Sept. 5, 2005
Stanford, CA - Stanford suffered a loss to Michigan State (4-1) in the final game of a five-game home stretch to start the 2005 season. The Spartans scored a pair of goals in the first half, along with a goal early in the second on the way to a 3-0 victory over the Cardinal.
Sophomore Charlotte Van der Laag scored the first goal of the game for the Spartans at 17:45 off of a pass from Breanna Harpstead. Becky Manning scored again at 26:52, assisted by senior Jessica Miller. Manning's goal was her second of the season. Harpstead notched the final goal for Michigan State unassisted after the start of the second half.
Stanford out shot the Spartans,14-8, with nine of Stanford's shots tallied in the second half. Jess Zutz led the Cardinal with three shots, while freshman Bailey Richardson followed with two shots. Michigan State's Ashley Pernicano led the Spartans with three shots.
The Cardinal tallied four penalty corners, three in the second half of the game. Michigan State had two penalty corners in the second half.
"It was a challenge for the girls to face this team after coming back from a really difficult loss yesterday against Syracuse," said head coach Lesley Irvine. "We're very proud of them. It's a real step forward for us to out shoot and out corner this team, which went to the final four for the last two years. It's a phenomenal achievement for us. We need to focus on finishing and eliminating basic errors defensively. I was very pleased with the way we played overall today."
Sophomore Madison Bell recorded two saves in the goal for Stanford. Christina Kirkaldy had six saves for the Spartans, four during the second half.
Stanford hits the road for a six-game road trip starting Wednesday, September 7 (7:30 pm, ET) at Appalachian State before returning home for a game against Pacific on Saturday, October 1 (1:00 pm, PT). The Cardinal will then head to Longwood on October 15 to start another four-game road trip.