LOS ANGELES – No. 1 Stanford used a fast start and strong finish to weather a mid-game drought and notched its first MPSF victory of the season with an 8-5 win at No. 4 UCLA on Saturday afternoon.
Makenzie Fischer had her third consecutive hat trick and fifth of the season and Kat Klass added her seventh multi-goal effort of the year to power the Cardinal (14-1, 1-1 MPSF) offense. Julia Hermann made seven total saves and Stanford pitched a fourth-quarter shutout to beat the Bruins (21-4, 2-2 MPSF) for the third consecutive time.
Stanford rattled the cage five times in the first quarter and was up four, but went the next 16 minutes without a goal as UCLA battled back to even things up at 5-5 when Maddie Musselman scored five minutes into the third.
With less than a minute to go in the period, Katie Dudley drew an exclusion and Fischer ended the Stanford drought and stalled UCLA's momentum with skip shot past Carlee Kapana to make it 6-5. Madison Berggren hit Klass driving inside early in the fourth and Klass, who had trouble getting an initial grip on the ball, had enough time to regather and deposited her shot just inside the near post.
Stanford's defense clamped down and after forcing UCLA to cede possession on two consecutive trips down the pool, Jordan Raney put the game out of reach when she took a pass from Berggren and whipped it past Kapana in one motion with 3:43 on the clock.
With the Cardinal up 5-1 heading into the second period, neither team was able to generate any offense for the first five minutes until Myna Simmons found the back of the cage at 3:04 to begin the Bruins' four-goal run. That would be the only tally of the quarter and UCLA drew even closer when Musselman converted her team's third power play goal 56 seconds after the start of the second half.
All five Bruin goals came in 6-on-5 situations. Alexis Angermund cut Stanford's advantage to one when she scored with 4:24 on the clock in the third before Musselman tied it 90 seconds later seconds in another extra player situation for UCLA.
Stanford scored on its first trip down to open the game on a sequence which had Berggren finding Klass inside following some good movement off the ball. At 4:47 in the opening frame Fischer rocketed one in from eight meters out and after Rachel Whittlegge scored for the Bruins the Cardinal collected a goal out of its two-meter offense when Hannah Shabb fed Katie Dudley.
The Cardinal took over possession just over halfway through the quarter when UCLA was whistled for a contra foul and Fischer walked it in and went with a cross-cage skip to the top corner for her second of the afternoon to make it 4-1. A Fischer field block with under a minute to play led to a breakaway for Berggren and goal at the other end to close Stanford's five-score first period.
Stanford returns home on Friday, April 13 for a game against No. 3 USC at 5:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.
No. 1 Stanford at No. 4 UCLA
April 7, 2018 • Los Angeles, Calif.
UCLA 1 – 1 – 3 – 0 = 5
STAN 5 – 0 – 1 – 2 = 8
UCLA Goals: Maddie Mussleman 2, Alexis Angermund, Myna Simmons, Rachel Whitelegge
UCLA Saves: Carlee Kapana 7
Stanford Goals: Makenzie Fischer 3, Kat Klass 2, Madison Berggren, Katie Dudley, Jordan Raney
Stanford Saves: Julia Hermann 7
