Kiley Neushul, Anna Yelizarova and Gabby Stone reached personal milestones as the second-ranked Stanford women’s water polo team beat visiting UC Davis, 14-3, in a nonconference match Sunday.
Neushul, Ashley Grossman and Dani Jackovich each recorded a hat trick for the Cardinal (17-1), which returns to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest against visiting San Jose State (18-7).
With her seventh hat trick of the season, Neushul became the fourth Cardinal and 38th player in MPSF history to score 200 in a career. She joins Melissa Seidemann (239), Lauren Silver (239) and Ellen Estes (214) on the prestigious list.
Yelizarova, who has played the past two games after missing 10 straight, put an exclamation point on the day by scoring her goal three seconds left for the 100th of her career.
Stone’s 15 saves were not only a career high, but tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in the MPSF this season.
Jackovich was the first of Stanford’s hat trick trio to notch her three goals, doing so in the first quarter. She first scored off an assist from Grossman at 4:02, put home a 6-on-5 tally at 3:02 and wrapped up her offensive output with an even-strength score at 1:37.
It was Jackovich’s fourth hat trick of the season and second in as many games at Avery after scoring four in the fourth quarter against Harvard on March 20.
Baseball
Austin Barr led off the seventh inning with a single to break up Arizona State’s Brett Lilek no-hit bid but the Sun Devils had plenty of power to beat visiting Stanford, 14-6 in a Pac-12 contest Sunday. The Sun Devils swept the Cardinal for its first series win over Stanford since 2011.
Matt Winaker and Alex Dunlap followed Barr with singles of their own to spoil Lilek’s chances of becoming the first pitcher from a Pac-12 school to no-hit Stanford since 1917.
The Sun Devils scored in every other inning — the first, third, fifth and seventh — to pull ahead 8-1.
Stanford got the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning but the late rally was cut short. Three runs and two walks led to four runs in the frame cut ASU’s lead to 8-5 before Ryan Barr came in to strike out pinch hitter Jesse Kuet with runners on second and third.
Barr singled in Stanford’s second run as part of his three-hit, two-RBI day. Drew Jackson, who started the last two games after missing 19 games due to injury, reached three times, twice on walks. He also reached base three times Saturday, his first star since Feb. 20. Tommy Edman extended his hitting streak to six games.
Men’s crew
No. 12 Stanford completed competition at the San Diego Crew Classic on Sunday with a first, third and fifth place finish.
“It was a good preseason showing,” Stanford coach Craigh Amerkhanin said. “We learned a lot and collectively came together and went after it for our second race. We will now go back to work for a few days and try to improve before racing Boston University on Friday.”
All three boats were in the Grand Finals for their races. The first was the 3V8, competing in its first race of the season. For five members of the boat it was their first 2k race as a collegiate rower and would be one to remember.
The Cardinal was in a close race with the hometown school University of San Diego, but held on to win by 2.27 seconds with a time of 6:26.33. Another local school, UC San Diego finished six seconds behind USD for third.
The varsity eight showed a strong effort in its Grand Final. After taking second to Navy in the prelims, Stanford came out and topped the Midshipmen on Sunday, finishing in third place overall. The Cardinal clocked a time of 6:04.41.
The 2V8 came in fifth overall in its Grand Final with a time of 6:19.86, 4.67 seconds back of Navy for fourth place.
Stanford will make its home debut on Friday when they host No. 8 Boston University at 5 p.m. at Redwood Shores.
Women’s crew
No. 5 Stanford had one race on Sunday to cap the Pac-12 Challenge at Redwood Shores on Sunday, a second varsity four contest between the Cardinal and Washington State.
For four of the five members of Stanford’s lineup the race marked just the second day of 2k racing experience at the college level. The coxswain, freshman Devin Norder, was in her third race filling in as the voice of the boat.
Freshmen Tracy Roberts and Celeste Turner were competing in just their second collegiate race and sophomore walk-on Karli Kirk was entering her second career race period after never rowing before Stanford. The only one with a multitude of experience was senior biology major Nicole Gilmore.
Nervousness can often play a factor for student-athletes competing for the first time at any level, but on the second day of competition there didn’t seem to be any nerves for this boat. The Cardinal led from start to finish after flying off the start line.
“Everyone was ready and knew what to expect after racing yesterday,” said Roberts. “After yesterday we learned we can’t wait until the second half of the race to nail our race plan. We need to get off to a good start at the beginning and be able to sustain our harsh attack with our training we have put in. That was definitive of the race today.”
Stanford quickly gained an edge on Washington State and before the first 500 mark had opened up at least a boat length lead on the Cougars. The Cardinal continued to pull away and finished 20 seconds up on Washington State with a time of 7:40.0.
“The biggest thing we can build on is knowing that we can jump from the beginning,” said Roberts. “It was awesome to see that we could do that. Moving forward we just need to make sure we end the race with a clean, sharp finish.”
Softball
For the second straight year, injuries and a transfer has placed a heavy burden on the Stanford pitching staff.
The Cardinal continues to deal with it the best way possible, shoring up its defense and looking for its offense to provide some punch.
Stanford made several highlight-reel plays defensively but dropped its Pac-12 series finale against visiting Utah, 7-2, Sunday.
The Cardinal (15-9, 1-5 Pac-12) received defensive contributions from a variety of players, notably Hanna Winter and Kaitlin Schaberg in the infield, and Tylyn Wells, who started the game as a pitcher, and Bessie Noll in the outfield.
“We made all of the routine plays this weekend, plus some pretty spectacular ones as well,” Stanford first-year coach Rachel Hanson said. “Defense was the real key why we played a close, tight series.”
Wells led Stanford offensively with two hits, while Schaberg and Erin Ashby contributed a hit apiece. Kayla Bonstrom contributed a RBI – her ninth in the past five games.
Ashby paced the Cardinal in the series, hitting .429 (3-for-7) with four RBIs, two doubles and a walk.
Wells (0-3) got the start in the circle for Stanford and battled through 3.0 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks. Kylie Sorenson came in as relief in the fourth inning and was terrific for the second consecutive day, limiting the Utes to two runs on five hits, no walks and three strikeouts in 4.0 innings.
Wells and Sorenson – who are typically Stanford’s staring leftfielder and shortstop, respectively, but are pitching due to injuries – did well to keep the Cardinal within striking distance.
“They’re doing what we’re asking of them – give us a chance, keep the ball low, hit the corners and give us a chance to make plays,” said Hanson. “They’re both doing a really excellent job of that so kudos to them for playing a role that we needed.”
Women’s golf
Stanford returned home Sunday after falling to Purdue, 3-2, in the consolation bracket of the Liz Murphey Collegiate hosted by Georgia.
Quirine Eijkenboom and Mariko Tumangan each won their respective matches for the third straight outing.
“Having the opportunity to compete in a team match play event was awesome,” Cardinal coach Anne Walker said. “Being able to practice the different mindset and strategy required for match play will be invaluable for the NCAA Championships. It was a great learning experience all the way around.”
Stanford was 10th after Friday’s stroke play and split its two matches Saturday at the par-72, 6,404-yard University of Georgia Golf Course.
Stanford will spend some time on The Farm before heading to the PING/Arizona State Invitational (April 10-12) in Tempe.
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics