Nov. 18, 2001
CORVALLIS, Ore. - No. 3 Stanford captured the 2001 Pac-10 Conference championship with a 3-1 victory against Oregon State Sunday afternoon in Corvallis, Ore. The Cardinal (16-1-1, 6-1-1 Pac-10) finished with seven victories and a tie in their final eight games and are Pac-10 conference champions for the first time in their history, after being picked to finish third in the preseason poll.
Junior Roger Levesque (Portland, Maine) got the Cardinal on the board just four minutes into the first half, scoring on a center pass from junior Taylor Graham (Fair Oaks, Calif.) to give Stanford a 1-0 lead. Levesque, the 2001 Pac-10 Player of the Year, finishes the regular season with a team and career-high 10 goals.
Junior Johanes Maliza (Chicago, Ill.) put Stanford up 2-0 at the 60:52 mark, as senior Matt Moses (Laguna Beach, Calif,) led Maliza with a pass up the right side of the field that Oregon State keeper Peter Billmeyer charged but couldn't break up. Maliza then corralled the pass and sent a shot into the right corner of the net. Nine minutes later, junior Todd Dunivant (Wheat Ridge, Calif.) converted on a penalty kick in the 69th minute to round out the Cardinal scoring. Oregon State's Aaron McHardy scored the lone goal for the Beavers in the 81st minute.
"We played short-handed for the majority of the match, but the guys fought hard enough to come away with the victory," said Cardinal head coach Bret Simon. "It wasn't necessarily a pretty win, but a win nonetheless."
Stanford outshot Oregon State 17-14 in the contest, including a 10-4 edge in the first half. Junior Andrew Terris (Newton, Mass.) notched three saves in the victory, playing all 90 minutes.
Stanford will learn its postseason status tomorrow at noon during the men's selection show for the NCAA Tournament . The 48-team field will be announced, with the Cardinal likely garnering a top-5 seed.
Scoring 1 2 F Stanford 1 2 3 Oregon State 0 1 0
Scoring Summary: STAN- Levesque (Graham) 4:00, STAN- Maliza (Moses) 60:52, STAN- Dunivant (penalty kick) 69:00, OSU- McHardy (Cid) 89:31.
Shots: Stanford 17, Oregon State 14.
Saves: Stanford 3, Oregon State 3.
Fouls: Oregon State 21, Stanford 13.
Records: Stanford 16-1-1 (6-1-1 Pac-10), Oregon State 5-12-0 (1-7-0).