The No. 2 Stanford women's water polo team returned to the pool for the first time in two weeks and opened its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule with a 9-3 win at No. 7 Arizona State on Saturday before beating La Verne 21-3 in a nonconference matchup later in the afternoon as part of the ASU Invitational.

The Cardinal (13-1) wraps up its trip to the desert against No. 23 Marist on Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

Stanford jumped on the Sun Devils early to win its conference opener, scoring four times in the first quarter and adding another coming out of the break before ASU was able to break through.

Olympians Maggie Steffens and Makenzie Fischer did the early damage for the Cardinal, alternating even-strength scores in the opening period to put Stanford up 4-0.

Neither side scored in the second, but Jordan Raney rattled the cage on her team's first possession of the third quarter to push the lead to 5-0.

ASU finally got on the board at 7:18 in the third, but Fischer (6:14) and Shannon Cleary (1:56) responded for Stanford and the Cardinal had a 7-1 advantage heading into the final frame. Each team scored twice in the fourth, with Stanford's goals coming from Steffens and Katie Dudley, and Stanford came away with its sixth top-10 victory of the season.

Gabby Stone played all four quarters in the cage and made seven saves.

Stanford exploded for eight unanswered in the second quarter as part of a 21-score outburst and the Cardinal cruised to an 18-goal victory over La Verne in a game that was part of the ASU Invitational. Eleven different Cardinal found the back of the cage in the win and Stanford's 21 goals tied a season high.

Mackenzie Wiley tallied a career-high four scores, Kat Klass added career hat trick No. 11 and freshmen Kayla Constandse and Hannah Shabb each scored twice, the first goals of their collegiate careers.

Klass scored first for Stanford but then was excluded at 6:21 in the first and the Leopards were able to capitalize. The Stanford sophomore scored again at 4:22 and again La Verne answered at 4:06.

Tied 2-2 midway through the opening period, the Cardinal would rattle off 12 consecutive goals to put the game away. Dani Jackovich, Madison Berggren, and Constandse scored to close out the first and Stanford's second-period onslaught was led by three from Mackenzie Wiley.

La Verne got one back in the third to make the score 14-3 and Stanford would score the game's final seven from seven different players to secure the win.

Julia Hermann was the Cardinal's goalkeeper for all four quarters and made five saves.

Women's tennis

No. 14 Stanford completed a sweep of its Southern California road trip on Saturday afternoon, cruising past No. 21 USC 4-0.

Opening a stretch in which it plays six of nine away from The Farm, the Cardinal (9-1, 2-0 Pac-12) looked extremely sharp against the Trojans (4-5, 0-2 Pac-12) in a match televised on Pac-12 Networks.

Stanford captured the doubles point for a 1-0 lead, securing the early edge on the strength of a 6-3 win on court two from Emily Arbuthnott and Taylor Davidson.

It was then all Cardinal in singles, starting with Emma Higuchi's 6-0, 6-0 victory over Sydney Van Alphen at the No. 6 spot. Higuchi notched her team-best 20th overall victory and is riding a nine-match win streak.

Caroline Lampl followed with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph at No. 4 to make it 3-0 before Davidson pumped home the clincher with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the top line.

The match was called with action on three remaining courts suspended.

Stanford returns home next weekend, hosting Arizona State on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in match that will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.

B Softball ==

Stanford earned a pair of victories Saturday, defeating Connecticut and Lehigh during the second day of the Easton Crimson Classic.

The Cardinal (15-9) struck early against the Huskies (5-9), producing four runs in the first two runs, and held off a late comeback bid to earn the win. The Cardinal produced quality pitching and timely hitting against the Mountain Hawks (4-8) to earn its second victory on the day.

The Cardinal's pitching staff delivered strong performances throughout the day, limiting the Huskies to three runs and shutting out the Mountain Hawks.

Carolyn Lee (7-5) nearly went the distance against Connecticut, permitting three runs on nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Kiana Pancino entered the game in the seventh inning to register the final out.

Nikki Bauer (5-3) and Haley Snyder combined for the shutout against Lehigh. Bauer got the start and did not allow a run, holding the Mountain Hawks to five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Snyder entered the game in a tough spot in the fifth inning, got the Cardinal out of a jam and was lights out the remainder of the game.

Alyssa Horeczko led the Cardinal offensively against Connecticut, going 3-for-3 with three singles and a run. Teaghan Cowles and Kylie Sorenson registered a hit and an RBI apiece.

Kristina Inouye paced Stanford at the plate against Lehigh, going 2-for-2 with a double and a walk. Arden Pettit produced an RBI-double in the sixth inning to provide a late insurance run for the Cardinal.

Stanford took an early lead and held on late to earn a 4-3 victory against Connecticut.

The Cardinal got off to a hot start with each of its first four batters reaching base safely. Sorenson brought in the Cardinal's first run with an RBI-single to right field.

Stanford loaded the bases with no outs and doubled its lead to 2-0 when an illegal pitch was called on Connecticut's pitcher.

Bessie Noll made the defensive play of the game to open the second inning. Connecticut's Devon Casazza connected with a pitch and sent it to the left-center field gap. In a full sprint, Noll made the catch on the warning track before running into the wall.

The Cardinal added another pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Lauren Wegner led off the inning with a walk and Horeczko followed with a bunt-single. It was Horeczko's 10th consecutive game with at least one hit.

Wegner scored on wild pitch and Horeczko came home on a fielder's choice by Cowles to put Stanford up, 4-0.

The Huskies hit a one-out solo home run in the top of the fifth inning to cut Stanford's lead to 4-1. Connecticut proceeded to load the bases but Lee forced a fielder's choice out at home and picked up her third strikeout to end the inning and get out of the jam.

The Cardinal survived a late two-out rally by the Huskies in the seventh. Connecticut pushed across two runs to cut Stanford's lead to 4-3.

Pancino entered the game with two outs and runners on second and third. She got the next batter to pop out to second base for the final out of the game to secure the victory.

It was a pitcher's duel for Stanford's second game of the day against Lehigh.

Neither team allowed a baserunner to reach second until the fourth inning.

A two-out error by Stanford loaded the bases for Lehigh in the top of the fourth. Bauer forced a ground out to first base to end the inning and get out of the jam.

Stanford broke through in the bottom half of the inning. Lauren Bertoy led off with a walk and advanced to third when Inouye doubled off the top of the left field wall in the following at bat.

Wegner hit a grounder to shortstop in the next at-bat and Bertoy broke for home. Lehigh's shortstop threw home but Bertoy slid around the tag to give Stanford a 1-0 lead.

The Mountain Hawks threatened again in the top of the fifth when its first two batters reached base.

Snyder entered the game in relief for the Cardinal and Lehigh converted a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out.

Snyder got the next two batters to line out to the left side of the infield to get out of the jam and end the inning.

Stanford doubled its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Inouye led off with a single and Wegner followed with a single to left-center field.

Arden Pettit doubled down the left field line with one out to bring in Hannah Howell, who was pinch running for Inouye, from second and give the Cardinal a 2-0 advantage.

Lehigh drew a one-out walk and the runner advanced to second in the following at-bat on a ground out.

The next Mountain Hawks batter singled to center field. The runner on second rounded third and headed for home but Noll fielded the ball in center and threw home with plenty of time to get the runner and end the game.

Men's tennis

Stanford dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to No. 31 TCU on Saturday afternoon at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

The Cardinal (8-4) was looking to add another signature win to its resume, following up impressive victories over No. 6 California and No. 8 Texas earlier this week.

Stanford's bid for a homestand sweep got off to a promising start. The Cardinal captured a tight doubles point for a 1-0 lead thanks to a 7-6 (4) triumph from Michael Genender and Sameer Kumar at the No. 2 spot.

David Wilczynski and Brandon Sutter delivered convincing wins at the bottom two spots of the lineup, putting Stanford on the verge of clinching at 3-0.

TCU (7-4) then started its comeback with consecutive victories from Alex Rybakov, Cameron Norrie and Guillermo Nunez.

The Horned Frogs clinched the match when Jerry Lopez edged Jack Barber 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.

Stanford will be idle for two weeks prior to its next match on March 27 against Illinois at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.