Sept. 14, 2004
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (5-4) stayed hot with a 2-1 victory over Drexel (3-2) in a non-conference field hockey game at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf on Tuesday. The Cardinal, which has now won four of its last five contests, scored early in the second half at 37:44 when a beautiful passing combination by four Stanford players ended with Katherine Brooks' first career game-winning goal on an assist from Jessica Zutz. Julia Drewes started the play from the backfield by passing to a slicing Missy Halliday, who moved the ball to Zutz near the top of the circle.
"It was a great goal and a product of everyone's hard work," said Stanford head coach Lesley Irvine. "We had created a lot of opportunities in the first half and were frustrated that we didn't finish a couple of them. We emphasized at halftime that we needed to finish, and our players responded very well to that. They really upped the intensity."
"It was awesome to get the goal early in the second half," added Brooks, who is now one of four Stanford players that share the team's season scoring lead with seven points each and also one of four players with three goals.
Stanford goalkeeper Ana Kralovec registered three saves in the contest with two of them coming late in the contest during a frantic Drexel offensive surge.
"It was a stressful end of the game," admitted Kralovec, who improved to 5-4 in the cage.
Drexel goalkeeper Katie Dougherty (3-2) registered five saves.Stanford took an early 1-0 advantage just 3:45 into the contest when Lyndsay Erickson scored her first goal of the season by tipping in a shot taken on a penalty corner just seconds earlier.
Drexel tied the game at 1-1 at 10:47 when Emily Horvat took two attempts at the goal in a breakaway situation, converting on the second after Kralovec had thwarted her first attempt.
Stanford ended up with a 12-7 advantage in shots and a slim 5-4 margin in penalty corners.
Brooks attempted a game-high three shots, while Horvat and Rachael Bloemker each took two shots off the bench for the visiting Dragons.Stanford will host its Alumnae in an exhibition this Saturday, September 18 (1 pm, PT) before opening NorPac action at Pacific on Tuesday, September 21 (3 pm, PT).
"I'm thrilled with the way we've been playing, especially of late," said Irvine. "I'm pleased with our record, and we've proven we can beat good teams."