Sept. 30, 2007
The freshman class made strong contributions today in the Cardinal's 4-1 victory over the Gaels of Saint Mary's at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. Goalkeeper Kira Maker played the first half and shut out Saint Mary's and Christen Press added two goals in the win. Morgan Redman also chipped in a goal off of the bench to push the Cardinal to 9-1 through the season's first ten games.
The Cardinal shot barrage never took a break throughout the entire match as the Cardinal made a season-high 22 shots. Christen Press took a team-high eight shots, but it was very much a team effort, with six players taking two shots each. Stanford took their first shot at the 11:40 mark, and six more shots in the next seven minutes to keep Gaels goalkeeper Tara Lawson busy throughout the afternoon. The Cardinal eventually got on the board when Christen Press received a crossing pass and made a move right to lose the Saint Mary's defender. Press then shot the ball towards the top right corner of the goal. The ball deflected off of the top crossbar, but hit the ground and rolled into the net with the strong spin coming off of the deflection.
In the first half Stanford did not allow a shot attempt to the Gaels, who played most of the match on their defensive end of the field. The Cardinal held the 1-0 lead until the 42:17 mark when a pair of freshmen made plays to double the lead. Press once again took a shot on net that Lawson had to dive to the ground to save. The deflection rolled right to Morgan Redman, who chipped the ball into the unguarded net to give the Cardinal a 2-0 lead. Stanford went into the halftime break with a 2-0 lead.
The second half was more of the same for Stanford, who continued to apply heavy pressure on the Gael defense. The Cardinal took five corner kicks in the second half and got strong shots on goal on four of them. On their third corner kick off the half, Kristin Stannard lofted the ball across the box and right to red shirt senior Rachel Buehler, who headed the ball into the left side of the net to give the No. 4 ranked Cardinal a 3-0 lead. It was the first goal of the season for the All-American defender, who also scored one goal in the 2006 season.
Mika Matsui of Saint Mary's added a goal in the 65th minute to cut the Cardinal lead to 3-1, but the Cardinal quickly responded as Press scored her second goal of the afternoon on two great passes from Stannard and Redman. Stannard took the ball through the middle of the field and found a streaking Redman down the right side of the field. Redman caught up to the lead pass and sent a crossing pass that Press corralled and fired into the net for her fourth goal of the season.
Junior Alex Gamble played the second half and recorded one save in the victory. The injury bug has seemed to bite Stanford for most of the year, but 19 players saw action in today's game, which is a team-high for the season.
The Cardinal return to the field when they face Bay Area rival Santa Clara University, currently the number one ranked team in the country. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. at Laird Q. Cagan Field on the Stanford University campus.