FARM REPORT SPORTS
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WATER POLO In the Finals, a Sinking FeelingTHE PLAYERS CLUNG to the gutter, unwilling or physically unable to climb out of the pool. Like their teary teammates on the deck, they could not believe the bright red numbers on the scoreboard: 5-4. It was supposed to be the perfect end to a perfect year. The Cardinal had completed the regular season undefeated, the first team in the history of collegiate women's water polo to do so. Led by Brenda Villa, widely considered the game's dominant player, fellow Olympian Ellen Estes and junior goalie Jackie Frank, they entered the sport's first-ever NCAA meet ranked No. 1, expecting to triumph in front of a home crowd. But with 1:28 remaining in the championship game May 13, UCLA--which Stanford had beaten in four previous matches this year--scored the go-ahead goal. Nevertheless, the Mother's Day crowd that packed Avery Aquatic Center--families, classmates, professors, youngsters holding out posters for autographs, Dollies, Band subversives and the irrepressible Tree--refused to concede, even in defeat. As the cheering continued, the Cardinal women hauled themselves out of the water and began to look up and wave to their supporters in the stands. "Then we sat down in a circle for a few seconds and J.T. [coach John Tanner] told us to stick together as a team," says Estes, '00. "We knew we'd played a great season, and that one 28-minute period couldn't overshadow that." Stanford entered the ncaas with a 26-0 record and quickly dispatched Brown University 12-0 in the first game of the two-day competition. But the UCLA rematch was hard-fought from the first whistle. These are, after all, players who describe the sport's appeal with one-word answers: Aggressive. Challenging. Competitive. Physical. "You're talking about 160-pound girls wrestling and grappling with each other for position underwater, and you end up with a lot of pulling and pushing," says team co-captain Hilary Gallogly, '01. "We all go through about one [bathing] suit per game." Referees are supposed to call fouls for grabbing and dunking opponents, but it's not always easy to see what's going on. "Our high school pool had a viewing window under the water," says senior Kelly Shouey. "I always thought we could have made a lot of money by selling tickets down there." The visible game is a sublime combination of strategy, triangulation and finesse. When a player drives down the pool to the opposing goal, she doesn't touch the ball--it's pushed forward in a neon-yellow blur on a bow wave created by her freestyle strokes. When the goalie yells "Ball at three!" defenders at the two-meter mark automatically spin and, with vigorous eggbeater kicks, propel themselves into the air at just the right moment to block an anticipated shot. In a well-officiated match, players rarely look at the referee--they know from the number of tweets and blasts which team has the ball and who's been fouled. "Water polo is such a frog's-eye view of the world, very different from the perspective of a land sport," says Tanner, '82. "Things happen fast, and when you add in all the splashing and grabbing, being aware of where the ball is requires astute awareness and help from your teammates." The women's game, a brand-new Olympic and NCAA sport, has seen "phenomenal" growth in the past five years, according to national team head coach Guy Baker, who spoke at a two-day symposium during the tournament, organized by Stanford assistant coach Susan Ortwein. In 1994, club-team players numbered fewer than 2,000 nationwide; today, there are more than 12,000. California high schools lead the pack with almost 400 programs. So it's not surprising when former Olympic teammates--like UCLA's Coralie Simmons and Robin Beauregard, and Stanford's Estes and Villa--face off, as they did in the championship match. "Robin and I have been playing against each other since we were 10," Villa, '02, said before the game. "We're always ready to battle it out, but what happens in the water stays in the water." Including, sometimes, disappointed players. |
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TENNIS Netting an 11th ChampionshipCROSSED RACQUETS?Or a single racquet and ball? The decision was tougher than a line call at match point. A week after they stormed through the NCAA tournament in Stone Mountain, Ga., to bring home Stanford's 11th national title, the women's tennis players were having trouble picking out a championship ring. They huddled around a table in the coach's office and compared dozens of designs, trashing the tackiest settings. Finally, they settled on a red stone and Block "S" with characteristic team style: lots of laughter. "It's been a fabulous year," first-year head coach Lele Forood, '78, says about the 30-0 season. "By playing all those successful matches during the school year, they had built up a lot of confidence in themselves and in each other. And by the time they got to the tournament, that confidence transcended everything." In the men's ncaa tournament, Cardinal hopes for back-to-back championships were shattered when 2000 singles champion Alex Kim, '01, was hospitalized with dehydration. Second-seeded Stanford lost to No. 6 Tennessee 4-2 in the quarterfinals. The top-seeded Cardinal women, however, shut out Vanderbilt 4-0 in the team finals, and sophomore Laura Granville won the singles championship for the second year in a row. The victory helped Granville, the nation's No. 1 collegiate player, make the decision to turn pro this summer. "I've been thinking about it a lot this past year, and it's really been a tough choice," Granville says. "I love going to school here so much--plus the team and the social aspects--and I knew I'd have to leave those things. But winning the tournament made it clear that it was the right choice." In the singles finals, Granville beat junior Lauren Kalvaria 7-6, 6-3--the second year in a row she has faced a teammate in that match. "It was so difficult," Granville says. "We just tried to put our friendship aside when we got on the court and just played ball. And it was really nice when we got off the court because it was the same old feeling. We were still friends." It's the kind of mutual support that has carried the team through the season. On the mornings of the semifinal and final matches, the players gathered in a hotel room to talk about what the tournament meant to them. "Coming out of those meetings," Granville says, "we knew we were ready to go." |
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BASEBALL A Young Team Comes CloseWITHOUT A SENIOR or a returning starting pitcher on the roster, the baseball team wasn't supposed to make it to the College World Series. Earlier in the season, coach Mark Marquess said he'd be happy with a .500 record in the Pac-10. But the Cardinal ended Pac-10 play in second place, with a 17-7 record and 3.06 team earned run average. Junior second baseman Chris O'Riordan secured his place atop Stanford's career batting average list with .362 and made the All-America first team. And Carlos Quentin was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. The Cardinal triumphed over Marist and Texas in the ncaa regional, then outpitched and outplayed a veteran South Carolina lineup to win the Super Regional. Suddenly, the team with the all-freshman outfield found itself on a red-eye to Chicago-O'Hare and, after a cancelled flight, an eight-hour bus ride to Omaha--taking finals en route. When the players arrived, they were more than ready to take the field in Rosenblatt Stadium, "where dreams come true" and local fans wait 10 years for Series tickets. On the opening day of the cws June 8, the Cardinal came back from an 8-0 deficit to beat Tulane 13-11. Sophomore Ryan Garko, who would rack up seven hits-- including two homers--in the series, caught the ceremonial first pitch from President George W. Bush and posed for team photos with national security adviser, former Stanford provost and major sports fan Condoleezza Rice. "This is a lot of fun!" he chirped to ESPN broadcasters. The next matchup, against Cal State- Fullerton, featured a pitchers' duel--scoreless until the fifth inning and 1-1 in the ninth--between junior Mike Gosling and Fullerton's Kirk Saarloos. Stanford finally pulled ahead in the 10th, winning 5-2. "This was as good as you're going to get as far as a college baseball game goes," said Marquess, '69. "We surprised ourselves. We surprised me." A second game against Fullerton saw Marquess pacing in the dugout and signaling players with a white towel as a thunderstorm approached and batters strained to make out the spin on breaking balls. The Cardinal chipped away at the plate, scoring four runs on three hits. Sophomore Jeremy Guthrie allowed one Titans run in seven innings, and junior Jeff Bruksch garnered a record-tying fourth cws save. Stanford had reached the final match, and for a minute, it looked like the Cardinal might shake off the specter of last year's heartbreaking ninth-inning loss to Louisiana State. But the nation's best defense crumbled against a Miami squad that included 13 players from its 1999 championship team. In the third inning, a fly ball sailed into right field and over Quentin's head for a one-run double that launched the Hurricanes' 12-1 win. Stanford's five-hit, two-error outing was its worst of the year. Nevertheless, Marquess called it "a heck of a season" from a "very special team"--one that will keep coming back. |
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SOFTBALL Reaching ThirdTHE SEASON FELT RIGHT from the start. "It's going to be a good year," wrote senior outfielder Ramona Shelburne in the first installment of her online diary on gostanford.com. "You see, softball and baseball players are notoriously superstitious and getting the first pitch of the season over for a strike is like a good omen, a great way to set the tone for the year." For the first time in the eight-year history of the varsity program, the softball team earned a spot in the Women's College World Series. On the way, the players racked up a school-best 54-15-1 record. Shelburne recorded each win with increasing confidence. "'Little bites.' That's what we softball types like to say to someone who has been struggling for a while. Basically, it just means fix one thing at a time. Hit a ground ball instead of a pop-up. Then, hit a hard ground ball instead of a weak one. Then, work on driving the ball instead of muscling it." When Shelburne was a freshman, the team was ranked No. 1 but didn't make it to the World Series. When the invitation finally came this season, she chalked it up to the players who had gone before. "This trip really is all about the entire process that got us here. Not just this season, but all the players who have built this program into a contender the last four or five years. Everything builds on past performances." In the semifinal round of the Series, the sixth-seeded Cardinal fell to top-ranked Arizona 1-0. Still, the women ended the season tied for third in the nation, and Sarah Beeson, '02, Jessica Mendoza, '02, and Dana Sorensen, '03, were named first-team All-Americans. A "big bite" of a year, as Shelburne might sa |
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Sports Notebook
Nieves Sets Up a New Career:
At the Track Championships, Going the Distance
Former Coach Jack Elway Dead at 69:
Elway coached at San Jose State University from 1979 to 1983, while his son attended Stanford. Jack's team played John's four times, each winning twice. In 1982, upi named Elway coach of the year. He came to Stanford in 1984 and took the Cardinal to its first bowl game in 15 years before leaving in 1988. Elway scouted for the Broncos for seven years and then retired, continuing to serve as a scouting consultant. His close relationship with his son was well-known. "I'm proud of him as a football player, but I'm prouder to be able to call him my best friend," he said the day John retired from the nfl. John once told his father he had only one regret--"that he didn't play for me," the elder Elway recalled in a 1998 interview. "That gives me goose bumps." In addition to John, he is survived by his wife, Jan; two daughters, Lee Ann and Jana; and eight grandchildren. [ Top ] |