Oct. 28, 2003
Stanford, Calif. - Southwest Missouri State (5-12, 1-5 NorPac) rebounded from a six-goal shutout loss to Stanford (4-11, 2-3 NorPac) on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over the Cardinal on a hot Tuesday afternoon at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf. Adrien Trumpy broke a 1-1 tie when she scored on a penalty corner at 62:15, rolling a shot through traffic and into the back of the cage. Andrea Huskey brought the ball in on the play and was credited with an assist.
Cara-Lynn Lopresti tallied Stanford's only goal when she collected a rebound off a shot by teammate Lyndsay Erickson and scored unassisted at 42:31 to tie the game at 1-1. Lopresti, who scored eight points on a hat trick and a pair of assists during Sunday's 6-0 win over Southwest Missouri State, added to her team-leading totals and now has 22 points and eight goals on the season.
Stanford had several chances to tie the contest late in the game, including a penalty corner that was called just before the final seconds ticked off the clock and ended when Southwest Missouri State goalkeeper Jessie Lininger stopped a strong shot by Erickson. Stanford also had a penalty corner at 68:30 but Aska Sturdevan's shot from just inside the top of the circle was wide to the right.
"It was definitely disappointing, because we created a lot of opportunities towards the end of the game," said Stanford head coach Lesley Irvine. "But, we needed to do that earlier and be more consistent."
Gabby Gomez put the Bears ahead 1-0 at 14:08 when she flipped a shot across the goal from about 15 yards out on the right side and into the upper left-hand corner of the cage after receiving a pass on the run from Cassie Franklin.
Lininger recorded four saves to earn the victory, improving to 5-12 on the season. Zander picked up one save and suffered the loss to fall to 3-8.
Gomez and Sturdevan each attempted a game-high-tying three shots.
Stanford held slim advantages in both shots (7-4) and penalty corners (5-4) in a game dominated by defense.
Stanford was playing its final home game of the regular season and four Cardinal seniors - Noor Dawood, Dani Guernsey, Keely Machmer-Wessels and Emily Zander - were honored in a pregame ceremony.
"I was definitely sad because this was my last game at home," said Dawood. "But playing at Stanford has been incredible and a great experience."
The loss dropped Stanford into a tie for second place with Pacific in the NorPac West Division standings. Stanford visits Pacific (7-6, 2-3 NorPac) in the final regular season game for both teams this Saturday, November 1 (1:00 pm, PT). The winner will wrap up the No. 2 seed from the West Division for the NorPac Championships and open the three-day tournament hosted by Saint Louis University playing the No. 3 seed from the East Division on Thursday, November 6 (9:30 am, CT). The loser of Saturday's Stanford-Pacific tilt will be the No. 3 seed from the West Division and play the No. 2 seed from the East in the first round on Thursday, November 6 (3:30 pm, CT). Seedings and brackets for the 2003 NorPac Championships will be announced on Sunday, November 2.
The winner of the NorPac Championships will earn the right to compete in an NCAA Play-In Game on Tuesday, November 11. The winner of the NCAA Play-In Game will advance to the 16-team NCAA Tournament beginning with Regional action Saturday-Sunday, November 15-16. Stanford's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament came in the 2000 season and the Cardinal has won the NorPac Championships twice in its five-year history (1998, 2000), while finishing second on the other three occasions (1999, 2001, '02).