STANFORD, Calif. - USC defeated Stanford 10-5 on Friday afternoon at Avery Aquatic Center in the MPSF Tournament semifinals, snapping the Cardinal's 12-game winning streak.
Seeking its first MPSF title since 2014, Stanford (18-4, 2-1 MPSF) entered the tournament in a favorable position. The Cardinal had locked up the No. 1 seed and was playing at home, where it entered Friday's match unbeaten in eight matches.
Instead, USC (23-3, 1-2 MPSF) booked a spot in Sunday's championship match (1 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks) after securing its third win of the season against Stanford.
Stanford moved into Sunday's third-place game (11 a.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks) and will face California with a possible NCAA at-large bid at stake.
Friday's contest played out much different from the first two meetings. USC won 8-6 on Sept. 8 and 11-10 on Sept. 23, with both of those matches being played in Los Angeles.
USC quickly set the tone, moving in front 3-0 following the second of two goals from Mihajlo Milicevic. Stanford finally broke through with just over one minute left in the first period, thanks to Cody Smith's 33rd goal of the season.
The Cardinal crept to within one goal twice in the second period, with tallies from Ben Hallock and Sam Pfeil cutting the lead to 3-2 and 4-3, respectively. The Trojans closed out the period with back-to-back goals from Zach D'Sa, taking a 6-3 lead into intermission.
USC completely seized control in the third period, scoring twice to build an 8-3 advantage.
Trailing 10-3 in the fourth quarter, Stanford scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation, as Reid Chase and Connor Stapleton found the net.
Stanford closed out Friday's slate with a 15-0 shutout of Penn State Behrend.
