MPSF begins league play with USC taking on Stanford, Cal goes up against UCLA

MPSF play gets underway this weekend when No. 1 USC Trojans head to Northern California to take on the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal which gets underway at 12 p.m. ET and then No. 3 UCLA Bruins are facing No. 7 ranked California Golden Bears at 3:30 p.m. ET. Both games will be shown on the Pac-12 National Network, assuming one gets the channel.

USC is on a roll and is looking to improve their stock as the top team in the land against Stanford. Earlier this year, USC beat the Cardinal 10-9 in overtime in the semifinals of the NorCal Tournament, and they have won the last three games against the Cardinal.

Stanford will be led by sophomore utility Alex Bowen has 22 goals so far this season, and is a player that USC must slow down this weekend.

One fun stat about this game is that USC head coach Jovan Vavic is 43-13 against Stanford since he took over as the Trojan's head coach, and that also includes going 4-0 record against the Cardinal in national championship games.

Cal is looking to rebound after a poor finish at the SoCal tournament where they finished seventh place, and while they are at home they will have their hands full against UCLA.

When the last time these two teams played it was UCLA's Chris Fahlsing who scored the game-winner in the first overtime period for as the Bruins defeatd California 11-10 to at the NorCal Tournament earlier this year. Expect the same type of result in this game between UCLA and Stanford.

Basically if you get the Pac-12 Network watch this game. Because these are going to be some great games, and I wold not be surprised if each game was at most a two-goal difference.