April 18, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - Cardinal midfielder Liz Piselli has been named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office today. In 12 starts for Stanford, she has scored 24 goals and registered six assists, third on the squad in both categories. She also leads the team with 12 caused turnovers this season and is second on the team with 27 ground balls and 19 draw controls.
The honor is the second of Piselli's career, as she also received the award on February 27. The junior joins a group of just three players in the conference to have received multiple Player of the Week honors this season. This week marks the third time that a Stanford player has been recognized, as senior Sarah Bach took the award home on March 6.
Piselli led the Cardinal into a tie for first place in the conference with a win over Denver this weekend, registering four goals in the second half. With the match knotted at three early in the second period, Piselli caught fire and scored her first goal of the afternoon, bringing a surge of momentum to the Cardinal offense. Her goal spurred a three-goal Stanford scoring run, which included two by Piselli and gave the Cardinal its largest lead of the match.
After a Denver run put Stanford behind late in the contest, Piselli again stepped up for the Cardinal, scoring on a free position shot to tie the match with 4:33 left on the clock. Piselli also collected four ground balls on the afternoon and won two draw controls for the Cardinal, both in the competitive second period.
The four goals tied a season-high for the Rockville Centre, NY native and marked the best single half of her career. The midfielder now has seven multiple-goal performances on the season, including three hat tricks and two four-goal games.
The Cardinal returns to the field Saturday afternoon to face Loyola in a 1 p.m. (EST) match-up in Baltimore. Stanford will look for its third straight win and the second in program history over the Greyhounds.