SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Midway through the first half of Sundays national championship game at Avaya Stadium, USCs Kayla Mills took a West Virginia shot flush in the face from no more than a few yards away. It felt, well, unpleasant. A ball to the nose will feel that way.I wanted to cry, Mills said after the game. I wanted to stop, but I was like Oh my gosh, the ball is still in our half. I cannot let them score, because I did not get hit in the face for nothing. And so, I was just trying to get myself sorted out. I didnt want to take that for nothing.It hurt, and I wanted to cry a little bit. But nothing came out, so were good.It just didnt hurt as much as missing the NCAA tournament, which she experienced in a freshman season that went very wrong.Three years later, a senior, Mills was on the field when the final whistle brought the college season to an end. And after No. 2 USCs 3-1 win over No. 1 West Virginia, she stayed there to celebrate a national championship with her teammates. So, no, it wasnt for nothing.Put aside for a moment the pair of goals from USCs Katie Johnson that first put her team ahead and later allowed them to breathe easy for the final few minutes. Put aside goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhommes championship-preserving saves. Leave all of that for later.USC won the title while outscoring its six opponents by a total of seven goals. That is the smallest goal differential of any champion since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 2001. USC survived a shootout in the second round, the earliest an eventual champion ever partook in that lottery during the same time span. It won three consecutive 1-0 games to reach Sundays final. It was outshot in each of its final three games, including 21-8 by the Mountaineers on Sunday.The Trojans didnt dominate the tournament. That isnt the objective. It is to be there at the end. The Trojans had a plan for that.To understand what transpired, as USC broke down one of the stingiest defenses in recent College Cup memory to become just the fourth program to win multiple titles, start with a ball to the face. A group of players -- for whom the start of their college experience was like a ball to the face -- did over four seasons just what Mills did on this night. They played on.Six seniors played major minutes. Four transfers played major minutes.They accounted for all three goals and two of the assists. Oh yes, and eight saves.Those were courtesy of Prudhomme, who played against USC in her first two college seasons at Oregon State. Back in the bad old days. After winning a title in 2007, USC fell off the map. The nadir was a losing record and missed tournament in 2013.It just didnt seem to be working out, like they were just a little underachieving, and we didnt understand why, Prudhomme said of her view from the other goal. But I knew how good those players were.Keidane McAlpine arrived prior to the 2014 season and talked of a plan to contend for a title. Mills said it seemed the coaches saw things in the players that even the players didnt see at that point, which made it a difficult sell.Theres no way, from where we are right now, Mandy Freeman recalled thinking, that we could get a natty champ by my senior year.But that is exactly what they did.USC did what no one else in the NCAA tournament could when it took the lead against West Virginia. No worse than tied in its five previous games, the Mountaineers trailed after just 82 seconds in the final. The set-piece goal, Savannah Levin heading a corner kick deep into the box to set up Morgan Andrews for a headed finish, wasnt the fastest in the history of the final, but it was a lightning bolt. Undaunted, West Virginia piled up possession and shots until Ashley Lawrence tied the game with a 66th-minute strike. Still, the Mountaineers pressed on.But USC was outshot 41-25 in its final three games. Defending wasnt uncomfortable territory. And when Andrews launched a quick counterattack with a long pass that Leah Pruitt, another transfer, turned into an assist on the first of Johnsons two goals, USC had the lead back at 2-1.Weve talked about our team defending, day one, McAlpine said. Im big on defending. But we always talk about we defend so we can attack. Weve been able to create chances. I said it the other day, weve always been able to create chances and been very opportunistic all year. Weve got a quality group of forwards. And today was no different. We had to stay unified in what we were doing, disciplined in what we were doing. ... I thought our individual defending, especially in the box with crosses coming in, was fantastic.And we knew we had a solid netminder. Shes good; shots from distance she can take care of. Not to mention the special saves, which I think she made a handful today as well.Yes, Prudhomme did. None of them better than with 10 minutes remaining and USC still leading by a single goal. In a game in which West Virginia showed off the skill worthy of a team with so many players experienced at the international level, nothing was more impressive than the first-touch pass that Lawrence slid through a gap and the incredible control of Heather Kaleiohi to spin away from a defender as she gathered in the ball and faced no one but Prudhomme. That level of execution at the college level leads to goals almost every time.But only almost. Sliding to her right as Kaleiohi spun that direction, Prudhomme reached back across her momentum and pawed away the shot headed toward the far post. Johnson capped the scoring with a deft long-range finish on another counter with barely three minutes left.Like Andrews, the Notre Dame transfer so instrumental in two of the three goals, Prudhomme was a late but invaluable addition to USCs rebuilding effort.Transferring within the Pac-12 meant that Prudhomme had to sit out a season, a penalty most transfers dont pay in sports other than football and basketball. But that was a small price to pay for what she found in Los Angeles.I came from a situation where it was very intense and very upsetting and you didnt feel comfortable playing, Prudhomme said. You didnt feel like you did anything right, and you felt kind of worthless. We came here, and they made me confident again. I was actually getting to the point where I wanted to quit, because thats how much I hated soccer. And it wasnt because I actually hated the game. ...I think this coaching staff did an amazing job bringing these players that came from a similar situation that I did and bringing them back to a place mentally where they believe theyre good players. Because they are good players.All of that would have been true no matter the outcome in the final. For a group of players and coaches so open about not only their soccer experiences, but their conversations about matters of cultural significance and the roles they hope to play in the wider world, Sundays result didnt really define them any more than the loss defined a brilliant West Virginia team.But they are also good players who earned the trophy they held aloft.And if youre going to get hit in the face, well, its nice to know it wasnt for nothing. Wholesale Nike Baseball Jerseys . 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Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. EDMONTON, Alberta -- Cam Talbot had a big night in net for the Edmonton Oilers and hes planning on an even bigger morning.After allowing six goals on 23 shots in a disappointing 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, Talbot stopped 31 shots on Tuesday night as the Oilers came away with a 3-2 victory over the winless Carolina Hurricanes. Talbot did that despite his wife being scheduled to give birth to twins early Wednesday morning.I knew I had a job to do tonight and that I would feel a lot better tomorrow morning going in there (the hospital) with two points, Talbot said. Personally, I needed a big bounce-back game after the last game I had.It was also big as a team, as we have let those kind of losses snowball in the past and tonight we showed we were more of a resilient group.Jordan Eberle of the Oilers said he was impressed with just how calm and collected Talbot was in the game, including some huge saves in the dying seconds, despite the upcoming additions to his family.I know Cam is very excited, it is a big day for him tomorrow, he said. A lot of the guys have been talking about it. For him to dial it in and play well and make some huge saves and keep us in that game with so much going on in his life, that was impressive.Tyler Pitlick, Anton Slepyshev and Eberle scored for the Oilers, who improved to 3-1-0.Lee Stempniak had two goals for the Hurricanes (0-1-2).We were right there, we had some chances, good chances throughout the game and just never really finished up with them, Stempniak said.Slepyshev unleashed a wicked wrist shot that beat Carolina goalie Cam Ward glove-side for his first career NHL goal 1:51 into the game.Edmonton made it 2-0 midway through the first as Eberles backhanded pass attempt bounced off Hurricanes defender Ron Hainsey and into the net for his third of the season.ddddddddddddPitlick added to the Oilers lead, picking the corner off a faceoff win in the Canes zone.Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot was sharp in making 20 saves through 40 minutes, including outright robbing Jeff Skinner in tight midway through the second period.Carolina finally got on the board three minutes into the third period as a big rebound from a shot by Victor Rask gave Stempniak an empty net to score into, and then made it 3-2 just 56 seconds later as Skinner fed it in front for Stempniaks third of the season.The Hurricanes had some strong pressure late, but Talbot made several big stops and Edmonton was able to hang on for the win.We had too many easy goals against, too many easy chances against, we have to tighten up, Carolina coach Bill Peters said. Usually when were on top of our game and playing to our foundation were a little tighter than that.Game notes Both teams made changes to their lineups for the game, as Carolina D Jakub Nakladal and LW Phillip Di Giuseppe played their first games of the season, while RW Martin Frk made his NHL debut. Edmonton inserted LW Slepyshev and D Mark Fayne, who later left the game with an injury, into the lineup, and called up Laurent Brossoit to serve as backup goalie after Jonas Gustavsson suffered an injury in Sundays 6-2 loss to Buffalo.UP NEXT:Hurricanes: plays the fourth of a six-game trip to start the season in Calgary.Oilers: remain home to welcome the St. Louis Blues.St. Louis Blues ' ' '