STANFORD, Calif. – Aria Fischer put in the game winner with five seconds left, Makenzie Fischer scored five goals and No. 1 Stanford moved into sole possession of first place in the MPSF with a 7-6 victory over No. 3 UCLA on Saturday afternoon.
UCLA had the ball and a chance to take the lead with less than 20 seconds left when Aria Fischer, who was guarding Bronte Halligan on the right side, pounced on Val Ayala's attempted pass up top to Maddie Musselman.
With possession and 15 seconds left, Stanford immediately called timeout to make substitutions and draw up the winning play. Emalia Eichelberger set things in motion with a pass ahead to Kat Klass. The Bruins were whistled for an ordinary trying to guard Klass and on the restart she dumped it inside to Fischer, who turned quickly and skipped it home to deliver the victory.
Stanford (16-1, 4-0) is now alone in first place in the MPSF, ahead of UCLA (20-4, 3-1) and USC (21-1, 3-1). The Cardinal is at Cal (13-5, 1-2) next Saturday before it wraps up its regular-season home schedule with UC Davis (6 p.m.) and San Jose State (1 p.m.) on April 19 and 20. The Cardinal has two conference matches remaining against the Golden Bears and Spartans.
Saturday's victory appeared as if it would come with relative ease after Stanford raced out to a 4-0 lead early in the third quarter behind three goals from Makenzie Fischer and another from Kat Klass.
But once UCLA rattled the cage the first time, the floodgates opened and the Bruins scored five unanswered over a nearly 11-minute stretch across the third and fourth quarters to go up 5-4 with 2:44 remaining.
Ava Johnson (5:29) and Maddie Musselman (2:39) got on the board to pull the Bruins within two heading into the final period and then Val Ayala (6:30) and Bronte Halligan (4:44) brought the teams even for the first time in the fourth.
Stanford called timeout after Halligan's goal to try and right the ship, but Lizette Rozeboom was successful on a backhanded attempt with just under three minutes on the clock to give UCLA its first lead.
Halligan was excluded on the Cardinal's next possession after going down and Makenzie Fischer took advantage, scoring in the 6-on-5 to make it 5-5. Musselman put the Bruins up 6-5 with 81 seconds left, but against Fischer pulled Stanford back, leveling things at 6-6 with 52 seconds to go on a rocket from beyond five meters.
Stanford moved to 50-31 all-time against UCLA (records since 1997) with the victory and has now won five in a row in the series.
Makenzie Fischer's five goals upped her season total to 65. She's now in a tie for sixth in the Stanford record books with Maggie Steffens (2017) and Annika Dries (2011) when it comes to single-season goals. Fischer moved past Dries (183) and into seventh place in career goals with 186. Next on the list is Margie Dingeldein (1999-2002) with 187.
No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 3 UCLA
April 6, 2019 • Stanford, Calif.
UCLA 0 – 0 – 2 – 4 = 6
STAN 2 – 1 – 1 – 3 = 7
UCLA Goals: Maddie Musselman 2, Val Ayala 1, Bronte Halligan 1, Ava Johnson 1, Lizette Rozeboom 1
UCLA Saves: Carlee Kapana 11
Stanford Goals: Makenzie Fischer 5, Aria Fischer 1, Kat Klass 1
Stanford Saves: Emalia Eichelberger 6