STANFORD, Calif. – Aria Fischer tied a career high with five goals, Madison Berggren added four and No. 2 Stanford beat No. 8 Pacific, 18-9, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship on Friday afternoon.
Stanford (21-2) advances to tomorrow's second semifinal at 5 p.m. against No. 3 UCLA (24-6), which beat No. 6 Michigan 13-7 in the final game of the day.
Fischer had a first-quarter hat trick as the Cardinal raced out to a 5-0 lead. Kat Klass hit Chloe Harbilas in transition to start the scoring 42 seconds in and then Fischer skipped one home off a long outlet from Emalia Eichelberger on Stanford's next possession.
Stanford pushed ahead quickly following an offensive foul on Pacific and Makenzie Fischer made it 3-0 at 3:43 in the first. The goal was Fischer's 200th of her career, making her the sixth Cardinal to reach the milestone along with Melissa Seidemann (239), Lauren Silver (239), Maggie Steffens (229), Kiley Neushul (222) and Ellen Estes (214).
Younger sister Aria scored back-to-back at 2:41 and 2:05 and the Cardinal was up 5-1 after one.
Stanford went into a little bit of an offensive lull following Aria Fischer's third goal, going four minutes without a score, until Makenzie Fischer ended the mini dry spell with a skip to the near post two minutes into the second quarter to give the Cardinal a 6-2 edge.
Stanford's next two goals came on the power play, with Sarah Klass (4:43) and Kat Klass (2:10) scoring off of feeds from Makenzie Fischer. Madison Berggren hammered it home with just under two minutes remaining in the first half and then Aria Fischer got her fourth with less than 30 seconds to go when she worked for position in front of the cage and powered it past Clara Vulpisi.
With Stanford up 10-4 at the break, Aria Fischer got her fifth at the start of the third quarter, spinning her way free at 7:38. Berggren scored three of the Cardinal's final four of the period, the last a penalty drawn by Fischer that made it 15-6 with 2:15 on the clock.
Mackenzie Wiley and Madison Stamen gave Stanford its largest lead, 17-6, with consecutive goals to open the final frame and the freshman Stamen scored her team's final strike with 3:30 left.
Emalia Eichelberger played the first quarter in the cage and made three saves. Thea Walsh closed out the next three quarters and made seven stops.
No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 8 Pacific
May 10, 2019 • Stanford, Calif.
UOP 1 – 3 – 2 – 3 = 9
STAN 5 – 5 – 5 – 3 = 18
Stanford Goals: Aria Fischer 5, Madison Berggren 4, Makenzie Fischer 2, Kat Klass 2, Madison Stamen 2, Chloe Harbilas 1, Sarah Klass 1, Mackenzie Wiley 1
Stanford Saves: Thea Walsh 7, Emalia Eichelberger 3
