Nov. 28, 2008
MALIBU, Calif. - Four goals apiece by Will Hindle-Katel and Drac Wigo highlighted No. 2 Stanford's offensive fireworks Friday as the Cardinal opened the MPSF Tournament with a 13-7 victory over seventh-seeded Long Beach State (14-16) in Malibu.
Stanford's (23-4) victory sends the Cardinal into Saturday's semifinal, where it will face third-seeded Pepperdine, an 11-7 victor over UC Santa Barbara, at 3:30 p.m.
The game was blown wide open by the Cardinal over a 16:33 span from late in the first period to inside the final two minutes of the third period when Stanford scored eight consecutive goals to turn a 1-1 game into a 9-1 cushion.
Along with the eight combined goals from Hindle-Katel and Wigo, Stanford also received scores from Andrew Drake, Chris Jacobson, Ryan McCarthy, Jacob Smith and Janson Wigo.
Goalkeeper Jimmie Sandman made 12 saves in the contest as the Stanford defense took over early and gave the offense its opportunity to open things up.
Hindle-Katel got the scoring started with 4:58 remaining in the opening period but the lead didn't last long, as Long Beach State's Jeff Greenwood scored what would be his only goal of the contest 33 seconds later to knot things up.
That would be the point where the Stanford defense, which was already harassing the Long Beach attack, would turn it up a notch and begin the over 16-minute stretch of futility for the 49ers.
Drac Wigo scored the first of three straight goals with 2:22 remaining in the first, and would follow up with goals at the 5:25 and 3:17 marks to give Stanford a 4-1 lead. The Cardinal would add goals from Drake, Smith and Hindle-Katel in the final 2:37 to complete the 5-0 second period, making it 7-1 at the half.
That lead became 8-1 1:18 into the second half as Hindle-Katel earned his hat trick, and got to 9-1 as Janson Wigo got into the scoring act. Stanford's 8-0 run would finally come to an end with 1:49 to play in the period as Long Beach State's Ashley Blythen scored the first of his game-high five goals.
After Jacobson got that goal back for the Cardinal, Blythen would score twice more in the final minute to make it a 10-4 game. The teams would each score three goals in the final period to account for the final tally, as Drac Wigo would cap things off with his fourth goal with 1:23 to go.
Long Beach State - 1 0 3 3 = 7
Stanford - 2 5 3 3 = 13
Stanford Goal Scorers: Hindle-Katel 4, D. Wigo 4, Drake, Jacobson, McCarthy, J. Smith, J. Wigo
Long Beach State Goal Scorers: Blythen 5, Greenwood, Kinne
Goalie Saves: Sandman 12 (S); Wiebe-Bailey 5 (LBSU)