Akron 1 Louisville 0

Every picture tells a story: Zip Zarek Valentin, left, celebrates with goalkeeper David Meves after winning the College Cup Sunday in Santa Barbara (AP Photo).

Game story.

Notre Dame 1 Stanford

Shutout: This was about as close as Christen Press, left, got to the Notre Dame goal and any chance of scoring on goalkeeper Nikki Weiss Sunday at the NCAA championship (AP Photo).

Palos Verdes Estates’ Christen Press, the nation’s leading scorer, was held to just one shot on goal by a dominating Notre Dame midfield and defense and Stanford lost for the first time this season in the College Cup Sunday in North Carolina.

It’s the second consecutive College Cup final loss for Stanford and the second time in a row Stanford had gone through the season unbeaten only to fall at the final hurdle

Stanford was fortunate Notre Dame didn’t add one or two more, an excellent performance by freshman goalkeeper Emily Oliver keeping them in the game.

Press, Stanford’s all-time leading scorer, is a candidate for the Hermann Trophy, given to the nation’s best female college player; Stanford’s Kelley O’Hara won last year.

Game story

The final score was 5-4 – and that wasn’t on penalty kicks

The winner came with less than a minute left in the game.

Brutal.

Boston College’s Chelsea Regan, right, pulls on Stanford’s Christen Press of Palos Verdes Estates tonight during the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s College Cup (AP Photo).

Game story.

Eight seconds to be precise.

Next: top-seeded Louisville (18-0-3) in the quarterfinals.

Pablo’s cup: Colorado captain Pablo Mastroeni hoists the MLS Cup after the Rapids beat Dallas (AP Photo).

*The Colorado Rapids are the luckiest champions in MLS Cup history, winning 2-1 in OT over FC Dallas Sunday on a freak deflected own goal in frigid Toronto. I’m sure the Rapids’ Macoumba Kandji, whose hustle helped create the goal, and Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens, who made a victory-preserving save in the closing seconds, would disagree.

This should be the last MLS Cup played at a neutral site. There looked way more empty seats than Dallas and Colorado fans combined.

*Ten teams in the playoffs (an increase of two) in what will become an 18-team MLS next year, said Commish Don Garber today. Also, MLS is looking to give the Supporters Shield champion more (of something) for finishing first and investigating a fall to spring schedule that would align the league with Europe.

*The UCLA men are through to third round of the NCAA Tournament after beating Sacramento State 4-1 today. Next: Dartmouth 5 p.m. Sunday at Drake Stadium.

Updated

The UCLA women’s season is done after they lost 3-0 to Stanford Friday with the nation’s top scorer Christen Press of Palos Verdes Estates scoring a brace.

The draw was made today.

The Bruins (14-4-1), who finished one point behind champion Cal in the Pac-10, will meet the winner of Thursday’s game between MPSF champion Sacramento State (10-4-7) and West Coast Conference champion Santa Clara (10-5-5) in the first round on Thursday. It’s UCLA’s 28th consecutive post-season appearance.

The second round game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday at Drake Stadium.

Tickets are $10 adults, $8 students/youth.

The winner of the second round game advances to a Nov. 28 game against Notre Dame, Dartmouth or Monmouth.

The other Southern California representative in the tournament, UC Santa Barbara (13-4-3), hosts Denver (9-6-4) Thursday and is expected to draw another large crowd.

The winner meets No. 6 Cal.

UCSB also hosts the final four this year.

Even though they lost 1-0 to San Francisco Sunday at Sullivan Field.

From the LMU press release: The Loyola Marymount men (12-6-2, 8-3-1 WCC) conclude the season tied with Santa Clara atop the WCC standing on 25 points and will await their postseason fate with Monday’s announcement of the NCAA College Cup field live on ESPNU at 1:30 p.m. Santa Clara earns the conference’s automatic bid by virtue of 2-0 win over Gonzaga and a 1-0-1 season record against the Lions.

Also:

*USC (13-6-3) lost 4-0 to Notre Dame Sunday and were bounced from the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

*The UCLA women (13-7-2) upset Central Florida 2-1 Saturday at Drake Stadium, Elise Britt and Sydney Leroux doing the damage. They will next meet Stanford, 2-1 winners Sunday over Santa Clara, this weekend.

Notable: The Bruins have now advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the 12th straight season.

Sunday’s scores:

*Cal Poly Pomona junior Luis Gonzalez of Long Beach scored four goals and had two assists to set a new California Collegiate Athletic Association record for points in a match with 10 in a 7-0 demolition of Cal State East Bay. Cal Poly plays Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday.

*Long Beach State beat Cal State Northridge, 2-1. Game story.

*The No. 11 UCLA men (10-4-1, 5-2-0) lost for the first time this season to No. 12 Cal, who with the win now have sole possession of first place in the Pac-10.

*The post-season hopes of the LMU women (9-5-2, 1-2-2 West Coast Conference) dimmed in a 0-0 tie with San Francisco. LMU is now sitting in a tie for fifth place in the WCC on five points with two matches remaining.

*Pepperdine beat Saint Mary’s 2-0 for its first WCC victory of the season. Pepperdine improved to 8-5-5 overall and 1-2-2 in the WCC.

*In a Saturday evening game, the Cal State Northridge men (2-11-2, 1-5-1 BWC) lost 4-0 to UC Santa Barbara.