STANFORD, Calif. — Six unanswered goals to begin the third quarter helped propel No. 8 Stanford to its first-ever home Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win as the Cardinal ran away from the visiting Pitt Panthers, taking a 16-12 decision at Cagan Stadium on Thursday afternoon. With the win, Stanford has set a new win-streak record at Cagan of 17 consecutive wins, breaking the previous record of 16 set from the 2010-11 seasons.
Having come out of the halftime break with a narrow lead, Stanford relied on its depth scoring with five Cardinal registering goals during the scoring spree. Reigning IWLCA and ACC Offensive Player of the Week, Jordyn Case, got the spree started just under four minutes into the quarter before Lindsay Devir tallied her sixth of the season shortly after. A pair of man-up goals from Lexi Rodell and Ava Arceri provided a sizable cushion before Case and freshman Virginia Zapletal concluded the 6-0 run as the Cardinal lead grew to a 12-5 margin.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Cardinal as the early going found the two sides deadlocked at one goal a piece. Stanford found itself in a grudge-match with the Panthers in the first 15 minutes having surrendered the first goal to Pitt while the visitors were a man-down. Stanford - who had a tying goal from Martha Oakey erased halfway through the quarter - answered in the dying stages of the first quarter with Arceri collecting her 10th of the season.
The floodgates opened in the second quarter as Stanford answered an early Pitt goal to grab its first lead of the afternoon with Aliya Polisky tallying a brace with two goals just two minutes apart. In a back-and-forth affair through the half, goals from Elise Murphy and a pair from Oakey gave Stanford a 6-5 lead heading into the intermission.
Heading into the fourth, Stanford had the momentum, scoring with just 12 seconds left in the third quarter as Polisky completed her sixth-consecutive hat trick and fifth-straight to start the season with a late tally. Maddigan Miller began the scoring in the fourth before Arceri and Case both completed their hat tricks to give the Cardinal a 10-goal advantage.
A late push from the visitors made things interesting, however, as the Panthers rattled off six-consecutive to end the onslaught from Stanford. Two free position goals and two man-up tallies gave the visitors life, but a staunch Stanford defense that had held strong to preserve a second-half lead, stopped the bleeding late in regulation as Stanford continued its impeccable start to the season with a 16-12 win.
The No. 8 Cardinal is back in action again on Saturday, March 1, playing host to Villanova. Opening draw from Cagan Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. PT.