Oct. 8, 2006
Los Angeles, Calif. - The Cardinal women's soccer team put up a hard fight against the UCLA Bruins this afternoon, but fell 2-0 at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles. In a battle of defense, two squads boasting eight shutouts apiece kept each other off the board for most of the contest, but after 80 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Bruins scored a pair of quick goals to pick up the win. Stanford falls to 7-5-1 and 0-1-1 in the Pac-10, while UCLA improves to 11-2-0, 2-0-0.
In familiar fashion, the Cardinal came out firing, out-shooting the Bruins 4-1 in the first 15 minutes of play. Stanford freshman Ali Riley, a Southern California native, took the first two shots of the match. Her first came in the fourth minute of action, but sailed wide. Four minutes later, Riley's second shot was blocked by the UCLA defense. Fellow freshman Kristin Stannard followed up on the deflection, but her attempt went high.
The Bruins got their first look at the goal in the ninth minute, when Danesha Adams' shot went high. In the 16th minute, freshman Lauren Cheney took a crack at the goal, but her shot was deflected by Cardinal goalkeeper Alex Gamble. Lydia Cook got a head on the ensuing corner kick, but the ball was successfully cleared by the Stanford defense. In the 18th minute, the Bruins got another shot on target, but Gamble made her second save of the match to keep the Bruins off the board.
The Bruins threatened with four more shots before the break, and took five corner kicks. The Stanford defense successfully defended the UCLA attack, holding the Bruins to just two first half shots on frame.
With 15 minutes remaining in the half, Stanford had another chance to strike. An Allison Falk header was deflected and came loose in front of the goal, but a diving Valerie Henderson gathered up the ball for UCLA. With less than a minute remaining in the period, Katie Riley sent a ball in front of the goal to Kelley Birch, but the ball was corralled by Henderson before Birch could get a foot on it.
The Bruins out-shot the Cardinal 8-4 in the first half, but the score remained knotted at 0-0.
In the second period, the Cardinal again was quick to threaten the UCLA defense. The Cardinal earned a corner kick less than five minutes in, and Stannard sent a well-placed ball to Kelley O'Hara, whose shot went inches wide.
After a pair of shots by UCLA, the Cardinal was back on the attack. In the 63rd minute, O'Hara found Summers in front of goal, and the senior sent a rocket towards the Bruin net, but Henderson made an impressive save to keep the match scoreless. Stanford had two chances off of free kicks from outside the box, but the Bruin defense prevented the Cardinal from finding the back of the net.
In the 80th minute, Adams finally broke the tie, scoring the eventual game-winner for UCLA. The junior cracked a shot from 25 yards out which sailed over the head of Gamble. The goal was Adams' fifth of the season.
Four minutes later, the Bruins secured the win with another unassisted goal. Sophomore Christina DiMartino took the shot, and sent it to the upper right corner of the net for her third goal of the season.
The physical match included a combined 36 fouls. Stanford was out-shot for the first time since the season-opener, 16-8, and allowed more than two shots on goal for the first time since August. Riley, Stannard, Summers and O'Hara were responsible for the Cardinal shots, with two apiece.
Stanford returns home next weekend to face Arizona State and Arizona at Maloney Field. The Cardinal is set to take on the Sun Devils at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night and the Wildcats on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Both games will be preceded by Stanford men's soccer action.