Sept. 5, 2003
Richmond, Va. - Noor Dawood scored on an assist from Keely Machmer-Wessels shortly after a penalty corner and scored with 0:01 second remaining to lift Stanford (2-1) to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Virginia Commonwealth (1-2) in a non-conference field hockey match Friday at Cary Street Field to begin a five-game road trip in Virginia. Lyndsay Erickson also scored her first career goal for the Cardinal, while Missy Halliday tallied for the second time in as many games. The win was the second in a row for Stanford, who came back from a late 2-1 deficit to defeat Ohio State at home on Tuesday.
"To win a game in this fashion is a great way to start a road trip," said an excited head coach Lesley Irvine after the contest. "Both teams kept fighting, and I'm just proud of the way our players hung in there. I'm so excited for our team because they deserved this win."
Virginia Commonwealth jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Casey Smith scored unassisted late in the first half at 27:20.
The Cardinal tied the score on an unassisted goal by Erickson just after halftime at 36:57 and took its first lead of the contest when Halliday redirected a shot from Aska Sturdevan into the goal at 46:25.
The Rams came back to tie the score at 2-2 when Jennifer Howard scored on an assist by Karlijn Jansen at 58:54 and later had a chance to take a lead but was denied when Stanford's Jamie Hais made a key defensive save to keep the contest tied and set up Dawood's game-winning goal.Stanford outshot Virginia Commonwealth, 15-10. The Cardinal also took 14 penalty corners, compared to just six for the Rams.
Stanford goalkeeper Emily Zander (2-0) picked her second consecutive victory in the net and recorded five saves, all in the second half. VCU goalkeeper Abby Stiles (1-2) registered a game-high seven saves.
Stanford's Julia Drewes was hit by a stick during the contest and did not return.
Stanford continues its road trip at Old Dominion this Sunday, September 7 (7 pm, ET).