The Stanford women’s soccer players might have to make room for another star on their jersey backs.

The Cardinal, who wear two stars to represent their national titles, will play for a third after a dominating 4-1 victory over UCLA on Friday night in the Women’s College Cup semifinals at Avaya Stadium.

Top-ranked Stanford advances to play in Sunday’s 5:30 national championship against No. 2 North Carolina (24-1-1), which was a 2-1 winner over Washington State in the other semifinal match.

The Cardinal (23-1-0) have won 18 straight matches since a 1-0 loss to Pepperdine on Sept. 13 and have outscored opponents 76-8 during the span. As impressive as the numbers have been during the run, Stanford may have been at its absolute best in front of a crowd of 7,699.

Despite playing on a slippery surface from the week’s rain in San Jose and facing a UCLA team that had won nine in a row after losing 1-0 to Stanford on Oct. 19, the Cardinal were rarely slowed.

“They’re the standard right now,” UCLA defender Kaiya McCullough said. “We were wearing studs and still slipping. They’re hard to defend period, so when you can’t keep your footing, it just makes it that more difficult.”

The Cardinal outshot the Bruins 16-3 in the first half and scored four goals after UCLA (18-5-1) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the opening seven minutes. Stanford exploited the width of the field, using spaces left open by UCLA’s 3-5-2 format.

Once they got the ball wide, the Cardinal attacked time and time again to beat the Bruins for the seventh straight time, including the 2017 national title match in Orlando.

Women’s College Cup Sunday’s championship Who: Stanford (23-1-0) vs. North Carolina (24-1-1) When: 5:30 p.m. Where: Avaya Stadium TV: ESPNU

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Back from last year’s broken leg, sophomore Sophia Smith tallied a hat trick, senior Carly Malatskey had a goal, and junior Madison Haley had two assists as Stanford upped its program-record scoring total to 102 goals on the season.

Smith dribbled for about 40 yards without much pressure and set up a powerful right-footed shot with a nice touch ahead of herself once she arrived in the box. Her shot deflected off a recovering UCLA defender, went through goalkeeper Teagan Micha’s legs, and knotted the score 1-1 just 8½ minutes into an action-packed match.

Haley’s pass from near midfield led Smith perfectly into the right side of the box. After a second right-footed touch brought the ball back to her left side, Smith buried a shot to the far post to make it 3-1 with 15 minutes still to play in the first half.

UCLA had a chance to make it a one-goal game just before halftime, but Katie Meyer made a diving stop on Mia Fishel’s penalty kick with 2½ minutes remaining. After the loose ball was cleared out of bounds, an animated Meyer leaned over Fishel and taunted the first-year forward.

Smith’s third goal turned the match into a laugher during the first seven minutes of the second half. Sam Hiatt made a long run right down the middle of the field and then found Smith streaking up the right side. Smith’s secured her second hat trick of the postseason with a shot into the far corner of the net.

North Carolina, which switched to a 3-5-2 format midway through its conference season, doesn’t use the term “reserves” when referencing its bench players - instead opting for the nickname “game-changers.” Were they ever on Friday, subbing into a 1-1 match about 30 minutes into the first half and combining to score the game-winner minutes later.

Ru Mucherera raced up the left flank, beating two Washington State defenders to free space. The forward then curled a perfect cross to the back post, and Alexis Strickland’s header zipped past goalkeeper Ella Dederick.

Stanford is 2-9-3 all-time against North Carolina, but the Cardinal have won the past two meetings, including a 2-1 overtime victory on the road last year.

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron