PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Stanford jumped out to a 12-0 lead on St. Francis (N.Y.) and rolled to a 17-2 victory to capture third place at the NCAA championship on Sunday at Avery Aquatic Center.
Bret Bonanni led the Cardinal with five goals while Forrest Watkins added a hat trick as the Cardinal finished the year 23-6. Adam Abdulhamid and BJ Churnside each scored twice while Alex Bowen, Reid Chase, Nick Hoversten, Jackson Kimbell and Connor Stapleton scored a goal apiece.Drew Holland and Scott Platshon each played a half in the cage for the Cardinal, making eight and three saves, respectively.
Bonanni got the Cardinal on the board just 55 seconds into the contest, firing home on the power play. The six-on-five situations would work out well for the Cardinal on Sunday, as Stanford went 7-for-14 on its extra-man chances against just 2-for-13 for the Terriers.
Churnside followed Bonanni’s opener with his first 28 seconds later and Watkins and Stapleton found the back of the cage before the end of the period as Stanford led 4-0 after eight minutes.
The second period opened with Bonanni scoring two goals in the opening 1:41 as the Cardinal would go on to score six times in the frame. Goals from Watkins and Kimbell in the opening minutes of the second half stretched the lead to 12-0 with 6:07 to go.
St. Francis Brooklyn would finally get on the board with 3:31 left in the third period as Lazar Komadinic beat Platshon. Abdulhamid and Hoversten would answer back for the Cardinal followed by Andras Kovac netting the second and final goal for the Terriers.
In the fourth period Stanford would get power-play goals from Bowen and Churnside before Abdulhamid added the final score seven seconds before the buzzer.
