Feb. 20, 2005
Davis, Calif. - Senior Kelsey Twist scored a pair of goals and had five assists to lead the Stanford women's lacrosse team to its third straight win to begin the 2005 campaign, handing UC Davis an 11-4 defeat on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinal scored nine straight goals to begin the game and held off a second half charge from the Aggies to improve to 3-0 and remain unbeaten in MPSF play, while UC Davis falls to 0-1 on the season.
Stanford took command of the contest from the start, opening the game by scoring the contest's first nine goals and entering the halftime break with an 8-0 advantage. Sophomore Michelle DeChant opened the scoring at the 24:31 mark, with the assist coming from Kelsey Twist. Twist proceeded to tally two straight goals to push the Cardinal lead to 3-0, with the second score coming off of a free position shot. Junior Sarah Bach brought her team-leading goal total to 10 with a score at the 12:41 mark, followed by a goal from sophomore Elizabeth Piselli. Freshman Ariana Parasco's first career score came with 5:44 left in the half, and junior Nyerr Parham closed out the frame with two goals in the half's final five minutes. Stanford out-shot their opponents by an 18-6 margin in the first period.
The Stanford offense picked up where it left off in the second half, as junior Megan Burker found the back of the net less than three minutes into the second frame. Megan O'Connor tallied the first goal of the game for the Aggies at the 25:22 mark, but the Cardinal answered back when senior Nina Pantano grabbed the following draw and Twist set up Bach for a score less than a minute later. Freshman Anna Brown scored her first collegiate goal off of an assist from Twist with 19:17 remaining in the game to round out the scoring for Stanford. Katie McMahon, last season's MPSF scoring leader, tallied twice as UC Davis went on a three-goal run in the game's final 11 minutes. Following McMahon's second score at the 5:03 mark, the Cardinal controlled the ball for the remainder of the game to close out the victory.
Twist, Parham, and Bach each scored a pair of goals to lead the Cardinal. The two scores marked a career-high for Parham, and Bach increased her team-high goal total to 11. Twist assisted on five goals, with three of those assists coming in the first half. Pantano assisted on two goals, and the Cardinal out-shot their opponents by a 31-16 margin in the contest.
Goalkeeper Laura Shane started for the third straight game, and played the whole 60 minutes in the cage for Stanford. The freshman made four saves, while facing 16 UC Davis shots.
The Cardinal will take next weekend off before returning to action against Connecticut in the team's home opener on March 4th. Stanford welcomes Georgetown to The Farm for the fourth annual deBeer East/West Challenge on March 6th.
Stanford (3-0, 3-0) 83-11
UC Davis (0-1, 0-1) 04-4
GOALS - STANFORD: Kelsey Twist 2, Sarah Bach 2, Nyerr Parham 2, Megan Burker 1, Michelle DeChant 1, Liz Piselli 1, Ariana Parasco 1, Anna Brown 1. UC DAVIS: Katie McMahon 2, Lindsay Messina 1, Megan O'Connor 1.
ASSISTS - STANFORD: Kelsey Twist 5, Nina Pantano 2. UC DAVIS: Jackie Milhoan 1.
GOALIES - STANFORD: Laura Shane 4 saves, 4 goals against (60:00). UC DAVIS: Kristen Braasch 5 saves, 8 goals against (30:00), Hilary Harkins 6 saves, 3 goals against (30:00).
GROUND BALLS - UCD 17; STAN 13
DRAW CONTROLS - STAN 13; UCD 4
SHOTS - STAN 31; UCD 16
FOULS - UCD 26; STAN 20
TURNOVERS - UCD 15; STAN 12