Sports Shorts
WRESTLING HONOR . . . Stanford commit Joey McKenna earned TheMat.com Wrestler of the Week, the website announced Monday. McKenna, a three-time national high champion at Blair Academy in New Jersey, won the silver medal in the 132-pound division for the United States at the FILA Junior World Championships on Saturday in Zagreb, Croatia. McKenna won four straight to advance to the freestyle finals, opening with a pair of decision. He beat Burghum Aliyev of Azerbaijan, 10-2, and Yo Nakata of Japan, 6-2. He followed with a 10-0 technical fall over Giorgi Bregadze of Georgia in the quarterfinals before scoring a first-period fall over Dzianis Maksimau of Belarus in the semifinals. In the finals, McKenna fell to Iman Sadeghikoukandeh of Iran, 8-0.
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Stanford senior forward Chioma Ubogagu is ready for a healthy year as Cardinal looks to rebound from a disappointing season.
A different team but the same goals Stanford women start season ranked sixth in the nation; picked second in the conference by Rick Eymer hioma Ubogagu is one of a handful of Stanford players who were part of the school’s first national women’s soccer championship team. She started as a champion and would love to finish as a champion. The Cardinal will get a good indication of where it stands early. Stanford’s season opens with road games against three national powerhouses. “Every year we have two goals,” Ubogagu said. “We want to win
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the Pac-12 championship and we want to win the national championship. We fell short last year and that’s disappointing.” A lot of teams would consider an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament a success story. Stanford reached the previous five Final Fours, which included a national title in 2011, which means the Round of 16 is a step backward. Stanford went unbeaten through 10 games last year. The Cardinal played .500 (6-6) the rest of the
way, first losing at home to UCLA during conference play and then again losing to the Bruins in the NCAA tournament. UCLA went on to win its first national title. This year’s road to the Final Four comes with as many obstacles as Cardinal coach Paul Ratcliffe could throw in his team’s way. Stanford plays no fewer than seven past NCAA champions, including the opener against 21time champion North Carolina on Friday, Aug. 22 at Duke. The Blue
Devils, two-time national runnerups, are Stanford’s opponent two days later. “Let’s go,” Cardinal senior midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta said. “It’s great to start with great teams. It’s the only way to get better.” After playing at two-time champion Portland, Stanford returns to play six straight at home. Least they relax, those games include past champions Notre Dame, Florida and Santa Clara. (continued on next page)
WATER POLO
Team USA continues their victory parade Stanford players help the Americans stay on top by Rick Eymer
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dam Krikorian, the head coach of the United States women’s senior national water polo team, has a roster full of the best players in the world who are midway through another Olympic cycle. The defending Olympic champions are also the defending FINA World League Super Final champions and are looking to defend their FINA World Cup championship, won in 2010. So far it’s been smooth sailing through the preliminary rounds at the World Cup, hosted by KhantyMansiysk, Russia. Krikorian, a Mountain View
native who transitioned from UCLA water polo player to successful coach, has been able to mesh his all-star player collection into a cohesive unit. That’s not as easy as it sounds. He’s dealing with a team that boasts five players who have won the past seven Peter J. Cutino Awards as the nation’s top collegiate player. Those players represent Stanford, USC and UCLA, the only three schools to have won an NCAA title since the tournament’s inception in 2001. Krikorian won seven titles while coaching the Bruins, including five in a row. Something is working. The
Photo by Russell McKinnon/FINA
OPEN PRACTICE . . . The Stanford womenís volleyball team, picked to win the Pac-12 Conference, announced open scrimmage dates. The first few open scrimmages will be held Friday, Aug. 15 between 3 and 6, Tuesday between 3-6 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 22 between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. in the Arrillaga Practice Gym, located adjacent to Maples Pavilion. Fans are asked to enter through the south door accessible from the Maples Pavilion parking lot. The final two scrimmages, Monday, Aug. 25 between 12 and 2:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 26 between 3 and 6 p.m. will be in Maples.
Photo by Hector Garcia Molina/stanfordphoto.com
LOCAL SCENE . . . Atherton resident Jonathan Garrick bogeyed the 16th hole to fall behind and eventually lose, 1 up, to Texas Christian grad Eli Cole of Los Angeles in the Round of 32 match play at the U.S. Amateur on the Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course on Thursday . . . Atherton resident and St. Francis High student Callie Rose Goodman was named to the United States Junior Women’s Under 17 national field hockey team in July. The U.S. intended to send the team to China for the Youth Olympics, which begin Saturday. The Olympic committee, apparently, decided not to include field hockey . . . Stanford grad Christen Press will join the U.S. senior national women’s soccer team for its game against Switzerland at Cary, North Carolina on Wednesday. The game, the first ever meeting at the senior level between the countries, has been sold out since July 25. The Swiss have already qualified for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. The U.S. brings a 7-2-3 mark into the contest . . . Stanford sophomores Stephanie Amack and Jane Campbell, and freshman Andi Sullivan will be competing with the United States Under-20 Women’s national soccer team in the quarterfinals of the U20 Women’s World Cup in Canada on Saturday against Korea.
Cardinal grad Annika Dries is one of the worldís top defenders. She’s helped keep Team USA at the top of the world rankings. American women had come oh-so close to winning Olympic gold in their first three trips. They finally won, with Krikorian leading the way, in 2012. The program has remained atop the world rankings and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that will change any time soon. A lot of that has to do with play-
ers like two-time Cutino Award winners Annika Dries of Stanford and Kami Craig of USC and award winners Kiley Neushul and Melissa Seidemann of Stanford and UCLA’s Courtney Mathewson, who have held to the team concept. (continued on next page)
www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • August 15, 2014 • Page 57