Carl was disappointed last year that he fell short. The 11 (Hamlin team) was disappointed last year that we fell short, but now were teamed up together, our first year together, were going down there with the option to win it, and were just excited about it.LESSONS LEARNEDJoey Logano and Todd Gordon

HOUSTON -- For the second straight season, Stanford found itself depending on penalty kicks to advance to the College Cup final. Wayman Tisdale Jersey .Like last season, the Cardinal came out on top. After each team converted its first nine attempts in the tiebreaker, Amir Bashti made it 10-for-10 for Stanford. Tar Heels defender Alex Comsia then sent his try over the crossbar to end it, giving Stanford a 10-9 win.They had just as many good chances as us, and it could have been a 1-0 game either way, Stanford coach Jeremy Gunn said.Stanford (14-3-5) will face Wake Forest in the College Cup final on Sunday in search of its second straight national championship.Its not his fault. We could have done things in the game to have his back, North Carolina defender Colton Storm said of Comsias miss. It could have been any of us.Its the nature of the game, North Carolina coach Carlos Somoano said. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they dont. Sometimes theres moments you seize the moments, and sometimes it runs away from you.North Carolina (14-3-4) had the two best chances of the game. Late in the second half, forward Alan Winn was denied by goalkeeper Andrew Epstein, who made a nice save with his legs.Later, Epstein made the best save of the match in the final seconds of the second overtime on a shot from forward Tucker Hume. After gaining possession in the right side of the 18-yard box, Hume unleashed a shot that Epstein deflected wide with his legs.He made the plays to keep the game at zero, and he deserves credit, Somoano said.After a flurry of corner kicks and a free kick in an attacking area, Stanford had the best opportunity to score in the first overtime on a header from Drew Skundrich, but he put it over goalkeeper James Pyle, who had six saves. Foster Langsdorf, the Stanford goal leader who scored in the teams first three tournament games and has 15 on the season, had three shots and two on goal but was unable to break the deadlock before the game went to penalty kicks.Any result like that is going to be tough to swallow, Storm said. Stanfords a really good team. We each had our chances. National semifinal, its going to be tough to swallow no matter what.While Epstein was unable to stop any of North Carolinas penalties in the shootout, his saves late in the game enabled Stanford to continue its quest for a repeat.Andys never really attracted much attention, but when youre his coach you appreciate him, Gunn said. You can depend on him.Stanford has won 15 of its past 18 games after starting the season with three ties and a loss. The Cardinal have yet to concede a goal through four tournament games, while North Carolinas season ends after a third consecutive tournament shutout.After winning the first national championship in program history last season, Gunn praised his team for continuing to push forward this season.Its incredible, Gunn said. Youve always got to be optimistic. Theres no point in being anything else. We started the year so well in January. I thought, `These players are so hungry. Peja Stojakovic Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Isaiah Thomas Jersey . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. https://www.cheapkingsbasketball.com/105...rsey-kings.html . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Chad Knaus will act as if this shot at a record-tying seventh championship is just another race, and that he has barely thought of what it means for his place in the record books with Jimmie Johnson.Knaus has already led Johnson to a record five straight titles, six overall, and is now aiming to be the first crew chief in history to win seven NASCAR titles with the same driver. Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman won eight, but not with one driver.Knaus will downplay this until the bitter end -- even if he hoists the championship trophy with Johnson on Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.I guess I really dont know what I want my legacy to be, Knaus said Wednesday. I guess just to be remembered as a real racer, I guess, more than anything. I was a grass-roots racer from the Midwest who got an opportunity ... (and) was able to work my way up methodically. For people just to remember that I started out as a racer and ended as a racer is probably my biggest goal.Johnson will face defending series champion Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards on Sunday, with the highest-finishing driver winning the championship.If its Johnson, he will tie Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers with seven titles. But hell have it done it with a team that Knaus built from the bottom, and the No. 48 team would be the first to win seven titles with the same driver, crew chief and sponsor.Knaus admits that distinction would make it even more phenomenal.Its been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie, Lowes and Hendrick Motorsports throughout this portion of my career, he said. Being able to represent this company and our associates the way that we have has been a lot of fun. To Jimmie personally, obviously he is by far one of my best friends, and to be able to have seen him grow and mature into the driver and the family man that he is has been awesome. Its been a great ride.BACK-TO-BACKKyle Busch hand-picked Adam Stevens to be his crew chief when Joe Gibbs Racing made personnel changes after the 2014 season.The two had clicked working together in the Xfinity Series, and Busch felt Stevens could be the one to lead him to a championship. They succeeded last year, rallying from a deep hole after Busch missed a third of the season with injuries suffered at Daytona. Now they are back in the finale trying to become the first repeat winners since Johnson reeled off five consecutive titles.Stevens said he and Busch have not focused on the back-to-back opportunity.We havent talked about that specifically, but the chances to win a championship in this sport areent going to come every year, he said. Stitched Kings Jerseys. When you get that chance, you want to make sure that youve turned over every stone and taken every turn that you can to try to make it happen.You know, back-to-back, or once every 10 years, or however often you can find yourself in this opportunity with a shot to win is colossal.OUTSIDERS VIEWDave Rogers has worked for Joe Gibbs Racing for 18 years. During that time, he watched Bobby Labonte win a championship, and was a team member on Tony Stewarts crew when Stewart won two titles. A crew chief change at JGR moved him off of Kyle Buschs team last year and Busch went on to win the title.Now Rogers is finally in the championship hunt on his own, with Carl Edwards, and hes ready to lead a team to a title he can call his own.Theres lots of experiences, successes and failures that prepare you for this, Rogers said. Theres a handful of championships that Ive witnessed. This is obviously the first time that Ive gone to Homestead personally as a crew chief prepared to race for the championship, but theres a winning pedigree here at JGR and everyones open notebook policy has prepared me well for this weekend.Rogers didnt make it to the finale as crew chief for Busch or Denny Hamlin. Edwards lost the 2011 championship to Stewart on a tie-breaker. They both feel like past experience has them prepared for Sunday.Weve both been in situations where weve come up short, and we know what its like to lose, Rogers said. Now we want to go down there and try to figure out how to win it. I know Carl was disappointed last year that he fell short. The 11 (Hamlin team) was disappointed last year that we fell short, but now were teamed up together, our first year together, were going down there with the option to win it, and were just excited about it.LESSONS LEARNEDJoey Logano and Todd Gordon thought they were ready to win a championship when they raced for a title in 2014.Then one bad pit stop ended their chances. With that experience behind them, Gordon believes they have the mental toughness to win the title.I think in 2014, that was when we went through this the first time. Not knowing what to do or what to expect or how it was going to flow out, the championship race, race weekend, he said. This time around ... I think its matters as usual.I feel a lot of calm from his feedback and what hes saying and what hes doing and the mannerisms. Hes all (about) just making this another race, and I think in a great position. ' ' '