Makenzie Fischer scored with 23 seconds to go for Stanford and USC's Verica Bakoc finally stopped the run on the Trojans' next possession.

Klass again orchestrated the offense for Stanford and found Cassidy Wiley less than a minute later for Wiley's seventh goal of the season. Aria Fischer took advantage after she drew an exclusion to put the Cardinal on the power play and rattled the cage at 3:21.

The Cardinal was in front 3-2 early in the second quarter before it reeled off four consecutive goals to lengthen its lead to 7-2. Madison Berggren scored her second of the afternoon when Kat Klass hit the lefty in the 6-on-5 with 5:04 until halftime.

Stanford (11-0) took home its fourth Barbara Kalbus Invitational title and first since 2011. The Cardinal is 40-8 all-time at the annual tournament, which began in 2007.

Julia Hermann made 13 saves, the Cardinal's defense held USC scoreless in the second half and the top-ranked Stanford women's water polo team won the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, beating the third-ranked Trojans 9-3 on Sunday afternoon.

The Cardinal are in action at home next Sunday at 5 p.m. when it begins its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule with a game against Cal televised on Pac-12 Networks.

The margin of victory was Stanford's largest over USC since a 10-4 win on Feb. 25, 2007 in the semifinals of the same tournament.

Hermann stopped 13 of the 16 shots she faced (81.3 percent) and had the 11th double-digit save performance of her career and first this season. USC had 10 power play opportunities, but only converted once. The Cardinal was 3-of-4 in its 6-on-5 chances.

Bakoc's goal would be the final score for USC, which came into the tournament averaging 14.14 goals per game. The Trojans wouldn't score in the second half and Makenzie Fischer(4:07) and Jordan Raney (3:28) added some third-quarter insurance for the Cardinal.

"You love to see Zach doing such a great job on the back end of our bullpen," said Esquer. "He has looked better and better every time we give him the ball and today was the best he has looked yet."

Palisch earned the win, throwing 3 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts, no walks and one hit. Zach Grech earned his first save of the season, throwing a perfect final two innings, needing just 13 pitches.

"Jacob showed tremendous poise today, coming into the game and getting us out of a really tough situation," said Stanford coach David Esquer. "Sometimes you're going to have to absorb some punches and battle through close games, and today was another good challenge for us."

Jacob Palisch was asked to do the impossible for a relief pitcher: enter the game with the bases-loaded and no outs. Palisch proved nothing is impossible, deftly avoiding any damage and carrying Stanford to a four-game sweep of Rice on Sunday with a 2-0 win over the Owls at Sunken Diamond.

Sophomore Alyssa Horeczko was 4-for-6 with two runs and a RBI in the doubleheader. She also had the sacrifice bunt that set up the two-out walk-off single by Montana Dixon.

A former Stanford standout, Allister won 290 games in seven seasons at Minnesota and has started 10-7 in her first year at the helm of the Cardinal.

Cardinal corner: Water polo goes to 11-0, baseball to 8-0