No. 2 UCLA Rallies to Defeat No. 3 Stanford, 8-6

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LOS ANGELES -- No. 3 UCLA (14-1, 1-0 MPSF) opened league play with a win, rallying to defeat No. 3 Stanford (13-3, 0-1 MPSF), 8-6, on Saturday afternoon at Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center.

With the win over the Cardinal, UCLA improved to 77-89 in the series history.

Graduate Nicolas Saveljic led all scorers with three goals while redshirt senior Evan Rosenfeld added two scores. Junior Bernardo Maurizi got the start in the cage and went the distance, registering a season-high 16 saves while holding Stanford two six goals for the second straight game.

PERIOD ONE
> Stanford jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter.
> Rosenfeld scored the lone goal for the Bruins (1:38) from the front court to cut the lead to 3-1 at the end of one.
 
PERIOD TWO
> The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie in the second period with the Cardinal leading 5-3 at the break.
> The Cardinal extended their lead to 4-1 on a goal from the front court by Taylor Abramson (6:30).
> The Bruins cut it to 4-3 after goals from Hayden Nightingale (5:47) and Tanner Pulice (4:28).
> Stanford went up 5-3 after Abramson scored another goal from the front court (1:50).
 
PERIOD THREE
> The Bruins won the third period 2-1 to close the gap to 6-5 heading into the fourth.
> Saveljic trimmed it to 5-4 with a power play goal (6:57) and Rosenfeld followed with a goal from the front court to tie it at 5-5 (3:57).
> Stanford regained the lead on a power play goal by Larsen Weigle (0:39).
 
PERIOD FOUR
> The Bruins pitched a shutout in the fourth and scored three goals to provide the 8-6 final.
> Jake Cavano knotted the game at 6-6 with a power play goal (3:22)
> Saveljic scored the eventual game-winning goal on a penalty shot conversion (1:21) that was drawn by Felix Brozyna-Vilim.
> Savejlic would complete his hat trick (0:06) after the Cardinal pulled their goalie (0:59) on their final offensive possession. Maurizi came huge making two stops in the final moments to secure the win.

UP NEXT
The Bruins will hop out of league action next week and travel to No. 6 Pacific for one game on Sunday, Oct. 17 at 1:00 p.m. PT at Chris Kjeldsen Aquatics Complex.

No. 3 Stanford at No. 2 UCLA (MPSF Opener)

6x5 - UCLA - 2/10 - STAN - 2/10
Penalties - UCLA - 1/1 - STAN - 0/0

STAN Goals: Tyler Abramson 2, Walker Seymour 1, Quinn Woodhead 1, Riley Pittman 1, Larsen Weigle 1
STAN Saves: Nolan Krutonog 13

UCLA Goals: Nicolas Saveljic 3, Evan Rosenfeld 2, Jake Cavano 1, Hayden Nightingale 1, Tanner Pulice 1
UCLA Saves: Bernardo Maurizi 16