Sept. 2, 2007
The Stanford Women's soccer team won a close game with the No. 10 University of Connecticut Sunday morning, in the last day of the BU Terrier Classic. The Cardinal faced the daunting task of playing a top-ten opponent, 3,000 miles away from campus, but Kelley O'Hara's goal at the 80:51 mark in the second half proved to be the game winner. With the win, Stanford now improves to 2-0 with the victory while Connecticut drops to 1-1 on the young season.
The Cardinal got started early when Kelley O'Hara got one of her six shots on net at the 3:45 mark in the first half. After a shot by Connecticut's Meghan Schurr, Stanford junior midfielder Kelley Birch (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) got a strong shot on net at the 19:51 mark that was blocked by Connecticut's Stephanie Labbe.
Erica Holland shut out her second opponent of the weekend, but had a close call when Connecticut's Brittany Taylor took a shot that Holland blocked off the crossbar for one of her five saves. The ball was eventually cleared out by junior Allison Falk and preserved the 0-0 tie. Stanford out shot Connecticut 6-4 in the first 45 minutes, but after the first half of play the game was still tied at 0-0.
The second half proved to be more offensive, even with the game ending with the low score. Connecticut took ten shots in the second half to Stanford's six, but both teams only combined for one goal. With less than ten minutes remaining in regulation, Kelley O'Hara received a pass from senior Lizzy George and got behind the Connecticut defense to give the Cardinal the only goal of the game.
It was a weekend in which Stanford traveled across the country and came away with two victories to start the season. Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe was pleased with how his team responded to being on the road. "It was a hard fought victory against a very strong UConn team," said Ratcliffe. "It is always hard on the road. We faced two tough teams and I am very proud of the effort that was given this weekend. It shows that we can have a real strong season if everyone keeps working hard."
Stanford returns to action when it takes part in the SCU/adidas Classic this Friday, Sept. 7 against the University of Virginia. Kickoff is schedule for 5:00 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.