Oct. 21, 2011
STOCKTON, Calif. - Third-ranked Stanford bounced back from last weekend's first conference loss with an 8-6 victory over No. 7 Pacific Friday in Stockton. The Cardinal overcame a 5-3 halftime deficit, using a four-goal third period to take a lead that it would hold thanks in part to a defense that held the Tigers scoreless over the final 10:33.
Stanford (10-3, 3-1 MPSF) now prepares for this weekend's Bronco Stampede at Santa Clara's Sullivan Aquatic Center. The Cardinal takes on Bucknell (11:40 a.m.) and Harvard (5 p.m.) Saturday then meets Brown (12 p.m.) and Air Force (4 p.m.) Sunday.
Along with Alex Bowen's hat trick, Jacob Smith scored twice for the Cardinal, and Travis Noll, Paul Rudolph and Forrest Watkins added goals.
Pingree made eight saves in the contest to pace the Cardinal defense. After giving up five goals in the first half, the defense buckled down, conceding only one goal to Pacific (9-8, 0-2 MPSF) the rest of the way.
Stanford wasted little time going up 2-0 within the first three minutes of the game behind goals from Smith and Watkins. Pacific would answer with a 6-on-5 goal from Tom Koning with 3:07 to go in the frame before leading scorer Balazs Erdelyi found the back of the cage one minute from the horn to tie it up at 2-2.
The teams traded goals in the opening minute of the next frame, with Pacific's Goran Tomasevic putting the Tigers in front, but only briefly as Smith's second goal of the day equalized just 13 seconds later. The Tigers, however, re-established momentum three minutes later, as Tomasevic and Erdelyi scored just 22 seconds apart to give Pacific a 5-3 lead that would hold into halftime.
The teams played to a stalemate over the first two-plus minutes of the second half until the momentum turned with a Pacific exclusion with 5:39 to go in the third frame. After a timeout to set up the power play, Stanford broke its nine-and-a-half minute scoring drought with Bowen's goal. Noll would tie things up 31 seconds later but Daniel Lungu would put Pacific back ahead just 33 seconds after that.
Another power play two minutes later gave the Cardinal an opportunity to pull even again, and it did just that, once again off the hand of Bowen. In the dying seconds of the frame, it was Stanford's turn to beat the buzzer as Rudolph fired home with two seconds left on the clock to put the Cardinal back ahead at 7-6.
By this time, the Cardinal defense had found its rhythm, shutting out the Tigers over the final 10:33 while also killing off three exclusions. Bowen netted his third goal with 5:09 to play and Stanford's defense did the rest to collect the win.
Stanford - 2 1 4 1 = 8
Pacific - 2 3 1 0 = 6
Stanford Goal Scorers: Bowen 3, Smith 2, Noll, Rudolph, Watkins
Pacific Goal Scorers: Erdelyi 2, Tomasevic 2, Koning, Lungu
Goalie Saves: Pingree 8 (S); Malkis 13 (P)