Oct. 30, 2005
Third-ranked Stanford (15-3) finished the weekend with another home win, this time taking down fifth-ranked Pepperdine, 11-9, Sunday afternoon. Pepperdine's record drops to 15-7, and 2-2 in the MPSF. Stanford remains undefeated in the MPSF, and at home.
The excitement of Sunday's match jumped off to an early start with Pepperdine scoring the first goal only 32 seconds into the game. But Stanford answered right back and at the end of the first period, the Cardinal had the lead 3-2, and stretched it out to a 6-4 advantage going into the second half.
The third quarter showed Pepperdine's stamina with a 3-1 run by the Waves leaving the game tied at 7 going into the fourth period of play. Peter Varellas scored his fourth goal of the game just over one minute into the period, but Pepperdine followed up with a goal by Matt Digges. Stanford answered once again with Tyler Drake's first goal of the game only 27 seconds later. With 4:00 remaining in the period, Stanford had the lead 9-8, but Pepperdine's Jesse Smith scored his sixth goal of the match at 3:31 to tie it up once again.
Ryan Fortune took control of the game for the Cardinal with a beautiful shot at 2:56 in the fourth quarter and Peter Varellas secured the Stanford victory with his fifth goal of the match.
J.J. Garton also scored two goals for the Cardinal, and Thomas Hopkins added another two to contribute to the victory. Sandy Hohener had seven saves on the game.
Jesse Smith had six of Pepperdine's nine goals, Matt Digges added two, and Tom Strickland and Matt MacDonell each contributed one goal. Pepperdine goalie Ben Tait made five saves for the Waves.
Stanford travels to USC next Saturday, November 5, for a game at 4:30pm. The Cardinal will then head to UC Irvine, November 6, at 12:00pm. The team returns home November 11 to take on UC Santa Barbara at 12:00noon.
Game Summary
Oct. 30, 2005
Stanford Scoring: Varellas 5, Hopkins 2, Garton 2, T. Drake 1, Fortune 1.
Pepperdine Scorers: Smith 6, Digges 2, Strickland 1, MacDonell 1.
Goalie Saves: Hohener (Stan) 7, Tait (Pepp) 5.