Sept. 25, 2004
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (5-6, 0-2 NorPac) was edged 2-1 in overtime by No. 15 California (11-2, 3-1 NorPac) in a key NorPac Conference field hockey match in front of a season-high 332 fans on a sunny and pleasant afternoon Saturday at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf. Valentina Godfrid scored the game-winning goal at 74:01 when she dribbled through the Cardinal defense and flipped a shot by Stanford goalkeeper Ana Kralovec to thwart the Cardinal upset bid.
"We were really proud of the way we played today against a very strong California team," said Stanford head coach Lesley Irvine.
Stanford scored the first goal of the contest when Aska Sturdevan completed a penalty corner at 21:36 for her team-high fourth goal of the season with Lyndsay Erickson and Eleanor Morgan picking up assists.
Stanford held onto its 1-0 lead until the 58:32 mark when California tied the score at 1-1 on a Teela Crosthwaite score. Godfrid, who now has a NorPac leading 31 points on the season (12 goals, 7 assists), assisted on the goal.
California outshot the Cardinal in the contest, 25-4, and held a 13-2 advantage in penalty corners. However, Stanford did convert on one of its two penalty corners, while the Golden Bears finished off none of their 13 attempts.
California goalkeeper Kelly Knapp picked up the victory to improve to 11-2 on the season, recording a pair of saves.
Kralovec fell to 5-6 but had a career-high 11 saves, while Tammy Shuer added a pair of defensive saves for the Cardinal.
The victory extended the Golden Bears' season-long win streak to seven and was their ninth in a row over Stanford dating back to the last Cardinal victory in the series in a game played at Stanford on October 6, 2001.
The loss was the second in a row for Stanford, who dropped two full games behind the Golden Bears in the NorPac West standings.
Stanford next heads to the Midwest for a three-game road trip beginning with back-to-back conference games at Southwest Missouri State next Friday and Saturday, September 1 and 2 (7:00 pm, CT; 1:00 pm, PT). The Cardinal will conclude the trip with a non-conference game versus NorPac East member Saint Louis on Monday, October 4 (1:00 pm, CT).