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Second-ranked Stanford women's water polo returned from 13 days off due to final exams Friday night and dialed up an 18-5 win over Harvard at Avery Aquatic Center.

Maggie Steffens led the Cardinal (15-1) with four goals while Kaley Dodson, Kiley Neushul and Melissa Seidemann scored three apiece. Cory Dodson found the back of the cage twice and additional goals were scored by Ashley Grossman, Alexis Lee and Kaitlyn Lo.

All three Cardinal goalies saw action, with Gabby Stone playing the first and third periods, making a pair of saves. Kate Baldoni made a pair of saves during the second period and Emily Dorst stopped a shot in the fourth period.

Stanford travels to Tempe Saturday, where it will play three games at the ASU Invite. The Cardinal takes on MPSF foe and third-ranked Arizona State Sunday at noon and closes the day at 3 p.m. against Colorado State.

Stanford plays its final game in Tempe Monday morning at 10 a.m. against No. 19 Hartwick.

Second-ranked Stanford women's water polo returned from 13 days off due to final exams Friday night and dialed up an 18-5 win over Harvard at Avery Aquatic Center.

Former Castilleja coach Ted Minnis has the Crimson playing well in his third season with them. They are 13-8 on the season.

Men's fencing
Stanford freshman Alexander Massialas overcame a six point deficit in the semifinals and battled through a back-and-forth final dual to claim the NCAA championship in men's foil.

Massialas defeated Penn State's David Willette 15-10 in the final round to claim Stanford's seventh men's foil championship and first since Felix Reichling in 2000. It was a familiar bout between Massialas and Willette, as they were training partners growing up in San Francisco.

Stanford is in eighth place overall and the women's competition begins Saturday. Milgram likes where her team is at and looks forward to the women's team performing well, and helping move Stanford up in the standings, which combine the men's and women's results.

Competing in a first-to-15 format, Massialas and Willette traded one or two points at a time until Massialas reached 10 points and went on a run to close out the victory. It was an impressive stretch as Massialas controlled the tempo and remained poised as he approached the 15th touch.

"It was great as a freshman to bring back a national championship for Stanford," Massialas said. "I came in with high expectations and was able to fulfill them. I was able to come out of that bout knowing I did exactly what I wanted to do from the beginning of this tournament.

"It just felt great."

Massialas had an equally impressive scoring run in the semifinals when he battled back from a 12-6 deficit against Notre Dame's Gerek Meinhardt. After closing the gap to 14-13, Massialas claimed two consecutive touches to win 15-14 and advance to the finals.

"He never gave up and fought to the very end," co-head coach Lisa Milgram said. "He's performed well all year - through big and small bouts - and, as always, he fought like a professional."

Turner Caldwell earned All-America honors in men's foil along with Massialas after finishing 11th.

Rounds 1-3 of the women's competition will begin on Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 a.m. (PT).

Baseball
Justin Ringo had three hits and drove in three runs and Stanford shook off the rust of a two-week break to beat visiting Utah, 6-4, in its Pac-12 opener Friday night.

Dominic Jose added three hits and drove in a run for the Cardinal (1-0, 11-5), which ended a three-game losing streak.

Austin Slater had three hits, including a triple, and Menlo School grad Danny Diekroeger added an RBI.

Mark Appel (3-2) went the first eight innings, allowing two runs -- one earned -- on six hits. He walked one and struck out 11.

Garrett Hughes recorded the final out for his second save.

Brian Ragira and Brant Whiting each added two hits for Stanford, which plays the Utes again Saturday at 2 p.m.

Wrestling
All three of Stanford wrestling's NCAA qualifiers were eliminated on the second day of the NCAA Championships, Friday, at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

Redshirt freshman Evan Silver almost scored his second upset of the tournament at 125 pounds, but fell in overtime to fifth-seeded Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech, 9-7.

Silver finishes the season with a 26-15 overall record. His 26 wins were the fifth-most by a freshman in program history.

Junior Bret Baumbach also dropped his first match on Friday and was eliminated from the championships. He was pinned in 3:37 by Iowa State's Michael Moreno in the consolation bracket at 165 pounds.

Baumbach finishes the season with a 23-12 overall record, including a team-high six major decision wins.

Junior Dan Scherer won his first match as sixth-seeded Bobby Telford of Iowa had to default due to injury. Scherer then fell 6-2 to Ohio's Jeremy Johnson in the next round. He ends the year with a 22-14 overall record.

— Stanford Athletics

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