Stanford soccer rakes in awards

Stanford soccer players Alana Cook (defensive player), Jordan DiBiasi (midfielder) and Catarina Macario (forward) were named Pac-12 Players of the Year at their respective positions.

The three were joined on the all-conference first team by, among others, Stanford’s Tegan McGrady and USC’s Kaylie Collins (Carondelet-Concord). The Cardinal’s Paul Ratcliffe was named Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season and ninth time overall.

No. 1 Stanford (17-0-2), the defending national champion, begins NCAA tournament play Friday when it hosts Seattle.

In Champions League, Manchester United scored twice in the final minutes to beat host Juventus 2-1.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring against his former club for Juventus, but Juan Mata tied the score on a free kick with four minutes remaining and Alex Sandro netted an own goal in the final minute.

Juventus, which had been the only team in the Champions League with a perfect record, remained atop Group H. But its lead over United shrank to two points.

Also moving closer to the knockout stage of the European club tournament were Manchester City, which beat Shakhtar Donetsk 6-0; Bayern Munich, which beat AEK Athens 2-0 behind Robert Lewandowski’s two goals; and Real Madrid, which beat Viktoria Plzen 5-0 as Karim Benzema scored twice in the first half. College basketball: Desmond Bane scored 13 of his 14 points after halftime to lead No. 20 TCU to a 66-61 win over visiting Cal State Bakersfield in the opener for both teams. Golf: Thailand’s Thidapa Suwannapura shot a 4-under-par 68 to lead the LPGA Tour’s Blue Bay tournament in Hainan Island, China, by one shot over Ariya Jutanugarn and Alena Sharp.