A two-game East Coast road trip yielded nothing but success for the Cardinal (10-1) this weekend. Leaving sunny California for the clouds of Connecticut, Stanford’s first stop was the University of Connecticut where they met the No. 2 Huskies. In addition to being ranked second nationally, UConn is the country’s defending champion. Add to that pedigree the fact that Stanford had never beaten the Huskies in program history and the match-up approached that of David and Goliath. After seventy intense minutes of play however, it was No. 9 Stanford who added a tally to the win column.
In just the eighth minute of play, the Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Freshman forward Charlotte Veitner got UConn on the board, executing a backhand shot off a cross from senior midfielder Chrissy Davidson. That would mark the last time the Huskies would be able to get the ball past the Stanford goalkeeper, junior Dulcie Davies. Davies went on to hold a shutout for the remaining 62 minutes, making three crucial saves, including on a late penalty corner attempt by the Huskies.
In perhaps their most efficient offensive showing of the year, the Cardinal capitalized on nearly all of their scoring opportunities. Converting first to even the score was midfielder Alex McCawley. The senior’s team-leading eighth goal of the season came in the 25th minute of play. Taking a pass from junior midfielder Maddie Secco, McCawley drilled the ball into the lower left side of the cage. Play continued to be fiercely contested for the next nine minutes and it looked as if the teams may go into halftime all tied up. Freshman attacker Katie Keyser, however, had other plans. With just 51 seconds left in the half, fifth-year senior Elise Ogle cut off a Husky defensive outlet. Carrying the ball into the circle, Ogle slipped the ball past the Huskies’ sophomore goalkeeper Nina Klein. Keyser was perfectly positioned on the other end to send the ball into the top of the net for the Cardinal’s go ahead — and game-winning — goal.
Coming out of halftime with nothing but momentum, Stanford had a narrow lead to defend. After another eight minutes of even play, junior attacker Clemence Couteau tacked another point on the Cardinal lead. In the 43rd minute, Couteau controlled a loose ball from the middle of the circle, and after working it through some traffic, rifled in her third goal of the season and Stanford’s third of the game. Couteau has been one of the Cardinal’s hottest shooters this year, recording three goals on four shots.
Though the rest of the game was scoreless, it was not lacking in intensity. Senior defender and captain Kelsey Harbin received a green card in the 66th minute and the Cardinal faced a UConn penalty corner one player short. Davies, however, came up with the clutch save and Stanford hung on for the win. The 3-1 upset marks the first time Stanford has ever beaten UConn and the highest ranked opponent it has ever dismantled.
Riding high after an incredible victory, Stanford stopped in New Haven, Connecticut to face the Yale Bulldogs. Unranked Yale was unable to get on the board as the combined efforts of Davies (three saves) and freshmen goalkeeper Maddy Belin, in her debut performance (one save), kept the Bulldogs out of the net.
Stanford however, unleashed an offensive hailstorm in the 3-0 win. The Cardinal fired off 31 shots in the victory, 18 of them on target. After being held without a penalty corner against UConn, Stanford forced nine against Yale, and converted on two of them. The first, just 1:11 into the game, yielded a clean strike for junior defender Jessica Chisholm for her second goal of the season.
The Cardinal’s 31 shots was the most since Nov. 1, 2012, when it took 31 against Radford. #gostanford | http://t.co/GtQfzfb8Yw
— Stanford FieldHockey (@StanfordFH) September 28, 2014
Next up was junior attacker Lauren Becker, who took a pass from Harbin in the 11th minute and put it in the back of the net. The rest of the half was scoreless, though the Cardinal offense didn’t let up, with fourteen shots in the first half. In the 17-shot second half, only one strike found the target. Ogle took a pass from sophomore midfielder Fran Tew and in the 39th minute tacked on the final Cardinal score.
Stanford will come home improved to 10-1 on the season and with two important wins under its belt. Next up for the red-hot team is the University of Pacific, this Friday at home.
Contact Carlie Tenenbaum at carliet ‘at’ stanford.edu.