore third baseman Alex Blandino, but Blandino’s throw went all the way to the wall, allowing Smith to advance to third base. Smith scored on a groundout two batters later.

The Cardinal briefly spotted senior starting pitcher Mark Appel a lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Four consecutive Stanford hitters reached base, starting with a one-out single from junior first baseman Brian Ragira and ending with a three-RBI double from Blandino, to give the Card a 3-1 lead.

But the lead was short-lived. In the top of the fifth, Appel imploded, giving up five runs on four walks, a hit batsman and three hits to cough up the lead for good.

The usually dominant Appel (8-4) did not have his best stuff from the beginning. The senior needed 103 pitches to get through five innings, allowing six runs–five earned–on six hits and five walks with only four strikeouts to take the loss.

The lone bright spot for Stanford, besides the always impressive yearly post-game fireworks display, was the strong relief performance from sophomore pitcher Jordan Kutzer. Kutzer relieved Logan James with one out in the seventh and was almost perfect through the rest of the evening, allowing no runs on two hits in front of a jam-packed crowd for Firework Night.

“I didn’t really notice that everyone was there,” Kutzer said. “You’re into the game and you’re just trying to focus on getting ahead and getting the win…When I got in I didn’t really realize until the last inning that there were 4,000 people in the stands.”

Saturday’s contest, somehow, proved to be even uglier, without a performance like Kutzer’s or fireworks to numb the pain.

Sophomore starting pitcher John Hochstatter (3-3) took the loss thanks to command problems, allowing four runs–all unearned due to a fielding error from junior shortstop Lonnie Kauppila–with two outs in the third inning on two hits, three walks and two very wild pitches.

That inning sucked all of the life out of Sunken Diamond. The Beavers continued to build their lead against senior reliever Dean McArdle with two runs–unearned due to another throwing error by Blandino–in the fourth and two more in the sixth to make it 8-0.

Junior centerfielder Austin Wilson put Stanford on the board with a two-run homer in the sixth inning that just stayed fair down the left field line, but Oregon State added two runs in the eighth to get the lead back up to eight runs.

Junior pinch hitter Brett Michael Doran homered to left field to lead off the ninth and freshman shortstop Drew Jackson knocked in junior pinch hitter Brian Guymon to make the final score 10-4.

On Sunday, the desperate Cardinal turned to junior pitcher Sam Lindquist for the start. It was Lindquist’s 21st appearance of the season, and 30th of his career, but his first collegiate start. The big righty allowed five runs on two hits and four walks in four innings of work to take the loss.

Trailing 5-0 after five innings, Stanford showed signs of life for the first time since early in Friday’s contest. Senior designated hitter Justin Ringo and sophomore rightfielder Austin Slater singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. Ragira knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice and Wilson knocked in Ragira with a single to right to cut the lead to three.

With senior relief pitcher Garrett Hughes, sophomore reliever David Schmidt and freshman reliever Logan James combining for five scoreless innings of relief, the Cardinal bats had three more chances to try to tie or win the game.

In the eighth, Slater and Ragira led off with walks to bring Wilson up as the tying run. The slugger delivered an opposite-field RBI double to put the tying runners in scoring position with nobody out. Junior second baseman Danny Diekroeger hit into a fielder’s choice, but everyone was safe after a throwing error.

Freshman catcher Austin Barr grounded to third, forcing Wilson to wait as Kavin Keyes forced Diekroeger out at second. After the throw, Wilson ran for home, but was thrown out for a double play. Blandino struck out swinging to end the threat and Stanford went down in order in the ninth to give the Beavers the sweep.

Stanford hosts Santa Clara Tuesday in its penultimate midweek matchup before hitting the road to face Cal in a crucial conference series. The first pitch against Santa Clara Tuesday at Sunken Diamond is set for 5:30 p.m.

Contact Sam Fisher at safisher@stanford.edu.

Sophomore  Cassandra Roulund had four hits on the weekend in the Cardinal’s three game series loss to Arizona.  (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

After jumping out to the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a Kayla Bonstrom triple, Stanford surrendered a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth to trail 3-2. Down to the final out in the bottom of the seventh, sophomore Leah White hit an RBI double to left field to knot the game at three apiece. However, the Wildcats would take the lead for good off Chelsea Goodacre’s solo home run in the ninth inning and the Cardinal stranded the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning.

Missed opportunities defined the two Cardinal losses on the weekend, as Stanford left the bases loaded three times in the game on Thursday night and also saw sophomore Cassandra Roulund thrown out at the plate on a single to left field. In Sunday’s game, the Cardinal outhit the Wildcats 8-6, yet left 10 runners on base over the course of the game.

Roulund and freshman Bonstrom performed well on the weekend, collecting four hits a piece across the three games. Bonstrom picked up 4 RBI as well and ended the season with a team-best .414 batting average. Bonstrom also led the team in slugging percentage, on base percentage and doubles and tied for the lead in RBI–culminating in an extremely successful first season on the Farm.

Senior Jenna Rich went hitless in her final regular season with the Cardinal, but, nonetheless her season capped off a spectacular career that saw her set the Stanford all-time RBI record and finish second all-time in home runs. She anchored the middle of the Stanford lineup, collecting a team-leading 12 home runs and tied for the team lead with 51 RBI.

In addition, senior Teagan Gerhart also wrapped up her Cardinal regular season career on Saturday, taking the loss despite scattering six hits and a run over seven and two-thirds innings. She finishes the year with a 19-11 record and a 2.53 ERA, leading the Cardinal pitching staff in wins and ERA.

Stanford will begin the quest for its first College World Series since 2004 by first playing in the NCAA Lincoln Regional, structured in the double-elimination format. The Cardinal will be joined by Tulsa, Northern Iowa and the regional’s host, Nebraska. Stanford will face Tulsa Friday afternoon to start the postseason.

Contact Michael Peterson at mrpeters@stanford.edu.

Notably absent from the previous “meh” list is one Stephen Curry, and this omission is with good reason. A media darling through his days at Davidson, Curry dragged talent-devoid teams through the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, shooting and gunning his way into the minds of fans nationwide. With the way things stand right now, Curry does not fit into the scrub list for one simple reason: He is a bona-fide NBA superstar.

In the context of the 2009 NBA draft, Curry was regarded as a one-dimensional shooter, offering little in the way of elite athleticism or defensive prowess. His biggest claim to fame was his incredible shooting ability, something that was unstoppable and deadly in college. The concern was whether Curry, a small individual, would be able to cope with the physical demands of the league and whether his incredible shooting would stand up against the rugged defenders that teams would be sure to run at him.

On draft day, it was a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Clippers would select Blake Griffin out of Oklahoma, the consensus top player in the draft. After that, the waters became much murkier; there seemed to be little to separate a loaded class of point guards. The Warriors held the seventh pick in the draft and were shopping it in an effort to pick up an established superstar. In fact, some draft pundits claimed that the Warriors would trade the pick, straight-up, to Phoenix for Amar’e Stoudemire, contingent on the fact that the player the Suns wanted to take was still on the board.

However, the draft slots fell in such a way as to leave Stephen Curry on the board when the Warriors were to pick. Then-GM Chris Mullin took Curry with zero hesitation and held pat while Phoenix tried in vain to pry Curry from the Warriors. At the end of the day, Mullin believed that Curry was a player with the skills to be the centerpiece of a competitive team. It bears mentioning that the Timberwolves held two top-10 picks ahead of the Warriors and three overall picks in the first round of the draft that year; their selections were (in order) Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn and Ty Lawson, with Rubio electing to stay in Europe for a few more years, the Flynn pick backfiring and Lawson ending up on the Nuggets through a trade.

Fast-forward a few years to today and Curry’s popularity and reputation have soared to uncharted heights. The pre-draft scouting report failed to recognize a willing and instinctive passer who can run the pick and roll efficiently, while also recognizing mismatches and exploiting them all over the floor. The report also understated the impact of Curry’s shooting; as the Nuggets and Spurs can attest to, giving Curry even a glimmer of daylight is enough for him to drain a shot, range be damned. We’re talking about a player who beat Rick Reilly (admittedly not a professional basketball player, but still) in a shooting contest while shooting from half court!

When Curry gets hot, anything he throws at the basket seems to go in (cue Nuggets fans nodding slowly). Paired with his “Splash Brothers” sidekick in Klay Thompson–another brilliant (if streaky) shooter with a lockdown defender’s mentality–the Warriors have the “best shooting backcourt in the history of the NBA,” if their coach Mark Jackson is to be believed. Regardless, over the last few weeks, we have seen firsthand that Curry can singlehandedly change the outcomes of games. That is a powerful statement that cannot be applied to just any player. It takes someone special to deserve that praise.

The poison darts in the strawberry tart are, as feared, Curry’s injury woes. To put it bluntly, his ankles appear to be made of a combination of brittle glass and paper mache; it seems like he suffers some ankle-related setback at least once a month. He has missed numerous games in each of his seasons in the NBA and his inability to stay healthy is reflected in his relatively modest contract; much of his potential depends on him being able to stay on the court.

Curry will also never really be a defensive stopper; he lacks the size and agility to stay with super-quick guards, and he gambles often for steals. However, the effort is there, which was a big doubt going into the draft. At worst, Curry will outgun the player he is matched up against 95 percent of the time; at best, he is a marauding freelancer who comes up with steals and other sneaky turnovers by his skill.

The 2013 NBA Playoffs have served as Curry’s coming-out party on the national scene. Following his 54-point outburst at Madison Square Garden, Curry has shot the lights out throughout the playoffs while also averaging over eight assists per game, the best among all players this postseason.

While he performs at such a high level, the Golden State Warriors suddenly look dangerous. Despite losing David Lee to injury, they already knocked off the 3-seed Nuggets and currently dueling the San Antonio Spurs to a 2-2 series win count in a wildly entertaining matchup. Much of this success has to do with Curry being handed the keys to the Warriors offense. So far, he has more than lived up to the expectations.

Between his college heroics and his playoff performances this year, Curry has elevated himself to superstar status at both levels, which is another rare accolade to bestow. Needless to say, the reputation is very well deserved. Now if only we could replace his ankles with some steel joints…

Viggy Venkataraman’s lifetime goal is to meet Stephen Curry. If you know how to make his dreams come true contact him at viggy@stanford.edu.

Senior Melissa Seidemann (above) recorded a hat trick but Stanford fell to USC in five overtimes in the national championship game. (BOB DREBIN/stanfordphoto.com)

5:01 PM: Thanks for following our live blog today. Full recap and reaction to come soon.

4:59 PM: Final recap: 10-9 USC in five overtimes. Stanford’s goal scorers: Seidemann (3), Dodson (2), Steffens (2), Grossman and Neushul. Goalkeeper Kate Baldoni made 11 saves in her final game for the Cardinal.

4:52 PM: These were the top two teams all year and they showed in in a classic championship game in Boston. USC clearly had Stanford’s number this year as the Women of Troy took three of four meetings, including the two that mattered most (MPSF Final and NCAA Final).

4;49 PM: Heartbreaking ending for the Cardinal. Stanford had its chances but USC’s Spanish Olympian freshman Anni Espar bounces a shot off the crossbar and in to end the game and halt Stanford’s hope of a three-peat.

4:48 PM: Anni Espar scores, USC wins.

4:48 PM: Stanford getting better looks than USC as defense forces another weak Trojan attempt. Seidemann walks in and fires at the other end but Bolonyai comes up big once again.

4:47 PM: Dodson is literally unbeatable on the sprint. Seidemann sets up Dries in front but Bolonyai makes the stop.

4:46 PM: Announcers are saying this is the longest ever women’s water polo national championship game. Next goal will stop the clock and determine the national champion.

4:45 PM: Teams will switch sides again as fourth OT ends. Stanford had just one offensive possession in the last three-minute period but nearly capitalized as Seidemann had two good looks. The Stanford senior has hit the crossbar at least four times today.

4:42 PM: Stanford on powerplay, Seidemann hits the crossbar for the second time in the possession. 14 seconds left in period, USC ball.

4:42 PM: Defense makes the stop again, Stanford finally has offensive opportunity.

4:41 PM: Defense forces USC into weak shot and Baldoni has the ball, but foul gives ball back to USC again. Dangerous times for Stanford.

4:40 PM: Seidemann makes a huge field block but USC has the ball again with a fresh shot clock.

4:40 PM: USC has the ball with 12 seconds on the shot clock.

4:39 PM: Some sort of problem with the shot clock in Boston. Confusion on the pool deck.

4:39 PM: Dodson wins her eighth sprint, but foul gives the ball back to USC. Women of Troy setting up.

4:36 PM: Fourth OT period about to begin in a classic national title game in Boston. Next goal will win the game.

4:34 PM: Maggie Steffens fires a shot that goes wide, USC ball, but time expires on the first OT. Sudden death continues after the teams switch sides.

4:33 PM: Seidemann mauled at two meters, USC counters but Stanford slows them down and forces USC into outside shot that Baldoni blocks.

4:32 PM: Both teams playing tough defense to begin sudden death OT.  Stanford with the ball again.

4:32 PM: Card turns it over, now USC has the chance.

4:32 PM: Dodson has won 7-of-7 sprints today. Card with the ball and chance to win.

4:31 PM: Kaley Dodson’s sprinting could be key here as the next goal will win the game. Sudden-death OT about to begin in Boston.

4:29 PM: Coming out of timeout, USC couldn’t even get a shot off. Card defense comes up huge in crunch time, but no more room for error for either side as the game enters sudden death. So many stars on both teams, who will be the hero?

4:28 PM: Defense forces USC into shot clock violation, Neushul gets a shot but Bolonyai saves it. Sudden death to come.

4:26 PM: Stanford will definitely get another possession because of the shot clock, but a USC goal here would obviously put the pressure on.

4:25 PM: Foul on Card, USC calls timeout to set up. The Women of Troy have the ball with 45 seconds to go so Baldoni and Stanford defense will need to come up big here.

4:24 PM: Stanford calls timeout after USC capitalizes on another man-up opportunity.

4:23 PM: Buckling again as the penalty expires. 9-9, 55 seconds to go. 

4:23 PM: USC has another 6-on-5 opportunity as Dodson is excluded. 1:15 to go.

4:22 PM: Card makes a steal and goes the other way but Neushul’s shot is blocked. 1:46 to go, 9-8 Stanford.

4:22 PM: Seidemann faked close to a dozen times before putting that shot away for her third of the game. Olympic experience.

4:21 PM: Dodson wins the sprint again. Card works the ball to Dries who draws an exclusion. Seidemann walks in and scores. 9-8 Stanford.

4:19 PM: Second overtime is about to begin in Boston. We’re all tied at 8 with three minutes left to potentially decide the title. If the game is still tied after three minutes, it heads to sudden death.

4:17 PM: USC’s final shot of the first overtime goes wide. Neushul made a pinpoint pass to set up Steffens on the doorstep where the freshman put away her second goal of the game. Second three-minute overtime period coming up to decide the national championship.

4:16 PM: Stanford ties it with 10 seconds left in the first overtime. Steffens scores from in close.

4:15 PM: Stanford works the ball around, but Dodson’s shot goes wide right. One minute to go in first OT period.

4:14 PM: Dodson excluded. USC has been good on 6-on-5 today, but Baldoni makes a key save to kill the opportunity.

4:14 PM: USC steals it and has another offensive possession. Stanford must make a stop here.

4:13 PM: Stanford wins the sprint again but Steffens’ shot goes over the cage. USC goes the other way and scores on the counter. 8-7 USC.

4:12 PM: If game is still tied after both periods, then play enters sudden death.

4:11 PM: Two three-minute overtime periods to come. Not sudden death, will play all six minutes no matter what.

4:08 PM: Bolonyai had made a huge save on a tipped shot by Annika Dries earlier in that powerplay. Card got the ball back and worked it inside to Grossman who poked it in to tie the game with 12 seconds to go.

4:06 PM: Card takes advantage of powerplay, USC’s shot goes wide and we’re going to overtime.

4:05 PM: Ashley Grossman ties it at 7 with 12 seconds left.

4:05 PM: Dries draws the exclusion. Cardinal has a 6-on-5 with 35 seconds to go so Coach Tanner uses final timeout. Stanford must score.

4:04 PM: USC takes the lead for the first time all game. Cardinal calls timeout, needs to score to avoid heartbreaking loss.

4:04 PM: Stanford kills the powerplay but USC’s Espar scores right after. 7-6 USC, 45 seconds remaining.

4:03 PM: USC has a powerplay with about a minute to go. Neushul excluded.

4:02 PM: Intense in Boston as the game is tied with 1:20 to go and USC holding the ball.

4:00 PM: Hannah Buckling with her third goal of the game, and this one is particularly killer as Stanford had almost closed down the possession, but Buckling skipped a long shot past Baldoni to tie the game for the first time since 0-0.

3:59 PM: USC shot with 2 seconds on the shot clock ties the game. 6-6, 1:56 to go.

3:56 PM: Cardinal calls timeout after another big defensive stop. 3:06 to go, Stanford leading 6-5.

3:55 PM: Stanford defense comes up big, kills off 6-on-5. 3:52 remaining.

3:52 PM: Steffens excluded, USC calls timeout with 4:37 to go in the game. Big 6-on-5 coming up.

3:51 PM: Stanford doing a great job keeping USC offense way outside, keeps Women of Troy without a good shot in a minute of possession.

3:50 PM: Same thing at the other end, USC has the ball down 6-5 with 6:12 to go.

3:49 PM: Seidemann’s shot is saved but Card keeps the ball after USC foul.

3:48 PM: Dodson wins the sprint again. Would be nice for Card to take two-goal lead here as the fourth quarter begins.

3:47 PM: Stanford is looking for its third straight national title, but certainly not home free yet. Eight minutes left in Harvard.

3:44 PM: Third quarter ends with Stanford holding on to 6-5 lead. Card has led all game but USC hanging around.

3:43 PM: Stanford has shut down Espar and Vavic so far, but USC has scored on three of six powerplay opportunities to stay close.

3:43 PM: Buckling responds with a powerplay goal for USC. 6-5 Stanford.

3:42 PM: Stanford had great ball movement leading up to Seidemann’s second goal of the game, an outside shot from the middle. Card takes advantage of timeout and 6-on-5.

3:41 PM: Seidemann takes advantage, 6-4 Stanford. 

3:40 PM: This is Stanford’s fourth 6-on-5 of the game. 2:56 to go in the 3rd quarter.

3:39 PM: Stanford gets a powerplay and Coach Tanner calls timeout. Stanford, clinging to a one goal lead, needs to capitalize on one of these opportunities.

3:37 PM: USC’s Hannah Buckling scores on a counterattack. 5-4 Stanford.

3:36 PM: Stanford kills off powerplay after Kaley Dodson tips two passes. USC ultimately gets a shot but Baldoni is there.

3:33 PM: Seidemann hits the crossbar with a rocket for the second consecutive possession. If those are on target, they aren’t being stopped. USC calls timeout with 5:32 remaining in the quarter after Dries is excluded.

3:32 PM: Baldoni steps up again to keep the momentum in Stanford’s favor.

3:31 PM: Kaley Dodson again finishes an outside shot. 5-3 Stanford.

3:31 PM: Baldoni saves USC’s first chance of the second half. She was tournament MVP last year.

3:30 PM: Second half opens with Stanford winning the sprint.

3:29 PM: Stanford scorers: Maggie Steffens, Melissa Seidemann, Kaley Dodson and Kiley Neushul. Madeline Rosenthal scored twice for USC and Nicolina McCall added one. USC is 2-4 on 6-on-5′s while Stanford is 0-3. Both goalies with solid play.

3:25 PM: Final USC shots goes off the crossbar and it’s halftime. Stanford holding on to 4-3 lead.

3:24 PM: Bolonyai makes two saves on powerful shots from Steffens and Neushul. Cardinal is 0-3 on powerplay opportunities.

3:23 PM: Action has certainly picked up in the second quarter as both teams have started working the ball inside on offense. Stanford has a powerplay with 50 seconds in the half.

3:23 PM: USC capitalizes on a powerplay opportunity. 4-3 Stanford.

3:21 PM: Kiley Neushul responds with a goal. 4-2 Stanford

3:21 PM: Nicolina McCall backhanded that shot past Baldoni. Stanford has given up two straight after taking a 3-0 lead.

3:20 PM: USC scores. 3-2 Stanford, 2:23 to go before halftime.

3:19 PM: Dries fires a shot that Bolonyai saves. Garton in the right place but can’t put away the rebound.

3:16 PM: Baldoni makes a save to kill off a powerplay and maintain Stanford’s two goal lead.

3:15 PM: USC gets on the board after Ashley Grossman is excluded. 3-1 Stanford with 6:05 left in the second quarter. 

3:14 PM: Dodson fired a sidearm shot past Bolonyai. Stanford head coach John Tanner was disappointed that his team got out to a slow start in the MPSF final. Not a problem today.

3:12 PM: Kaley Dodson gives Stanford a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter.

3:09 PM: The first quarter has ended with Stanford holding a 2-0 lead on goals from Steffens and Seidemann. Great play from Baldoni and the defense so far.

3:08 PM: Stanford is unable to capitalize and USC gets a power-play of their own at the end. USC takes timeout with eight seconds left in the quarter.

3:07 PM: The Cardinal has a 6-on-5 with less than a minute remaining in the quarter.

3:06 PM: Steffens made a great pass to set up that goal. Two 2012 Olympians connecting.

3:05 PM: Seidemann doubles the lead. 2-0 Cardinal. 

3:04 PM: Both goalies making great saves to start the game.

3:03 PM: Seidemann gets a breakaway after a USC exclusion but Bolonyai blocks it.

3:02 PM: Neushul’s shot is saved, the Cardinal gets the rebound but can’t take advantage of the extra possession. USC goes the other way and Baldoni makes the save.

3:00 PM: Kelsey Suggs is excluded but Dries makes the field block to kill off the power play.

2:59 PM: Maggie Steffens scores on the Cardinal’s opening possession. 1-0 Stanford.

2:58 PM: Dodson wins the opening sprint and the 2013 women’s water polo national championship game is underway.

2:57 PM: And we’re about to begin. Baldoni, Neushul, Steffens, Suggs, K. Dodson and Dries in to start for the Cardinal.

2:53 PM: All four Peter J. Cutino award finalists will be in the water today. Dries, Seidemann and Steffens were all nominated and USC’s Monica Vavic was the fourth finalist. The 2012 Award was won by Stanford sophomore Kiley Neushul.

2:52 PM: Still waiting for the match to begin.

2:41 PM: This game will be a rematch of the 2012 national title game, which the Cardinal won 6-4. There will be added firepower, however, as both teams added Olympians for this year’s season. For Stanford, Annika Dries and Melissa Seidemann returned to the Farm after winning the gold medal for Team USA along with Olympic MVP Maggie Steffens, who is playing her first season for the Cardinal. USC has its own stable of Olympians, as freshman Anni Espar competed for Spain last year and junior goalkeeper Flora Bolonyai played for Hungary. Unlike Dries and Seidemann, Bolonyai also played collegiately last season and made nine saves in the national title game.

2:27 PM: We’ll be here with the coverage as soon as the game begins. For now, revisit how Stanford did in the first two rounds of the tournament here and here.

2:25 PM: Apparently the game has been pushed back to a 2:45 PST start time.

2:23 PM: The game should be starting any minute now. To recall, the teams split two regular season meetings before USC took the rubber match in the MPSF final. Click here for our coverage of that game.

Senior goalkeeper Kate Baldoni (above) led the Cardinal into the national championship game by holding No. 3 UCLA to just three goals in the semifinals. (BOB DREBIN/stanfordphoto.com)

In order to win its third straight national championship, the Cardinal (29-2) will have to beat the Women of Troy (26-1) in the fourth meeting between the teams this season. After the teams split their two regular-season matchups, USC defeated Stanford 11-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) final. Stanford and USC have been the top two teams in the national rankings all season and neither team lost to any other squad all year.

Stanford, the two-time defending champions, advanced to the title game by knocking off No. 3 UCLA 5-3 in the semifinals.

Goalkeeper Kate Baldoni anchored a tremendous defensive effort by the Cardinal. The reigning NCAA tournament MVP made 12 saves to shut down the powerful Bruins attack, which came into the game averaging 10.7 goals per game.

“I have to give it all to the defense, they had some great shot blocks. Mel [Seidemann] had one, Kaley [Dodson] had one, I honestly don’t remember touching the ball the whole first half,” Baldoni said of the defensive effort. “We were well-prepared, we knew where their shooters were and we just did a very good job defending.”

The Cardinal was unable to capitalize on its stifling defense as UCLA goalkeeper Sami Hill matched Baldoni save for save at the other end. The redshirt sophomore made 11 stops, but ultimately, the Cardinal was able to put just enough by her to take the win.

“[UCLA] really packed it in, tried to rely on Sami and she did a great job.”said Stanford head coach John Tanner. “We kept our composure as the game was close and unfolding and did not allow our missed opportunities to frustrate us. I couldn’t be prouder of my team, anchored by Kate who was sensational tonight.”

Stanford senior Jillian Garton scored twice in what could have been her final meaningful game in the Cardinal cap. The captain began the scoring with a tally 5:46 into the game. After the Bruins tied it 30 seconds later, Stanford freshman Maggie Steffens sparked a three-goal second period with a goal two minutes into the second quarter. Senior Melissa Seidemann put away a skip shot to double the lead before Steffens capped off the half with her second tally to give the Cardinal a 4-1 lead at halftime.

The low-scoring affair continued after halftime as both teams were held scoreless until UCLA sophomore Emily Donohoe pulled the Bruins within two with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.

Garton added her second goal with 6:39 remaining in the game to give the Cardinal a three-score cushion, and that was all Baldoni and the Cardinal defense needed to ride out the win.  Donohoe added a meaningless goal in the final minute to make the final score 5-3.

Stanford will now face the top-ranked Women of Troy in the final, which will take place tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. PST. The game will be a rematch of last year’s final, which the Cardinal won 6-4. Fans can watch live at NCAA.com.

Stanford’s athletics program has won at least one NCAA title every academic year since 1976-77. The Cardinal has yet to win one in 2012-13 — the synchronized swimming national title was in U.S. Collegiate competition — and many followers of the program believe that the women’s water polo team is the last one with a legitimate chance to bring an NCAA championship to the Farm this year.

“JT’s done a really good job preparing us for [USC],” Baldoni said. “We’ve played them three times so far this year and tomorrow’s going to be really fun. I’m excited to go out there and play some stellar defense.”

Contact Jana Persky at jpersky ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Senior Melissa Seidemann (above) collected four goals in Stanford’s 20-3 win over Iona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. (DAVID GONZALES/StanfordPhoto.com)

The Cardinal showed no signs of hangover from its loss to No. 1 USC in the MPSF Tournament championship game two weeks ago, as it got off to a torrid start with four goals in the first eight minutes. The Gaels had no answer, allowing Stanford to eventually take a 10-0 lead heading into halftime.

“We were pleased with the start. I liked how we played on defense, we got things going in the second quarter but even in the first quarter when we weren’t scoring the ball I liked what we were doing,” Stanford head coach John Tanner told GoStanford.com. “Our possessions were good, we were passing well and seeing opportunities. Jillian [Garton] created a bunch of chances and was doing a nice job controlling our offense.”

Senior Melissa Seidemann led all scorers with four goals, while junior Annika Dries grabbed a hat trick. The team also saw plenty of contributions from freshman Maggie Steffens, sophomore Ashley Grossman and freshman Anna Yelizarova, who all found the back of the net twice.

The defense did its job, too, not allowing Iona to get on the scoreboard until there was 1:16 left in the third period. Senior Katie Baldoni and freshman Gabby Stone also combined for a solid eight-save performance in front of the net.

The only team that managed to score more goals than Stanford in the opening round was USC. The Trojans demolished eighth-seeded Pomona-Pitzer to the tune of 27-1. The Cardinal may be waiting anxiously for a chance to avenge its two losses to USC this season, but that epic rematch has not been etched in stone just yet.

First, Stanford will meet conference rival UCLA, which edged out Princeton 8-6 on Friday afternoon. The game is slated for a 4 p.m. PST start time tomorrow.

Sophomore midfielder Hannah Farr (above) scored the game-winning goal with four seconds remaining as the No. 20 Cardinal lacrosse team knocked off No. 9 Notre Dame in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. (BOB DREBIN/StanfordPhoto.com)

The Fighting Irish had previously defeated the Cardinal 12-10 in the season opener on Feb. 16, but Stanford’s players took confidence from its 7-2 halftime lead in that game.

In the game that mattered more, the Cardinal put together a full 60-minute effort to take the victory. On attack, freshman Lucy Dikeou led the way with three goals, including the game-tying goal with 1:51 to play.

Sophomore midfielder Hannah Farr chipped in with two scores, including the game-winning goal on a free-position shot with four seconds remaining. Freshman attacker Julia Burns’ two goals and junior midfielder Anna Kim’s one rounded out the scoring for Stanford. Junior goalkeeper Lyndsey Munoz made six saves in goal.

Until the very end, the rematch looked a lot like the season opener. Stanford jumped out to a 4-2 halftime lead, holding the Irish scoreless for the final 11:53. After Stanford built the lead to 6-3 in the first 13 minutes of the second half, Notre Dame began its comeback charge.

The Irish scored three goals over a stretch of 4:07 to tie the contest with seven minutes remaining. Two minutes later, Notre Dame’s Kaitlyn Brosco scored to give the Irish its first lead since 1-0 early in the first few minutes of the game.

But unlike in the first matchup, the Cardinal had some more fight left. Stanford won all three draw controls remaining in the game to spark a late run. First Dikeou tied the game when junior defender Megan Lerner forced a key Notre Dame turnover. Then, after Lerner won the draw, Farr earned a free-position shot and converted to give the Cardinal its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

Stanford now has to prepare for another rematch on Sunday, this time against perennial power Northwestern, who beat the Cardinal 12-8 on April 4. The Wildcats have won seven of the past eight national championships, including the last three.

Before the tournament began, Munoz said that the Northwestern game was another regular season contest in which the Cardinal believed the team should have done better.

“It would be very exciting to beat them at their home field,” Munoz said. “Especially with them [winning the tournament] last year, it would be really great to knock them off.”

Sunday’s game will begin at 11:30 a.m. PST.

Contact Jana Persky at jpersky ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Junior attacker Rachel Ozer (above) was named to the IWCLA all-region second team after leading the Cardinal in scoring this season. (ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily)

The No. 20 Cardinal (13-5, 8-2 MPSF) faces the No. 9 Fighting Irish (12-4, 5-3 Big East) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament this Friday in Evanston, Ill. On Feb. 16, Stanford jumped out to a 7-2 halftime lead only to see the Fighting Irish roar back in the second half to take a 12-10 victory.

Stanford has previously appeared in the NCAA three times but has never advanced past the first round. In its last appearance in 2011, the Cardinal was eliminated with a 13-11 loss to Florida in the opening round. The Cardinal will look to reverse that trend against a Notre Dame team making its eighth NCAA appearance.

Despite the tough competition, the Cardinal is not shying away from another opportunity to face Notre Dame. Stanford junior goalkeeper Lyndsey Munoz said her team was “really excited” when it saw the draw.

“A lot of people might be surprised at that since they are obviously one of the best teams in the country,” Munoz said. “But after our first game—being up by so much at halftime and allowing them to come back in the second half—we all really want to get to redo that.”

The Fighting Irish have a first-team all-Big East selection in every zone of the field. Senior attacker Jenny Granger posted 31 goals and 22 assists this season to lead Notre Dame’s offense, while fellow first-team selection junior midfielder Margaret Smith contributed in all areas with 14 goals, 35 ground balls and 35 draw controls.

Sophomore defender Barbara Sullivan, who was also one of 25 players nominated for the Tewaaraton Trophy, picked up 49 ground balls this season for the seventh-best per-game average in the nation. She also made the top 10 in caused turnovers per game (2.00) and top 25 in draw controls per game (3.88).

In goal, Fighting Irish senior Ellie Hilling anchored a top-20 defense that allowed just 8.75 goals per game. Hilling posted a .467 save percentage while making 7.2 saves per game this season.

Stanford will use the momentum built through its run to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) championship last weekend. The Cardinal earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament by handily defeating Cal in the semifinals and knocking off top-seeded Denver 7-6 in the MPSF final.

“We peaked at the right time and played two really good games against two good teams,” said sophomore midfielder Hannah Farr. “Our offense played really well and we want to continue that.”

One key for the Cardinal will be remaining poised on both offense and defense. Munoz noted that Stanford gave away just three free-position opportunities for its opponents in the two-game tournament.

“Our defense was controlled, and there were very few fouls,” Munoz said. “That was great because before, we had kind of gotten away from that and were becoming more undisciplined.”

Munoz said that Stanford’s defense will be watching out for Notre Dame’s quick feeds, as the Fighting Irish have a tendency to send passes into players cutting to the goal even if they are only slightly open.

On offense, Stanford head coach Amy Bokker wants her team to continue with the sharp ball control and lack of turnovers that it displayed in the MPSF Tournament. Bokker also said that the team’s ability to shoot and finish effectively will be key if the Card wants to advance.

Farr has been on a tear as of late, tallying six goals and one assist in the MPSF Tournament to take Most Outstanding Player honors.

Junior attacker Rachel Ozer also had seven points on three goals and four assists over the two games. Ozer was recently named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) all-region second team after leading the Cardinal in scoring (47 goals, 22 assists) and recording a goal in 17 of 18 games this season.

Junior captain Anna Kim, who was also named to the IWLCA all-region second team, is second on the team in the points (31 goals, 11 assists) and draw controls (53). Junior defender Megan Lerner set the school record with 59 draw controls this season.

Munoz said the team is taking confidence from the way the Cardinal matched up with the Fighting Irish in the first half of February’s meeting and is hoping to put together a full game effort on Friday.

“The biggest thing is playing two halves consistently and keeping up the positive energy,” Munoz said. “With the playoffs, the next game is never guaranteed, so we have to lay it all on the line and give everything we have to come up with a win.”

The winner of the first-round game will face second-seeded Northwestern in the second round on Sunday at 11 a.m. That game would also be a rematch for the Cardinal, who lost to the Wildcats 12-8 on April 14 in Evanston.

“We all want to take this program to further heights than it’s ever gone,” Munoz said. “We want to finally get out of the first-round losses and make it to the second round and hopefully keep going.”

Contact Jana Persky at jpersky@stanford.edu.

Junior Annika Dries (above) was one of three Cardinal players named as a Peter J. Cutino award finalist. The award is given to the best player in collegiate water polo. (BOB DREBIN/The Stanford Daily)

This is the 13th straight appearance in the National Collegiate Championship for the Cardinal. It has reached the national title game in eight of the past 12 years and has never finished worse than third at the tournament.

Stanford faces No. 7 Iona in the tournament’s first round. In 2011, the two teams also met in the quarterfinals with the Cardinal coming away with a 22-7 win.

Stanford head coach John Tanner noted that Iona, the Metro Athletic Athletic Conference champion, plays a “wide-open and fast-paced style” and has done well in high-scoring games, but he also said he doubted that the Gaels had the depth to match up with his squad.

Instead, Tanner said his team was focused on a likely matchup with UCLA in Saturday’s semifinal. This would be the fourth matchup between the California rivals this season. Stanford followed up two regular season victories with an 11-7 win over the Bruins on April 27 in the MPSF semifinals.

Tanner said that starting fast would be key for his team in all games.

“We’ve played well defensively but haven’t gotten ourselves ready on offense when the whistle blows,” Tanner said. “We have to be prepared to start at 7 and not at 7:15.”

If the Cardinal can makes it to the finals, it could face No. 1 USC for the fourth time this season. Last year, Stanford beat USC 6-4 in the NCAA Tournament. This season, the two teams have been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 all year—neither Stanford nor USC has lost to another team.

After both squads took a victory during the regular season, the Women of Troy won the MPSF Championship with an 11-7 win in the final.

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t play better [in the MPSF],” said Tanner said. “We had some lapses. We aren’t really going to change much, but we are focused on being more consistent and sharp on offense and defense.”

Regardless of the opponent, Stanford has the firepower to score goals in bunches. The Cardinal has averaged an MPSF-leading 13.03 goals per game.

On Thursday, Stanford players junior Annika Dries, senior Melissa Seidemann and freshman Maggie Steffens were all named as finalists for the Peter J. Cutino Award which is given annually to the top collegiate water polo player. USC’s Monica Vavic was the fourth player nominated.

In 2011, Dries won the award, and Seidemann was named a finalist the same year. Stanford sophomore Kiley Neushul won the award last year.

In goal, Kate Baldoni will try to cap off her senior season with another national title. Last season, Baldoni was named NCAA Tournament MVP after a standout performance throughout the championship.

Stanford’s opening-round match will begin at 10:45 a.m. PST. A potential semifinal would begin at 4 p.m. PST on Saturday with the final at 2:15 p.m. PST on Sunday.

“It’s great being out in Boston and playing at Harvard,” Tanner said. “We’re really excited to start playing.”

Contact Jana Persky at jpersky ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Senior ace Mark Appel needs 15 strikeouts to tie the Stanford career record. (ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily)

Oregon State (38-8, 17-4 Pac-12) boasts one of the best rotations in the country, a group that has posted an impressively low 2.04 ERA, good for second in Division I, and a 1.04 WHIP, good for third. If Stanford (26-17, 11-10) wants to make it out of the series with a pair of wins—which would be a huge step towards punching a ticket to the NCAA Tournament—it will have to be firing on all cylinders at the plate against the Beavers, who currently lead the conference standings.

Almost out of nowhere, Oregon State’s three-man rotation of senior lefty Matt Boyd (9-2) on Fridays, freshman righty Andrew Moore (9-1) on Saturdays and junior lefty Ben Wetzler (5-1) on Sundays has made a name for itself as one of the most formidable staffs in college baseball. Last summer, Boyd was a career reliever and a 13th-round draft pick and Moore hadn’t played a lick of college baseball. But that duo has won nearly half of the Beavers’ games, and Moore pitched his first career complete game, a two-hitter, against Cal last weekend.

To make matters worse for the Cardinal, Oregon State is coming off consecutive conference sweeps against USC and Cal in which it allowed just 10 total runs in six games.

Stanford’s bats heated up somewhat in April after a slow start to the season, but a lackluster three-run performance in a loss to San Francisco on Tuesday looked like a step in the wrong direction. In the Cardinal’s last two games (both losses), it averaged 11 hits, so the offense has been there—just not always at the right time.

The Cardinal proved that it is capable of playing giant-killer in its series win against then-No. 16 Arizona State—on the road, no less—last weekend. It beat the Sun Devils by pulling off a 9-8 victory in 11 innings last Saturday despite 3.1 shaky innings by freshman Daniel Starwalt, who was yanked after allowing four runs. Crucial relief work by junior Sam Lindquist (4.1 innings, three hits), however, helped send it to extras and allowed Stanford to clinch the series.

So it’s a perceived weakness of the Cardinal—its bullpen—that could make the difference this weekend. Though Appel—who could set Stanford’s career record in strikeouts if he punches out 15 Beavers tonight, tying his best for a single game—and Boyd are expected to pitch late into the night in the opener, the Cardinal’s starting rotation is not nearly as reliable after its senior righty. Without strong pitching by its relievers, Stanford will be hard-pressed to get out of the weekend still in contention for a postseason berth.

Oregon State, like the Cardinal, is a middle-of-the-pack hitting team with a couple of sluggers to watch out for. Leftfielder Michael Conforto, who led the Pac-12 in home runs and RBI last season as a freshman, has fallen back ever so slightly as a sophomore but still leads the Beavers with seven long flies. Across from him in right field, fellow sophomore Dylan Davis has more doubles (17) than any other player in the conference and leads his team with 34 RBI.

Appel goes for the record against those dangerous hitters tonight at 6:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. first pitch slated for Saturday and a 1 p.m. Sunday start to follow.

Contact Joseph Beyda at jbeyda ‘at’ stanford.edu.

I’m going to say it. The NBA and NHL playoffs are too long.

Don’t get me wrong. I love sports as much as—let’s be real, way more than—the next guy. But two months of NHL and NBA playoff games pretty much every night is ridiculous. And it’s unfair to the best teams in each league, for very different reasons.

Let’s start with hockey—well, that’s something nobody’s ever said in America before. In this year’s lockout-shortened season, it took about 24 wins to make it to the postseason. It will take 16 more to win the Stanley Cup. Isn’t that a little crazy?

I don’t want to make too much of a fuss over the one shortened season. Critics will point out that last year, the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup. Surely this debunks any argument against the current playoff model, doesn’t it?

I would disagree, and to do so, I’ll use the argument against Virginia Commonwealth, which made a similar miracle run a little over a year earlier in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to reach the Final Four.

Many people argued that VCU was unworthy of a tournament bid based on its resume. There were other teams, many argued, that had done more to earn the opportunity.

Then VCU started winning games. The Rams took down USC in the First Four, Georgetown and Purdue to reach the Sweet 16, and then Florida State and Kansas to earn a trip to the Final Four. Obviously, VCU showed that it was a much better team than its 11th-seed signified.

However, it does not mean that VCU had any more right to be in the NCAA Tournament. As much as we all love underdog stories—and I jumped right on the VCU bandwagon—doesn’t a team have to earn its chance to be that underdog? Otherwise, the regular season is just a waste of time, and nobody wants that.

With so much parity, and 16 playoff teams, I feel like the NHL’s regular season takes almost no value. You just have to get into the tournament. So, for everyone besides the few teams on the bubble in the final weeks, the regular season lacks much excitement. There’s a reason so many people turn on hockey only when the postseason begins.

The NBA, on the other hand, has a very different problem. There just isn’t enough parity to support a 16-team field. The top few seeds have overwhelmingly large odds to advance, making the first round or two pretty hard to watch.

But even more importantly, the large field provides too many opportunities for bad things to happen to the best teams.

I don’t like the NBA very much at all, but I have to admit, even I was excited about the prospect of the Heat taking on the Thunder in the NBA Finals for the second season in a row. Then Russell Westbrook blew out his knee in the first round against the Houston Rockets, and my interest vanished almost as quickly as the Thunder’s NBA title hopes, which really is too bad.

And don’t tell me that the San Antonio Spurs would be just as intriguing of an opponent for the Heat. After two games at home against the Golden State Warriors, it has become pretty clear that the Spurs aren’t close to the Heat. Barring something crazy, like another fluke injury, I would be stunned to see anyone besides Lebron James hoisting the championship trophy once again in a few weeks.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why the system is the way it currently is. Playoff games mean more money, and more playoff games means even more money. As long as people keep treating the first round of the playoffs as if they are the playoffs—and with so few other television options in late April and early May, who can blame them—then nothing will change.

So I guess with both of my teams falling short of the postseason, I’ll have to take the NCAA Tournament approach.

Bring on the Madness.

Sam Fisher is really just mad that he hasn’t been able to watch all the latest episodes of “Chopped.” (Don’t) send him spoilers at safisher ‘at’ stanford.edu, and follow him on Twitter at @SamFisher908.