Nov. 6, 2004
Davidson, N.C. - Stanford (8-12) finished its 2004 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Southwest Missouri State (11-9) in the third-place game of the NorPac Championship on Saturday at the Baker Sports Complex on the campus of Davidson University. With the third-place showing, Stanford has now finished in third-place or higher in all seven years of the event's history. The Cardinal, who had lost both of its regular season games in 2004 to Southwest Missouri State, also beat the Bears in the third-place game of last year's NorPac Championship.
"I'm really proud of our team to play so well today especially after yesterday's tough loss to Pacific," said Stanford head coach Lesley Irvine. "We played some of our best field hockey of the season in this tournament. We're disappointed that we weren't able to win the event and advance in the postseason, but it was nice to play well here and end the season with a victory today. The future looks bright for Stanford field hockey."
Missy Halliday put in an unassisted goal for the only score of Saturday's contest at 24:32.
Stanford goalkeepers Madison Bell and Ana Kralovec combined for a shutout despite facing 19 shots by the Bears, who outshot the Cardinal by a tally of 19-8. Bell (1-0) recorded her first collegiate victory in the first start of her career by registering seven saves in the opening half, while Kralovec had four saves in the second period to keep the Bears at bay. Southwest Missouri State goalkeeper Jessie Lininger (11-9) was hit with the loss despite allowing just a single goal. Lininger finished with three saves.
Southwest Missouri State's Adrien Trumphy had a game-high six shot attempts, while Aska Sturdevan paced Stanford with four tries at the goal.
Southwest Missouri State also held an 11-4 advantage over the Cardinal in penalty corners.
Pacific (10-9) surprised California by a score of 3-2 in the finals of the NorPac Championship to win the event for the first time in school history. The Tigers advance to host an NCAA Play-In Game versus Louisville in Stockton on Tuesday, November 9 (10:30 am, PST).Eleanor Morgan and Aska Sturdevan represented the Cardinal on the 2004 NorPac Championship All-Tournament team. Both were selected to the squad for the first times in their careers.
Morgan started the final 60 games of her Stanford career, encompassing every contest of her sophomore, junior and senior campaigns. Halliday has started all 60 possible games during the first three seasons of her career, while Julie Drewes and Sturdevan have both started all 39 games possible in their first two campaigns on The Farm.
Jessica Zutz and Liz Robinson ended the 2004 season tied for the team-lead in both goals (6) and points (14). Other team-leaders included Morgan with six assists, Robinson with four game-winning goals and Sturdevan with six defensive saves.
Stanford's 8-12 final record gave the Cardinal two more victories than the team finished with in the 2003 campaign.