No. 2 Stanford (15-1) proved to be too much to handle for No. 14 UC Santa Barbara (14-11) on Sunday afternoon as the visiting Cardinal defeated the Gauchos, 12-2, at Campus Pool.
Kiley Neushul, daughter of UCSB’s head coach Cathy Neushul, led Stanford with four goals.
Neushul got Stanford on the board first when she converted a five-meter penalty shot less than two minutes into the game. Cassie Churnside added another point for the Cardinal on a counter attack goal with 3:15 to go in the quarter.
Less than a minute later, during a six-on-five, Kacey Creek was fed the ball on the goal post and she redirected it with a backhanded flick to cut the Stanford advantage to one goal. The Cardinal responded with consecutive goals by Ashley Grossman to take a 4-1 lead after one quarter.
Neushul scored consecutive goals to open the second quarter and put Stanford up, 6-1. The Cardinal onslaught continued as Kaley Dodson, Pallavi Menon and Kaitlyn Lo each found the back of the net, pushing the Cardinal advantage to 9-1 at half.
UCSB’s defense, which was anchored by a standout performance by goalkeeper Ruth Milne, was able to contain Stanford to just two goals in the third quarter: a counter attack goal by Menon over four minutes into the period and an outside shot by Neushul with eight seconds left on the clock.
Monica Coughlin scored what would prove to be the final Stanford goal with 5:32 to go in the game. Molly Hafferkamp was able to tack one more point on the Gauchos’ side of the scoreboard when she scored from the right post during a six-on-five.
Milne recorded 14 saves in the goal for the Gauchos. Kate Balboni had 10 for the Cardinal.
UCSB will play at home again tomorrow, Monday, March 26 when it hosts Brown at 3 p.m.
STANFORD 12, UCSB 2
1 2 3 4 Final Stanford 4 5 2 1 12 UCSB 1 0 0 1 2 UCSB Goals: Kacey Creek 1, Molly Hafferkamp 1.
UCSB Saves: Ruth Milne 14.Stanford Goals: Kiley Neushul 4, Pallavi Menon 2, Ashley Grossman 2, Kaitlyn Lo 1, Cassie Churnside 1, Monica Coughlan 1, Kaley Dodson 1.
Stanford Saves: Kate Baldoni 10.
