BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Stanford scored six of the game’s first seven goals and never looked back, beating San Jose State in the quarterfinals of the MPSF Tournament on Friday afternoon, 10-6. With the win, third-seeded Stanford advances to face No. 2 seed UCLA in tomorrow's semifinals at 12:45 p.m.
Freshman Madison Berggren, sophomore Katie Dudley and senior Gurpreet Sohi each had two-goal efforts for the Cardinal (20-4), which beat the Spartans (17-14) for the fourth time this season. Julia Hermann made eight saves in the cage and added a team-high three steals to help Stanford advance.
Stanford’s early onslaught underscored the balanced attack it has employed this season. Six different players scored in the first half to stake the Cardinal to a 6-1 lead at intermission.
It started with Berggren’s 21st of the season at 6:19 in the opening quarter off a feed from Sohi. The freshman then fed Jordan Raney for a 6-on-5 score with 4:49 on the clock. Rachel Johnson set up Katie Dudley for another power-play goal at 1:42 and Johnson was the recipient of a nice feed from Jamie Neushul for Stanford’s third man-up tally of the first frame.
Neushul got on the board early in the second thanks to a pass from Raney and Anna Yelizarova rattled the cage unassisted with 2:57 remaining until halftime to put the Cardinal up by that five-goal margin.
The Spartans scored the first two coming out of the break, but Sohi got one back for Stanford in yet another successful 6-on-5 situation with under a minute left in the third quarter.
Each side scored three in the fourth, with Cardinal tallies coming from Berggren (6:23), Sohi (5:59) and Dudley (1:24).
Stanford, which was 4-of-7 on its power play opportunities, will face UCLA for the second time in a week tomorrow afternoon. The Cardinal used a 5-1 run over the second and third quarters to storm back from an early three-goal deficit, but the Bruins’ Devin Grab scored her fourth on a penalty early in sudden death overtime to help UCLA escape with a 9-8 victory over the Stanford last Saturday in Westwood.
No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 13 San Jose State
April 29, 2016 • Bakersfield, Calif.
SJSU 1 – 0 – 2 – 3 = 6
STAN 4 – 2 – 1 – 3 = 10
San Jose State Goals: Rae Lekness 2, Donia Momen, Cara Robinson, Carla Toha-Villanova, McKenna Yates
San Jose State Saves: Tayler Peters 7, Alicia Magliocco 3
Stanford Goals: Madison Berggren 2, Katie Dudley 2, Gurpreet Sohi 2, Rachel Johnson, Jamie Neushul, Jordan Raney, Anna Yelizarova
Stanford Saves: Julia Hermann 8