STANFORD, Calif. – Jackson Painter scored five goals for the third time in the past seven matches, Tanner Pulice tallied a season-high three goals and Alex Gheorghe notched the second hat trick of his career to lead No. 4 Stanford to a 20-11 win over No. 14 Santa Clara in its home opener on Friday night.
The Cardinal won the opening sprint, scored on its first possession, and never looked back. CJ Indart took a feed from Painter to get Stanford on the board first and was backed up by a goal from Soren Jensen at 6:11. Santa Clara scored in the 6-on-5, but Daniel Mnatsakanian answered the very next time down the pool, ricocheting his shot off the left post and in. Tanner Pulice earned an exclusion with just over two minutes remaining in the period and Riley Pittman took advantage with an extra player.
Stanford rattled the cage seven times in the second to take firm control. Indart and Pulice led the charge and then Pulice drew a five-meter penalty. Ethan Parrish converted and Gheorghe put in another, before Painter closed out the frame with three consecutive goals in the final 2:30 to give the Cardinal an 11-5 lead at the half.
In the third, Stanford ran its stretch of unanswered goals to six, going up 16-6 on a Grant Watson skip to the left post with a little over three minutes on the clock. Gheorghe got his hat trick midway through the fourth and Stanford matched its season high with 20 goals.
The Cardinal was successful on 59 percent of its shots (20-of-34) and was also 4-of-9 in 6-on-5 situations. Griffen Price made five saves in the cage for Stanford and added three assists with pinpoint passes on the counter.
Stanford is back home next weekend when it hosts No. 3 USC (Saturday) and No. 1 UCLA (Sunday) in MPSF action at Avery.
