Five goals from five different players ensured that No. 13 Stanford women’s field hockey (11-5, 3-2 America East) kept itself in contention with the nation’s elite teams.
While 2-1 scores had been the norm for the past three Stanford-Davis matchups, including their first one in early October, the Cardinal offense had other ideas this past Friday. By night’s end at Varsity Turf, the score line would read 5-1 in favor of Stanford.
The Cardinal held advantages in almost every category, outshooting the Aggies 12 to 6 and gaining 3 penalty corners to Davis’ 1. Stanford was able to maintain control of the ball for much of the game and used space effectively to execute many successful scoring plays.
Sophomore Katie Keyser opened the scoring with an unassisted goal just before the 17 minute mark. This goal was quickly followed by another from junior Casey Deeds at the 32 minute mark, coming off a beautiful tip after the ball was inserted into the circle by senior Clemence Couteau. The goal was Deeds’ third of the season.
After getting a taste for the scoreboard with her previous assist, Couteau quickly scored a goal of her own less than a minute later by way of a loose ball in the circle.
The second half proved to be more of the same, with the Cardinal continuing to control play. In the 57th minute, Stanford senior Lauren Becker was awarded a penalty stroke that she calmly converted to make the score 4-0.
To continue Stanford’s streak of unanswered goals, junior Kristina Bassi found the back of the net with a quick put away in the 63rd minute. Senior Maddie Secco notched her team-leading ninth assist on the goal, delivering a beautiful across-the-net pass to Bassi to cap Stanford’s scoring at 5.
UC Davis was not willing to be shut out and rallied to score a goal with 12 minutes left in the game. However, it was too little, too late for the Aggies, as the Cardinal hung on to win 5-1. This game featured the most goals Stanford has scored this season since its 7-0 drubbing of St. Louis in early September.
It has been a tough month for the Cardinal, who suffered back-to-back losses to then-No. 16 Michigan and unranked Pacific, causing the team to fall out of the top 10. However, with the NCAA tournament quickly approaching, Stanford is still in position to make a deep run.
Senior goalkeeper Dulcie Davies is currently ranked second in the nation in save percentage, with 0.825. A strong senior core, including Davies and Secco, will look to build on last year’s run to the second round of the tournament, in which Stanford lost to eventual champion UConn.
First, Stanford must compete in its final game of the season against Pacific this Friday. The game will carry special significance — not only will the Cardinal celebrate their graduating seniors in their last game at home, but the team will also be seeking retribution for its 1-0 loss to the Tigers two weeks ago.
The game begins at 6 p.m. at Varsity Turf on Friday. Live stats for the game will be available at GoStanford.com.
Contact Amanda McLean at ammclean ‘at’ stanford.edu.