BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Jordan Raney and Gurpreet Sohi each scored twice for Stanford, but No. 1 USC poured in five fourth-quarter goals to knock off the No. 3 Cardinal in Sunday's MPSF Tournament Championship, 8-5.
Stanford will find out its seed for the NCAA Championships at UCLA in two weeks tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. PT when the bracket is unveiled during a selection show on NCAA.com. USC will receive the league's automatic bid to the field.
The Cardinal jumped on the Trojans early courtesy of two first-quarter goals from Sohi. Dani Jackovich drew an exclusion on Ioanna Haralabidis at 5:23. Right after the sides came even, Stanford's senior captain fired one home with 4:57 on the clock.
Sohi put Stanford two goals clear at 4:15 when she worked her way in front of the cage. Despite mishandling her first attempt with her right, Sohi continued to work and used a wrist flick with her left to sail the ball up and over USC's Amanda Longan.
The Trojans tallied their first with a 6-on-5 goal late in the quarter (1:04). Neither team scored in the second and Stanford led 2-1 at halftime.
USC evened it up right out of the gate in the third quarter when Brianna Daboub scored the first of her three goals off an assist from Stephania Haralabidis at 7:28. Raney responded for Stanford on the very next possession, taking a feed from Cassidy Papa after some nifty passing in the 6-on-5 to push Stanford ahead, 3-2.
Avery Peterson equalized for USC with 4:52 on the clock. Sohi nearly broke the tie as the buzzer sounded to end the third trying a skip near side that was stopped by Longan.
Raney scored to put Stanford up 4-3 when she was left alone up top early in the final frame (6:58), beating Longan to the keeper's right, but that would be the Cardinal's last lead.
USC scored four unanswered over the next three minutes to grab a 7-4 advantage with 3:30 to play. Raney set up Kat Klass with 1:07 left to make the score 7-5, but that's be as close as Stanford would get. Ioanna Haralabidis put home another insurance goal with 18 seconds remaining for the Trojans.
Raney had a solid tournament, tying Sohi for fourth in goals scored (4) and finishing tied for third in assists (3). Cassidy Papa also had three assists in three games for the Cardinal, while Julia Hermann's 30 saves were tops at the event and her .638 save percentage was third.
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Jamie Neushul and Jordan Raney were named to the 2016 MPSF All-Tournament Team following the event's conclusion. Neushul tallied three goals and two assists in Stanford's three games in Bakersfield while Raney's four goals and three assists each tied for the team lead.
No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 1 USC
May 1, 2016 • Bakersfield, Calif.
USC 1 – 0 – 2– 5 = 8
STAN 2 – 0 – 1 – 2 = 5
USC Goals: Brianna Daboub 3, Avery Peterson 3, Ioanna Haralabidis, Hayley McKelvey
USC Saves: Amanda Longan 12
Stanford Goals: Jordan Raney 2, Gurpreet Sohi 2, Kat Klass
Stanford Saves: Julia Hermann 8