Oct. 5, 2001
Stanford, Calif. - The No. 7 Stanford women's soccer team lost a heartbreaker in overtime to No. 10 Santa Clara, 2-1, Friday night at Maloney Field in front of 2,103 fans. The attendance marks the largest crowd at Maloney Field for a Stanford women's soccer game.
Both teams battled the first 90 minutes to a 1-1 tie, before Santa Clara's Aly Wagner scored on a free kick from 30 yards out in overtime to win the game for the Broncos.
Stanford had many near-miss goals in the first half, along with some outstanding saves by goalkeeper Carrie Walsh (Los Gatos, CA). The Cardinal finally found the back of the net at 33:38, when sophomore Natalie Spilger (El Cajon, CA) took a pass from Marcie Ward (Alamo, CA) off a corner kick and headed it in for the score. Spilger's goal was the first of her career and put Stanford up 1-0.
Seven minutes later, Santa Clara answered back on a 40 yard shot from Jessica Ballweg at 40:41 to knot the score at 1-1 heading into halftime.
The second half turned out to be a defensive battle for the Cardinal as Santa Clara outshot Stanford 8-0 in the second 45 minutes. Defenders Amy Sauer (Spring, TX), Alisan Pabon (Dallas, TX), Katherine Harrington (Fort Worth, TX), Spilger and Walsh made some critical saves to carry the Cardinal into overtime.
The Cardinal threatened the Broncos in the first three minutes of the extra period, but a hand ball gave Santa Clara a free kick. Wagner then took the ball and scored at 97:17, ending Stanford's 13-home match winning streak.
Santa Clara outshoot Stanford 14-4 for the game, and 2-0 in the overtime period. No Cardinal athlete recorded more than one shot in the match. Walsh recorded a game-high eight saves for Stanford.
Stanford will have the rest of the weekend off as they prepare to open Pac-10 conference play in Oregon next weekend. The Cardinal will stop in Corvallis next Friday for a match at 3 p.m. and then continue their road trip to Eugene to battle Oregon State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
1 2 OT FNo. 10 Santa Clara 1 0 1 2No. 7 Stanford 1 0 0 1
Scoring Summary: STAN: Spilger (Ward), 33:38, SC: Ballweg, 40:41, SC: Wagner, 97:17