Sept. 2, 2003
Stanford, Calif. - Two late second half goals lifted Stanford (1-1) to its first victory of the season, a 3-2 win over Ohio State (1-2) in a non-conference field hockey match at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf on Tuesday. Cara-Lynn Lopresti scored a pair of goals, including an unassisted game-winner at 67:40. Lopresti, a member of the U.S. Under-20 National Team, now has three goals in her first two games at Stanford. She also scored the first goal of Tuesday's game when she dribbled around the Buckeye defense just 2:36 into the contest and had a goal in last Sunday's season-opening 3-1 loss to Villanova.
"We wanted to come out and prove today how we could really play after losing Sunday's opener," said Lopresti.
"It was a real test of our character today," added Irvine, who added that she felt relieved after her first career victory. "Our team came through, and I'm really proud of them. They deserve this win because they have been working so hard."
Stanford's Missy Halliday tied the score at 2-2 when she scored her first goal of the season by picking up her own rebounded shot and squeezing the ball by Ohio State goalkeeper Tory Krauss at 64:30.
"It seemed kind of impossible to score two late goals like we did," said Halliday. "We were so excited just to get the first one and tie the game and then to get the second goal was awesome."
Stanford had trailed 2-1 when Ohio State's Lucy Clayton was given a yellow card at 63:37, forcing Clayton to sit down and the Buckeyes to play one short for five minutes as the Cardinal scored both of its late goals during the period.
Clayton had helped Ohio State rally from Lopresti's early score for a 2-1 lead by scoring a pair of goals just before halftime at 31:28 and near the midway point of the second half at 49:34. Vanessa Immordino assisted on Clayton's first goal, while Florencia Stier and Jenee Doto recorded assists when Clayton finished off a penalty corner to give Ohio State its first lead of the game.
Ohio State held a slim 17-13 advantage in shots while earning 10 penalty corners, compared to four by Stanford.
Stanford goalkeeper Emily Zander (1-0) picked her first victory of the season and tied a career-high with eight saves, while Krauss (1-1) had five saves for the Buckeyes.
Lauren Kruse and Immordino each had a defensive save for Ohio State, while Aska Sturdevan recorded a defensive save for the Cardinal.
Stanford's Dani Guernsey was forced to leave the contest after being hit by a ball during the first half and did not return.
Stanford next travels to the East Coast for a five-game road trip beginning with a contest at Virginia Commonwealth this Friday, September 5 (7 pm, ET).