May 12, 2006
Davis, Calif. - The second-seeded Cardinal took a commanding first step in its quest for a second NCAA title by defeating No. 7 seed Marist 17-2 in NCAA Championships opening round on Friday afternoon at UC Davis's Schaal Aquatics Center. Senior Scotti Shafer (Carlsbad, CA) and sophomore Megan May (San Diego, CA) netted four goals each en route to improving Stanford's record to 23-4 on the season. The win advances the Cardinal to Saturday's tournament semifinals, where Stanford will face the winner of Friday's match between No. 3 seed UCLA and No. 6 seed Hartwick.
Stanford took the early lead with a goal by junior Christina Hewko (Newport Beach, CA) at the 6:19 mark of the opening frame. The two teams then sparred through a couple of possessions before the Cardinal went up 2-0 on a goal by Shafer at 4:11. Freshman Lauren Silver (Long Beach, CA) scored a minute later to make it 3-0 before Shafer notched her second score of the period to make it 4-0 heading into the second frame.
The next two periods were all Cardinal as coach John Tanner's squad scored ten goals while holding Marist scoreless, giving Stanford an insurmountable 14-0 lead by the start of the final frame. Several Stanford players got in on the scoring frenzy including May, who scored three goals, Hewko, who scored her second and third goals, and Shafer, who scored her third and fourth goals of the game.
Marist finally got on the board at the 4:18 mark of the fourth period to make it 14-1, but there was just not enough time as May put her fourth goal into the net among a couple of other scores to give the Cardinal the 17-2 victory. The loss dropped the Red Foxes to 23-13 on the year and snapped their 7-game winning streak. Marist will face the loser of Friday's UCLA-Hartwick match at 4:30 PM on Saturday.
Aside from the four-goal efforts from May and Shafer and the hat trick from Hewko, Stanford got two goals from Silver and single scores from senior Nancy El-Sakkary (Dollar des Ormeaux, Quebec), sophomore Jacquelyn Gauthier (Irvine, CA) freshman Kira Hillman (Carlsbad, CA), and freshman Heather West (Davis, CA). Goalkeeping stats were not available.
If Stanford were to face UCLA in Saturday's Semifinal match at 7:30 PM, it would be a rematch of last season's NCAA Finals, in which Stanford lost a close 3-2 match to the Bruins. This season, the Cardinal are 2-1 against the Bruins and have not faced Hartwick.
NCAA Championships Opening Round
No. 7 Marist (23-13)0002=2
No. 3 Stanford (23-4)4643=17
Marist Goals: Weston 1, McCahill 1.
Stanford Goals: Shafer 4, May 4, Hewko 3, Silver 2, El-Sakkary 1, Gauthier 1, Hillman 1, West 1.