Sept. 2, 2001
Gainesville, Fla. - The No. 15 Stanford women's soccer team came back after being down 2-0 at the half to defeat No. 18 Florida 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Percy Beard Stadium. The victory marks the 15th consecutive season that the Cardinal women's soccer program has started their season 1-0.
Junior Marcia Wallis (Los Gatos, CA) scored on a 16-yard shot from the right side in just one minute and 15 seconds into sudden-death overtime to give the Cardinal the victory.
"It was just a great result and we showed a lot of character after being down 2-0," said second-year head coach Andy Nelson. "The girls stuck to our plan and played very well together. I am very pleased and we did a lot of great things."
Florida scored the first two goals of the game to go up 2-0 at halftime. The Cardinal however, fought back in the second half out-shooting the Gators 8-3. Wallis put Stanford on the scoreboard in the 51st minute with a 20-yard blast from the left side. The Cardinal had a close call in the 84th minute that nearly tied the game. Junior Becky Myers (St. Charles, IL) hit the underside of the crossbar, with the ball bouncing straight down to the goal line but not across. After the close call senior goalkeeper Carrie Walsh (Los Gatos, CA) made an outstanding save with two minutes left in the game, stopping Florida All-American Abby Wambach's shot to keep the score at 2-1.
Stanford then continued its surge and finally took advantage in the last minute of the game. Junior Callie Withers (Los Altos Hills, CA) hit a low shot that went through traffic and deflected off a Florida player for an own goal to knot the score at 2-2. In sudden-death overtime Stanford only needed until 91:15, when Wallis reached the back of the net for the second time of the game giving the Cardinal the 3-2 OT victory over the Gators.
The Cardinal's come-from-behind victory marks only the fifth team to ever defeat Florida after being down 1-0 early in the game. Stanford also outshot the Gators 12-9 for the game.
"The five minute goal into the second half made the difference. We never let down after that. We beat a team that when scoring first were 105-4-1. I am just so proud of the girls right now," said Nelson.
Stanford will continue on their 17-day non-conference road trip with stops at College Station and Austin, Texas. The Cardinal will face Texas A&M Friday, September 7 and Texas Sunday, September 9 before returning to The Farm. Competition is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. (CST) in College Station and 7:00 p.m. (CST) in Austin.