Aug. 28, 2004
Stanford, Calif. - Alexandra Alonge scored with just over four minutes remaining at the 65:58 mark to lift Hofstra (1-0) to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Stanford (0-1) in the season-opener Saturday for both teams at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf. Kara McEneaney assisted on the game-winning goal. Stanford had led 2-1 after back-to-back goals by Aska Sturdevan and Jessica Zutz erased an early 1-0 Hofstra advantage but Pemba Ramdoo tied the score at 2-2 when she scored her second unassisted goal of the contest at 55:04.
Ramdoo had given Hofstra an early 1-0 lead when she scooped up the ball in front of the cage and put it into the back of the net at 5:57 after an earlier Hofstra shot had been deflected by Cardinal goalkeeper Ana Kralovec.
Sturdevan tied the score at 1-1 when she blasted a shot by Hofstra goalkeeper Jessica Cowperthwait on a Cardinal penalty corner at 22:54.Zutz gave Stanford a short-lived lead when she snuck a shot by Cowperthwait on an assist from Julia Drewes at 51:25 for her first career goal before Ramdoo's second goal tied the contest just 3:39 later.
"I thought we played really well," said Stanford head coach Lesley Irvine. "It's obviously disappointing to come out with a loss when you've played so well, but this was very encouraging today because we saw many of the things that we've been working on in practice on the field today. I thought we dominated the game and had a majority of the possessions. We basically just have to work on finishing."
Stanford posted slim margins in both shots (11-9) and penalty corners (6-4).
Zutz took a game-high five shots, while Ramdoo and McEneaney both attempted three for Hofstra.
Cowperthwait (1-0) recorded the victory in goal for the Pride and picked up a pair of saves, while Kralovec (0-1) was the losing goalkeeper despite a game-high four saves.
Stanford continues its season-opening five-game homestand versus Indiana on Sunday, August 29. Next week, the Cardinal continues the stretch by hosting Providence (Tuesday, August 31), Boston University (Saturday, September 4) and Louisville (Sunday, September 5). All four games begin at 1:00 pm, PT.
"It's huge for us to have this homestand at the beginning of the season," said Irvine. "We're really excited with the schedule this year and are ready to play Indiana tomorrow."