Oct. 15, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - The Stanford women's soccer team cruised past the Arizona Wildcats this afternoon, with a 3-0 victory at Maloney Field. For the 13th time in the last 14 games, the Cardinal out-shot an opponent, with 23 shots to the Wildcats' four. Marisa Abegg, Ali Riley and Kelley O'Hara each tallied a goal for the Cardinal to carry the team to its first Pac-10 sweep of the season. Stanford improves to 9-5-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the conference with the win, while Arizona falls to 8-6-1, 1-2-1.
Stanford had its first opportunity early, earning a pair of corner kicks in the second minute of play. Sophomore Allison Falk connected on the first one, but her header was knocked wide by a Wildcat defender. In the eighth minute, the Wildcats had their best chance of the half, with a pair of corner kicks of their own. Goalkeeper Erica Holland got a hand on the first ball to knock it out of the box, and Abegg intercepted the second to keep Arizona off the board.
On the next run down the field, freshman Kristin Stannard passed the ball ahead to O'Hara. O'Hara beat the Wildcat defense and had a one-on-one chance with Chelsea McIntyre, but her shot was saved by the Wildcat keeper. Minutes later, Alicia Jenkins found Shari Summers in front of the goal for another one-on-one chance, but the senior's shot skipped off McIntyre to keep the match scoreless. In the 19th minute, Riley found Summers open in front of the net, but her header was again saved by McIntyre.
Stanford continued to pressure the Arizona defense, however, and two minutes later the Cardinal was on the board. Stannard served a corner kick to Falk, whose header deflected off a Wildcat defender in the direction of Abegg. The sophomore connected on a header for her first goal of the season and the second of her career.
Stanford had one more good chance before halftime, when sophomore Kate Mannino sent a hard shot to the right corner, but the ball was knocked out by McIntyre. Stanford went into the break with a 1-0 advantage, having held the Wildcats without a single shot.
Just over a minute into the second half, Arizona registered its first shot, when Macke Mutz drilled a ball at Holland. The Cardinal goalkeeper was there to make her first of two saves on the afternoon and the Stanford went back on the attack. After a pair of on-target shots by Abegg and O'Hara, Riley netted the second goal of the afternoon for the Cardinal. In the 53rd minute, O'Hara played the ball to Riley in the middle and the freshman beat a Wildcat defender and drilled a shot from 15 yards out to the upper left corner of the net. The goal was Riley's third of the season.
The aggressive offense by the Cardinal was far from finished, however. In the 61st minute Stannard sent a blast just wide and Jenkins took a shot that was saved at the last second by a diving McIntyre. In the 66th minute, Arizona freshman Samantha Drees was issued a red card, and the Cardinal was quick to captitalize on the 11-on-10 opportunity. Stanford earned a corner kick on the next play down the field, and Lea MacKinnon sent a ball into the middle for O'Hara. O'Hara one-touched the ball in the air and gave the Cardinal a 3-0 lead. The goal was the fifth for O'Hara this season and the 12th by a Cardinal freshman.
Stanford took four more shots before the final horn, including a drive by Stannard in the 67th minute that was tipped just over the net by McIntyre. Lauren Shapiro returned from injury and saw her first 18 minutes of action. The redshirt freshman nearly scored on a feed from Lizzy George, but McIntyre gathered up the ball before she could get a shot off.
Sophomore Gianna DeSaverio took three shots for the Wildcats in the final 18 minutes of play, but Holland and the Cardinal defense denied all three attempts. Stanford blanked its ninth opponent of the season, and held its 12th opponent to two shots on goal or less. O'Hara led the Cardinal with four shots on frame and three points. McIntyre finished with 14 saves for Arizona.
The Cardinal squad heads to Washington this week to continue Pac-10 action against the Cougars of Washington State and the Huskies of Washington. The weekend opens with a 3 p.m. match on Friday at Lower Soccer Field in Pullman. On Sunday, the Cardinal will play a noon match at Husky Soccer Field in Seattle.