Disappointment befell the top-seeded Stanford Cardinal when the final whistle of the NorPac championship game blew. A 1-0 loss to Liberty marked the second year in a row that Stanford’s NorPac championship dreams were thwarted by the Lady Flames. The loss brings Stanford’s record to 18-2 going into NCAA tournament consideration.
Stanford, as the top-seeded team, earned a first round bye in the tournament. Their first match was a rematch against the UC Davis Aggies. The Aggies had faced the Cardinal on the Varsity Turf just two weeks before where Stanford edged out a 2-1 victory in a close game. This time, however, with the stakes higher, the game got even closer.
The game began tightly knotted. Stanford held the edge in possession but Davis showed the same relentless scrappiness they displayed two weeks ago. Stanford came out with a powerful offensive showing — the Cardinal rifled off 15 shots in the contest. Despite eight of these shots coming in the first half, Davis recorded three saves to go into halftime in a scoreless tie. Davis had not yet registered a shot.
The second half housed all the firepower. Junior attacker Lauren Becker put Stanford on the board in the 42nd minute. Carrying the ball into the circle, Becker found an opening and fired a shot into the left side of the net. The Cardinal held the 1-0 advantage for 14 long minutes. Stanford maintained its offensive tenacity, recording seven more shots and three penalty corners in the second half. Davis however, stepped up. All three of the Aggies’s shots came in the second half, but they were unable to find the cage until the 66th minute. On one of Davis’s only two penalty corners of the game, Sophia Lisaius tapped in a loose ball bouncing around after the initial shot was blocked. With the game tied 1-1 and only four minutes left, the match appeared destined for overtime.
With just 30 seconds left Stanford earned a penalty corner. Time expired on the play, so Stanford needed to capitalize. And capitalize they did. Senior attacker Elise Ogle sent the ball to Maddie Secco and off of Kelsey Harbin’s pass, junior defender Jessica Chisholm drilled the winning shot into the back of the cage. The game ended there with a 2-1 Cardinal victory.
That win pushed Stanford forward into the NorPac championship game — familiar turf for the Cardinal. In their ninth straight tournament championship appearance, they’ve faced Liberty in the last three. This game however, did not end in the Cardinal’s favor.
Liberty got on the board just under four minutes into the game, and that goal held for 66 minutes to be the game winner. A bouncing cross just managed to sneak by Stanford goalkeeper Dulcie Davies to the back post where Liberty forward Sarah Gipe was able to put it in. After that early dribbler Davies tallied an impressive six saves.
Stanford however, was never able to get into a rhythm and counter the early blow. Liberty outshot the Cardinal 9-7 and held a slight 4-3 advantage in penalty corners. The Cardinal held possession but struggled, much like the game against Davis, to find the net. The loss, while a disappointing end to the tournament, cannot overshadow the incredible 18-2 season the Cardinal had. Stanford had a record setting season, beating three top-15 teams, and five top-20 teams.
Find out what the team had to say about this season and preparing for the NCAA Tournament. #gostanford | WATCH: http://t.co/uW8dkbORw4
— Stanford FieldHockey (@StanfordFH) November 10, 2014
That record setting season did not go unnoticed by the NCAA, however. On Sunday, they were awarded an at-large berth in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. This will be the 13th NCAA tournament appearance for the Cardinal, who have not escaped the first round in any of their previous 12 appearances.
The No. 4 Cardinal will begin their tournament with a match against No. 8 Louisville. The two teams have not met previously this year; however, Louisville holds a 4-1 advantage career versus Stanford. The game will be played in Connecticut, with the winner going on to challenge Connecticut, Kent State or Delaware (the latter two engaged in a playoff to face Connecticut). This will be the Cardinal’s sixth tournament berth in just eight years and will undoubtedly look to make it a special one.
Contact Carlie Tenenbaum at carliet ‘at’ stanford.edu.