SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Roko Pozaric buried a man-up shot with 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter as No. 9-ranked Princeton University made history by upending No. 3 Stanford University, 11-10, at the 2022 Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament hosted by Santa Clara University.
It marks the smallest margin of victory in a game between the two programs as Stanford falls to 10-1 all-time versus Princeton with prior victories in 2021 (16-5 W at Princeton), 2019 (22-8 W at Navy), 2018 (21-3 W at Princeton), 2012 (13-6 W at UC-Santa Barbara), 2011 (14-3 W at Long Beach State), 2009 (14-6 W at UC-Irvine), 2008 (12-4 W at UCLA; 12-2 W at Princeton), 2007 (16-5 W at UC-Irvine) and 2004 (15-4 W at Stanford). Further, it marks the first loss by the Cardinal to a team from the East Coast and outside the Top Seven since at least 1999.
The Tigers never trailed against the Cardinal as Luke Johnston broke the ice with 6:47 left in the first quarter. Yurian Quinones cushioned the margin to 2-0 with a man-up strike at 2:54 before Jack Martin put Stanford on the board with a man-up score at 2:13.
Following a yellow card to Princeton head coach Dustin Litvak at 2:13, Vladan Mitrovic expanded Princeton’s lead back to a pair at 3-1 by lining in a six-on-five chance at the 1:59 mark.
Soren Jensen rifled in a five-meter penalty shot with no time left in the first quarter to shrink Princeton’s lead to 3-2, but Mitrovic delivered a response 27 seconds into the second quarter to rebuild the Tigers’ two-goal lead at 4-2.
Grant Watson delivered a counterpoint for Stanford at 6:18 by connecting for a man-up tally to move the Cardinal back to within one at 4-3, but Keller Maloney returned the lead to a pair at 3:55 by delivering on a man-up opportunity.
Stanford erased its deficit with a man-up score by Speedy Laster (2:38) and an even-strength tally (1:53), but Pozaric foreshadowed his fourth quarter heroics by putting away a shot with 1:29 until halftime.
Following the break, Mitrovic reinflated Princeton’s margin to a pair by putting away an even-strength chance at 7:18 to make it a 7-5 contest.
Beck Jurasius chipped away at Stanford’s deficit by putting away a shot at 6:29, Pozaric buried a man-up chance at 5:57 and Jackson Painter answered with power-play strikes at 4:48 and 2:47 to deadlock the squads at eight-all.
Princeton regained the lead prior the conclusion of the third quarter as Mitrovic added another man-up score before Quinones began the fourth quarter with a natural score 27 seconds into the frame to return a two-goal lead to the Tigers at 10-8.
However, Stanford refused to go away as Jack Martin (6:54, man-up) and Grant Watson (4:59, even-strength) balanced the scoreboard at 10-all.
Neither was able to find a go ahead score until Painter was excluded with 39 seconds left and Pozaric exploited the chance with 13 seconds left for the game-winner.
For Princeton, Mitrovic posted four goals and an assist , while Pozaric netted three goals and an assist with a pair of steals. Quinones (two goals, two assists), Keller Maloney (one goal, one assist, two steals), Ryan Neapole (two assists, two steals) and Joan Coloma (two assists, one steal) added to the Tigers’ offense.
In cage, Antonio Knez made 10 saves to pick up the victory.
For Stanford, Nolan Krutonog stopped 11 shots, while Martin (three), Watson (two), Painter (two), Jurasius (one), Jensen (one) and Laster (one) accounted for the Cardinal offense.
