Tied 6-6 in the third quarter, No. 1 UCLA (19-0, 3-0 MPSF) and No. 4 Stanford (14-5, 0-2) battled back and forth, each team trying to break open the game.
Searching for a response to the powerful Cardinal offense, senior utility Danny McClintick drove down the lane, wound up and fired a bullet past Stanford goalkeeper Drew Holland.
From then on, the momentum would stay in UCLA’s favor.
“That was not only a big goal for us, but it was a big goal for Danny,” said coach Adam Wright. “He was great, not just for that goal, but his whole game. That goal settled us back down and we were really just able to play our game.”
McClintick’s score began a streak of five unanswered Bruin goals as UCLA pulled away for a 12-8 victory.
“After getting that go-ahead goal we were just able to go on a run,” said junior goalkeeper Garrett Danner. “Being able to get that edge in a tie game, can’t tell you enough how important that goal is.”
The five-goal run came on third-quarter scores from junior attacker Patrick Fellner and sophomore attacker Max Irving, plus fourth-quarter goals by junior center Gordon Marshall and senior defender Anthony Daboub.
Daboub assisted on Marshall’s goal with 7:19 remaining in the fourth quarter, then scored a goal of his own to push the score to 11-6.
Stanford could not find an answer to Daboub either offensively or defensively, failing to score for a stretch of over nine minutes as UCLA extended its lead.
“Defensively, (Daboub) makes my life a lot easier back in the cage,” Danner said. “I don’t have to worry as much. I know he can handle it and he has everything on lock down.”
Keys to the game
The Bruins took advantage of 6-on-5 power plays, converting seven out of eight attempts. UCLA demonstrated its patience on multiple counterattacks, focusing on prolonging the play and collapsing the Stanford defense. In one particular power play, the Bruins made nine passes before firing a shot.
“The guys did a really nice job of how we attack the goal, how we move the ball and how the post moves,” Wright said.
Wright said it was impressive how his team adapted when leading goal-scorer junior attacker Ryder Roberts was out of the game due to foul trouble. McClintick, Daboub and Fellner all posted hat tricks to make up for the absence of the junior attacker.
“Everyone has the ability to score which is awesome because a lot of times there is one key player who you need to lock down,” Danner said. “We don’t have that on this team. … We don’t have one key player, everyone is a threat.”
The defense was strong as well, with Danner totaling 11 saves and holding the Cardinal to three goals in the second half.
After the big win over Stanford, UCLA won 10-0 over San Jose State (2-15, 0-3 Mountain West Conference) on Sunday to improve its overall record to 19-0. Freshman goalkeeper Alex Wolf made a career-high 16 saves in the cage against the Spartans, while seven Bruins scored in a balanced offensive attack.
“Our defense did a very good job of making San Jose to take forced shots,” Wolf said. “A high percentage of those shots were forced to the center.”