Nov. 3, 2006
Davidson, NC - A 3-0 victory by the Stanford field hockey team over Appalachian State in the NorPac Tournament semifinals on Friday afternoon has pushed the Cardinal into the championship game on Saturday (12:30 p.m. et) against 12th-ranked California.
The championship game will be held at Davidson College. The Golden Bears scored a 5-0 victory on Friday over Radford. California is 15-4 on the season.
Jess Zutz scored two goals and Bailey Richardson added an insurance goal to lift Stanford to victory. Madison Bell recorded her third straight shutout.
Stanford scored quickly. Zutz fired a shot past the Appalachian State goaltender 55 seconds into the game. Then at 31:40, Zutz scored her 13th goal of the year thanks to an assist from freshman Jennifer Luther. At 61:18, Stanford finished its scoring totals for the day on a goal by Richardson. Julia Drewes and Hillary Braun were awarded assists.
If Stanford beats the Golden Bears on Saturday, the Cardinal will host an NCAA Tournament playin game against a team from the MAC on Tuesday (11 a.m. pt) at Stanford's Varsity Field Hockey Turf.The winner of that game will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The victory evened Stanford's record at 9-9 while Appalachian State ended the year at 2-17.
Stanford (9-9)21=3
Appalachian St (2-17)00=0
Stanford Scoring
Jess Zutz at 0:55 (unassisted)
Jess Zutz at 31:40 (Jennifer Luther on the assist)
Bailey Richardson at 65:18 (Julia Drewes and Hillary Braun on the assists)
Goalie Saves
Madison Bell (S) - 3
Mikayla Paulson (ASU) - 7
Shots
Stanford - 18
Appalachian State - 4
Penalty Corners
Stanford - 9
Appalachian State - 4
Editors Note:
One of the more popular items on the Stanford website (www.gostanford.edu) are the Daily Diarys which are written by several teams. The Cardinal field hockey team began competition at the NorPac Tournament on Friday at Davidson College. The team left the Stanford campus early Tuesday morning. Here is a brief recap of their journey from the West Coast (Stanford) to the East Coast (North Carolina) as told by senior defender Aska Sturdevan and sophomore midfielder Bailey Richardson.
Daily Diary
Our trip began in the wee hours of "All Hallows Morn." At 4:00AM, we loaded up the bus, some in costume, some in Stanford apparel, and headed to the airport. Our posse consisted of Sister Mary Jessica (teammate Jess Zutz in a full habit), a buzzing bee (Hillary Braun), Ace Ventura (Nora Souza), the Tooth Fairy (Julia Drewes), Miss America (our very own Canadian, Jen Luther), "Sandy" from Along Came Polly (Bailey Richardson), and a running faucet (Beth Rabenstine). We even had our own personal flight attendant in Chloe Bade. Her outfit was such a hit that the United Airlines employees asked her to help with their food and beverage service on the flight. After a long day of traveling, we finally spotted our oasis, the Hampton Inn. The team's first priority upon entering the hotel, of course, was to load up on plenty of cookies, apples, hot cocoa, and teas that was provided by the hotel. We nearly depleted the hotel's stash of goodies just ten minutes before our across the bay rival, Cal, arrived to check in. Stanford 1, Cal 0.
The following day we had a brief practice at Davidson's beautiful field, where the balmy weather made us sweat buckets. After some showers and a lot of blow drying, we headed off to the NorPac banquet. Hundreds of pictures were taken to document a team gathering where we actually (*gasp*) wore regular clothes instead of all Stanford apparel. It was a great banquet and several Stanford players won All-NorPac honors that night, including Rookie of the Year (Nora Soza) and the Julie Nagel Extraordinary Teammate Award (Chloe Bade). And, we also like to boast that we won the battle of the NorPac speeches, as Jess Zutz and Liz Robinson hilariously recapped the high points of our 2006 season. Now, two days later, we will finally get the opportunity to take the field against Appalachian State. See you on the pitch! Aska "Ace" and Bailey "Baiz"