Cardinal rolls over Pioneers
Stanford moves closer to another College Cup berth
Top- ranked Stanford advanced to the NCAA women’s soccer quarterfinals with a convincing 3- 0 victory over Denver in a Sweet 16 match Sunday at Cagan Stadium.
The Cardinal ( 20- 1- 1) will play host to Pac- 12 rival UCLA on Friday night for a chance to reach its fifth straight College Cup, soccer’s version of the Final Four. Stanford beat the Bruins 2- 1 last month in Westwood. UCLA ( 18- 2- 2) advanced Sunday with a 30 win at San Diego State.
“It will be a great game,” said senior midfielder Nina Watkins, who scored her third goal of the season Sunday. “They’ve grown so much, and we’ve grown so much.”
Coach Paul Ratcliffe’s teams coalesce in the postseason. The current group has done it again through three NCAA games this year.
“People said we couldn’t do what we do this year,” Ratcliffe said.
But the Cardinal has 10 seniors who are 93- 3- 4 during their careers. The Stanford seniors also are 51- 0- 1 at home in the past four years.
The team handled unranked Denver ( 17- 3- 4) with an aggressive defense and steady attack. The Cardinal took the lead in the ninth minute on Alex Doll’s goal off a strong buildup by Courtney Verloo and Chioma Ubogagu on the left. Verloo found Doll alone in the penalty box for an easy left- footed tap in from 12 yards out.
Stanford doubled the lead in the 57th minute when Watkins fired a 25yard laser into the upper right corner out of the reach of Pioneers goalkeeper Lara Campbell. Lo’eau LaBonta held possession underneath the defense and passed back to an open Watkins.
Ubogagu got the final goal in the 78th minute when Sydney Payne delivered a great through ball on the left. Ubogagu collected the ball from 12 yards out and slammed it past Campbell inside the near post.
“We were very disciplined,” senior fullback Rachel Quon said. “From the beginning we wanted to play our soccer. Once we scored one goal we couldn’t just let up.”
The reigning national champion Cardinal extended its home unbeaten streak to 66 games.
Denver struggled to mount an attack after Kaitlin Bast went out in the 33rd minute. She collided with Stanford defender Laura Liedle and didn’t return as a precautionary measure. Coach Jeff Hooker said his forward is OK.
Led by three goals each from captain Marin Balarin ( Berkeley High) and Aleksa Saponjic, the No. 4- ranked Cal men’s water polo team ( 15- 7, 53) secured a No. 3 seeding at the MPSF tournament with an 11- 9 win at No. 5 Pacific ( 12- 10, 3- 5). The Bears will face Pepperdine on Friday at USC. Fourthseeded Stanford will open against Long Beach State.
The No. 19 Santa Clara men’s water polo team ( 10- 20) fell to PomonaPitzer 12- 11 in the WWPA tournament’s fifth-place match in Whittier. Chase Schaaf ( Bellarmine Prep), Evan Chang, Jimmy Moore, Theo Nasser ( Aragon High- San Mateo) and Mark Davis had two goals each for the Broncos.
Olympian Kristian Ipsen ( De La Salle High-Concord) placed second in the 1- and 3- meter springboard events at the threeday Arizona Diving Invite in Tucson. Teammate Taylor Sishc was second in the platform. The Cardinal’s Stephanie Phipps ( 235.65) won the women’s 1- meter event, and Lillian Hinrichs was second off the platform behind Cal’s Kahley Powell.
The Stanford wrestling team ( 3- 1) dropped a 26- 6 decision to 16thranked Michigan ( 4- 1) at Burnham Pavilion. True freshman Peter Russo knocked off 19th- ranked Rossi Bruno 9- 4 in overtime at 133 pounds. Also picking up a win for the Cardinal was heavy-weight Dan Scherer, 3- 2 over Justin Dozier.
San Jose State’s Mary Alice O’Reilly was named All- WAC first team in women’s volleyball, and Michaela Leonard made second team while also being selected to the All-Freshmen Team.
Hockey
Justin Bowers scored with no time on the clock, and Dean Ouellet converted in the sixth round of the shootout in the San Francisco Bulls’ 4- 3 win over the Utah Grizzlies at the Cow Palace. Thomas Heemskerk stopped 29 shots in the win.
Horse racing
Gig Harbor went wire-to-wire in the $ 37,940 feature at Golden Gate Fields. Ridden by Frank Alvarado and trained by Steve Specht, Gig Harbor ran six furlongs in 1: 09.26 and beat 4- 5 favorite Shudacudawudya by 3 1⁄2 lengths.