No. 3 MSU took the highest ranking in school history to the West Coast this weekend but was unable to bring a perfect record back to East Lansing.

Stanford (2-2) handed the Spartans their first loss of the season - a 2-1 defeat Friday in Palo Alto, Calif. - but MSU (3-1) rebounded with a 3-0 win over the Pacific Tigers (0-4) on Sunday.

Stanford jumped to a 2-0 lead behind a pair of goals from defender Melissa Stai at 20:57 and 39:52, but the deficit actually put MSU in somewhat familiar territory.

The Spartans had to dig out of a 2-0 hole in their 3-2 overtime upset of then No. 1 Old Dominion on Aug. 25, but they couldn’t get the job done this time.

Senior forward Bridget Cooper’s third goal of the season halved the Cardinal’s lead with nine minutes to play, but that was all MSU could muster.

“It’s just disappointing because player for player, we had a better team than them,” MSU head coach Michele Madison said. “We totally dominated play and had some momentum, but Stanford just packed the defensive zone and we couldn’t get anything in.”

Cooper scored two more goals against Pacific, giving her five tallies in four games this season. She broke a scoreless tie at 30:30 after a two-on-one breakaway with senior forward Maureen Halstead.

Sophomore midfielder Alexandra Kyser put MSU up 2-0 with a goal from freshman midfielder Annebet Beerman, and Cooper completed the scoring with 19:44 to play.

The Spartans outshot Pacific 26-3 for the game.

On the injury front, sophomore midfielder Sophie Rosmalen was hit in the face by a stick against Pacific and had to be taken to the hospital for stitches. Madison said Rosmalen should be ready for MSU’s next game against No. 8 Duke (3-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday in Louisville, Ky.

The Spartans will play either Louisville or Virginia Commonwealth in the second game of the Louisville Tournament on Sunday.