April 6, 2007
Stanford, Calif. - The Stanford University women's lacrosse team could not overcome an early deficit against No. 16 Denver, eventually falling to the Pioneers 12-8 on Friday night at Maloney Field. The Cardinal's 20 turnovers, combined with four goals from Denver sophomore attack Steph Coyne, gave the Pioneers just their second win in 12 games all time with Stanford.
The two teams stayed close during the first half of the game, with the Cardinal never falling more than three goals behind in the first 20 minutes. The Pioneers opened the scoring with a goal from freshman midfield Ali Flury at the 27:19 point. Stanford responded with back-to-back goals from junior attack Daphne Patterson and senior midfield Liz Piselli to take its first and only lead of the game 2-1 with 21:35 remaining in the first half.
DU sophomores Karen Morton and Katelyn Taggart each received a yellow card in the span of one minute, but the Pioneers only answered with three consecutive goals, including an impressive free position goal from leading scorer Kristie Leggio, to take a 4-2 lead with 10:30 left in the half.
The Cardinal got back within one just 35 seconds later on a goal from sophomore midfield Bess Siegfried. Denver answered with Coyne's second goal of the game and added one more to take a 6-3 lead with just over a minute left before halftime. Although sophomore midfield Maris Perlman notched an unassisted goal with just 44 seconds remaining in the first half, the Cardinal trailed 6-4 when the teams headed to the locker rooms.
The second half looked like much of the same for both teams as they each matched their first half scoring output. After an 11-turnover first half, the Cardinal continued its ball handling difficulties, committing nine turnovers in the second 20 minutes.
Though Denver scored first in the second half, the Cardinal responded with Patterson's second goal of the game just 30 seconds later, keeping the Pioneer lead at just two, 7-5. From there, however, DU took control of the game with three straight goals, including Coyne's third and Leggio's second score of the game. At the 17:23 mark, the Pioneers held their largest lead of the game, 10-5.
Stanford closed the gap to four with 16:31 remaining thanks to a goal from junior attack Megan McClain on an assist from fellow junior attack Anna Brown. The two defenses held their respective opposition scoreless for the nearly 12 minutes before Morton pushed the lead back to five for DU with an unassisted goal at the 4:55 mark.
Though freshman Julie Christy and junior Jamie Nesbitt added two goals for the Cardinal over the next 2:07, Denver still held the 11-8 advantage. Despite several opportunities in the final two minutes, Stanford could not close the gap any further and Coyne finished out her night with her fourth goal with 1:33 left to give the Pioneers their final lead of 12-8.
The Cardinal was led by Patterson's two goals and Piselli's two assists on Friday. Piselli, Christy, Siegfried, Perlman, Nesbitt and McClain all added a goal apiece. Brown and Christy were the only other players to record assists for Stanford. Junior goalkeeper Laura Shane took the loss, recording 10 saves on 22 shots on goal.
Coyne led the Pioneers with four goals, while Leggio added two goals and two assists. Goalkeeper Becky Childs made eight saves to earn the win.
Stanford drops to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in the MPSF, while Denver improves to 11-2 and 1-0 in the MPSF. The Cardinal return to action next week, traveling to Cornell for a 10:00 a.m. (PDT) start on April 15 in Ithaca, NY.