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STANFORD, Calif. – Five Cardinal posted hat tricks and for the second time this season No. 2 Stanford scored 23 goals, using that outburst on Saturday to dispatch No. 9 San Jose State, 23-6, at Avery Aquatic Center.

Stanford’s output was its fourth time this season firing home 20 or more goals, the program’s most since it did so five times in 1997 in what was its second year of varsity status. Entering this year, the Cardinal had reached that mark in a single game 11 times in the past 16 seasons.

The Cardinal’s 23 goals matched the 23 they scored on March 20 against Harvard. Prior to this year, Stanford hadn’t scored that many times in a game since a 23-3 win over against Pomona-Pitzer at the National Collegiate Championships on May 14, 2010.

With Saturday’s win, the Cardinal moved to 18-1 overall and 3-0 in MPSF action. It was Stanford’s 36^th consecutive win in regular-season MPSF play, its 24^th straight victory at Avery Aquatic Center and its 36^th game in a row holding its opponent to 10 goals or less.

The balanced effort saw hat tricks turned by Ashley Grossman, Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul, Gurpreet Sohi and Maggie Steffens. It was Grossman’s seventh of the season, Jamie Neushul’s second, Kiley Neushul’s eighth, Sohi’s second and Steffens’ fifth.

Grossman (7:43) and Jamie Neushul (6:53) put the Cardinal up early before Clara Espar Llaquet, who came in with 79 goals this season, scored her only one of the afternoon for the Spartans at 6:23.

Stanford reeled off three more in a row first on a Maggie Steffens steal mid-tank and pass ahead to Gurpreet Sohi at 5:27. Steffens again came through when she fed Dani Jackovich on the doorstep for the sophomore’s only goal of the day (4:28). Kiley Neushul used a skip shot to put home a 6-on-5 score at 2:26 which put the Cardinal up 5-1.

SJSU’s Bianca Seyfert notched a goal with 2:01 on the clock, but Stanford answered again. Kiley Neushul, set up with an assist from Steffens, turned and fired to score her second at 1:39 and returned the favor with 57 seconds remaining in the opening quarter when she used one motion to guide a pass mid-air to Steffens for a power-play goal.

The onslaught continued in the second as Stanford scored six more times. Grossman used a nifty backhanded shot to slip one past the Spartans’ Katelynn Thompson (6:12), Kiley Neushul scored on the break (5:32) and Anna Yelizarova was fed by Kiley Neushul for another man-up goal that barely crept across the line (4:39).

Jamie Neushul received a cross-cage pass from her sister to put home her second of the day at 4:03 and Steffens and Sohi wrapped up the opening half with two goals with less than a minute on the clock. Stanford led 13-4 at halftime.

Seven more goals came from the potent Cardinal in the third quarter. Kiley Neushul fired a pass in to Steffens, which ricocheted off the head of San Jose State’s McKenna Yates, but Steffens recovered to complete her hat trick. Yelizarova converted a penalty (6:09) before Jordan Raney and Rachel Johnson made their presences felt.

Each scored twice in the last four minutes of the third quarter and coupled with the third and final score of the day from Gurpreet Sohi (3:05), the Cardinal had a comfortable 20-5 edge heading into the final frame. Fourth-quarter scores from Jamie Neushul (7:22), Ashley Grossman (4:05) and Katie Dudley (2:47) extended the final margin of victory to 17.

Gabby Stone played the first three-plus quarters in the cage and made five saves. Emily Dorst came in with 4:25 to go in the game and took Stanford home.

The Cardinal is back in action at noon next Saturday when it hosts No. 1 UCLA at Avery Aquatic Center. The two teams have split their meetings this year, with Stanford winning 10-6 in the championship game of the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 1 and the Bruins coming out on top in overtime, 7-6, in the championship match of the UC Irvine Invitational on Feb. 22.