LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 4 Stanford turned in a pair of impressive victories on Sunday at the Triton Invitational, defeating No. 17 Cal Baptist 19-10 before knocking off Concordia 19-4 in the final match of the invitational.
With the two victories, Stanford improves to 3-1 on the season.
For the second consecutive day, Riley Pittman led the way offensively with six goals. Through four matches, Pittman has now contributed 13 tallies. Freshman Konstantinos Mathiopoulos had a tremendous day on Sunday, scoring five goals over the two matches, while fellow freshmen Elai Ben-Gal and Alex Gheorghe each had four to match the output from Soren Jensen.
Stanford raced out to an early advantage and never looked back against Cal Baptist, outscoring the opposition 8-2 in the first quarter. Tanner Pulice, in his first season on The Farm after transferring in from UCLA, scored a pair of goals in the opening set, while six other Cardinal managed one.
Pittman finished the match with a game-best four goals, scoring his second in the second quarter as Stanford took a 10-4 lead into halftime.
Stanford stretched the advantage to 15-7 after three quarters, headlined by a pair of goals from Jensen. The native of Orinda, Calif. finished the game with three tallies.
Speedy Laster opened the scoring for Stanford in the fourth quarter, tallying the first of four goals for the Cardinal in the final stanza. Gheorghe and Mathiopoulos scored the game's final goals, with Gheorghe's serving as his third of the contest.
It was much of the same for the Cardinal in the win over Concordia, as Stanford scored the game's first four goals and held a 9-1 lead after one quarter of play.
The Cardinal pitched a shutout in the second, putting up five goals of its own to stretch the lead to 14-1 headed into halftime.
Ben-Gal led the way in the first half, scoring all four of his goals in the first two frames – including three in the second quarter. Mathiopoulos provided the other two goals in the second on his way to posting three for the match.
Jack Merrill opened the third quarter with his second goal of the year before Concordia ended the 11-0 Stanford run that spanned from 4-1 to 15-1. Mathiopoulos, Pittman and Jackson Painter each scored one goal in the third quarter, handing Stanford an 18-3 lead headed to the fourth.
The two teams traded a goal in the final quarter, with Gheorghe netting the score for Stanford – his fifth goal of the season.
The Cardinal will open MPSF play next week, traveling to No. 3 UCLA for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday. Stanford will remain in Southern California on Sunday, making a trip to Loyola Marymount for an 11 a.m. contest.STAN 19, CBU 10
Riley Pittman (4), Alex Gheorghe (3), Soren Jensen (3), Konstantinos Mathiopoulos (2), Tanner Pulice (2), CJ Indart (1), Speedy Laster (1), Ethan Parrish (1), Grant Watson (1), Gavin West (1)STAN
STAN 19, CUI 4
Elai Ben-Gal (4), Konstantinos Mathiopoulos (3), Jackson Painter (2), Riley Pittman (2), Alex Gheorghe (1), Soren Jensen (1), Daniel Mnatsakanian (1), Jack Merrill (1), Ethan Parrish (1), Tanner Pulice (1), Grant Watson (1), Gavin West (1)
