STANFORD, Calif. – Sophomore Ben Hallock scored a career-best eight goals as No. 2 Stanford sent its seniors out in style with a 16-10 victory over No. 11 UC Irvine in its home finale Sunday afternoon at Avery Aquatic Center.
Sunday's win improved the Cardinal to 17-1 on the season, matching its best start in 10 seasons. Stanford completed its regular-season home slate 11-1.
Hallock showed why he was a First Team All-American as a freshman last season, putting Stanford up early in the match. His first score came off re-directed pass inside from teammate Bennett Williams 2:39 into the contest.
The two-meter standout followed a UC Irvine score with a pair of goals, lobbing it over the Anteater goalie each time, to post a hat trick in the first 4:07 of the match. More importantly, he put Stanford up, 3-1, midway through the first.
The Cardinal continued to stretch its advantage with s skip-shot score from Williams. Senior Blake Parrish then pushed the Stanford advantage to 5-1 with a breakaway score in the final moments of the opening period, skipping it under the out-stretched arms of the UC Irvine goalie.
Hallock then rattled the cage from four meters out and Parrish added his second score in the first half, as the lead continued to build for the Cardinal. Williams tacked on another and Hallock recorded his fifth goal of the half, before a Dylan Woodhead goal in the final minute of the half, ballooned Stanford's lead to 10-4 at the break.
Hallock picked up right where he left off in the opening half, finding the back of the cage in the first 45 seconds of the second half. He then followed a Tyler Abramson goal with his seventh score of the contest to give the Cardinal a 13-4 lead midway through the third.
As he did each of the first three quarters, Hallock provided the first score of the fourth with his eighth goal of the match to make it 14-6 in the first 34 seconds of the final period.
Parrish later recorded the Senior Day hat trick and Duncan Mactavish rounded out the scoring for Stanford, which won its 12th game of the season by at least six goals.
Senior Oliver Lewis had another strong performance in goal, finishing the contest with 13 saves.
The Cardinal honored its three seniors – Lewis, Parrish and Marco Stanchi – in a pregame ceremony and recognized them with a halftime video tribute on the new videoboard at Avery Aquatic Center.
With Stanford's 11-match homestand now complete, the Cardinal plays its final two regular-season matches on the road against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation competition. Stanford will travel to No. 3 UCLA next Saturday (Nov. 3) at 3:30 p.m. and to No. 4 California Nov. 10.
