STANFORD, Calif. – Tyler Abramson scored four first-half goals to spark No. 3 Stanford to a 17-10 home finale victory over No. 1 Cal on Sunday night to close out the regular season.
Stanford and Cal each went 2-1 in the two-day four-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation round-robin at Avery Aquatic Center, with No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 USC each going 1-2.
Next is the MPSF tournament at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center. Stanford (3-3 overall, 3-3 MPSF) is the No. 3 seed and plays Friday, March 5, at 1 p.m. against the Austin/Penn State Behrend loser. A semifinal against No. 2 seeded UCLA awaits the winner on March 6 at 2 p.m.
The championship final is March 7 at 3 p.m. At stake is an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. Also, this season, three at-large teams will be admitted into the NCAA field.
Parker Killion had a goal and two assists. Photo by Scott Gould/Stanford Athletics.
Goals by Abramson and Spencer Nelson gave Stanford a quick 2-0 lead and the Cardinal never trailed in handing Cal (7-3, 7-3) its only loss in the past two MPSF round-robin weekends. Abramson scored all his goals, including a pair of 5-meter penalties, in the first half. His final goal came off his own steal and breakaway for a 7-3 lead.
Stanford went on a 4-0 second-quarter run to break open a 4-3 game. Among the highlights were two goals by Nelson, a senior making a start, and the first goal in Ike Love's collegiate career. Ethan Parrish and Quinn Woodhead had three apiece.
Andrew Chun made a series of big-time saves in the third quarter as Stanford held the Golden Bears scoreless for more than seven minutes. The Cardinal held Cal standout Nikolaus Papanikolaou to a single goal. Chun made six saves in three quarters and freshman Nolan Krutonog closed it out with five saves.
Stanford has not lost a regular-season game at home to Cal since 2015.
Stanford's top goal-scorers this season are Abramson with 14, Parrish with 11, and Woodhead and Beck Jurasius with 10 each.
The Stanford bench celebrates Ike Love's first collegiate goal. Photo by Scott Gould/Stanford Athletics.
Stanford 17, Cal 10
Cal 3 3 1 3 – 10
Stanford 5 7 2 3 – 17
Cal goals: Geoge Avakian 2, Nikos Delgrammatikas, Warren Loth, Joe Molina, Alika Naone, Miles O'Brien-Schridde, Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Mateus Stellet, Marko Valecic.
Stanford goals: Tyler Abramson 4, Ethan Parrish 3, Quinn Woodhead 3, Spencer Nelson 2, AJ Rossman 2, Soren Jensen, Parker Killion, Ike Love.