No. 13 Stanford returns from a weekend road trip to North Carolina 1-1, having defeated No. 14 Wake Forest on Friday before falling to No. 8 Duke Sunday morning.
In one of the Card’s closest matches of the season, Wake Forest (10-6, 0-4 ACC) matched Stanford (11-4, 3-1 NorPac) shot for shot, drawing a scoreless tie through regulation. Outshot 7-5 in the first half, Stanford benefitted from five saves from goalie Dulcie Davies, part of an eight-save effort in Stanford’s third consecutive shutout.
A high-powered Demon Deacon offense was matched by a tenacious Stanford defense, especially in the second half as Stanford allowed only four shots. On the other end of the field, Stanford’s offense faltered on penalty corners. After going three for three against Yale, the Cardinal failed to convert on any of its seven attempts throughout the game. Coupled with seven saves by Wake Forest goalie Valerie Dahmen, an explosive Cardinal offense was contained.
With the only offensive distinction between the teams coming in a one-penalty corner advantage for Stanford (7-6) the game turned into a defensive battle.
After 70 minutes of passionate play, the two teams entered a sudden-death overtime contest. Stanford has not faired well in overtime, which is played seven-on-seven, this season. Recording losses to UC-Davis and No. 4 Connecticut earlier in the season, the Cardinal was winless when the game went to an extra period.
Freshman Fran Tew ended that skid with a goal in the ninth minute of Friday’s overtime, deflecting a crossing pass from senior attacker Courtney Haldeman for her third goal of the season. An exhilarating finish left the Cardinal at 11-3 on the season heading into another top-25 matchup against eighth-ranked Duke.
Riding the momentum of three shutout games in a row, the Cardinal was met Sunday morning by a vengeful Blue Devil team. Having just lost two games to top-10 teams, Duke (11-4, 2-2 ACC) staunchly defended its home field.
The first half was evenly matched and scoreless. Though Stanford recorded more shots (6-4) and penalty corners (3-2) through the first 35 minutes play, the stifled Duke offense was unleashed in the second half, forcing six penalty corners to Stanford’s one. In the 59th minute of play, Duke earned a corner, and Amanda Kim punctuated the offensive drive with her first goal of the season. Kim’s goal marked the first scoring strike against Davies and the Cardinal since the overtime loss at UC-Davis.
Stanford continued to battle however, tallying four shots in the second half. With two minutes of regulation time remaining, the Cardinal substituted goalie Davies for a field player in an attempt to generate a late attack. The risky move ended up backfiring for Stanford.
With the addition of an extra forward, Stanford left its defense substantially weakened. Duke capitalized on the empty net and, with 20 seconds left in the game, Jessica Buttinger found the cage for her sixth goal of the season.
The 2-0 final gave Stanford its first shutout loss of the season. Plagued by its inefficiency on penalty corners, the team has four days of practice to work out its issues before battling Michigan at home on Friday.
Coming out of two top-25 games 1-1, Stanford returns home with an 11-4 record on the season. Now 4-2 against ranked teams, the Cardinal will need to maintain its high level of play, closing the regular season with the Wolverines, followed by two NorPac games against University of Pacific and Cal.
Friday’s game against Michigan is scheduled for 2 p.m. on the Varsity Turf.
Contact Carlie Tenenbaum at carliet ‘at’ stanford.edu.