Aug. 25, 2007
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Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (1-0) opened its 2007 campaign by upending No. 9 Boston College (0-1) by a 2-1 count in the season-opener for both teams in a non-conference contest at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf on Saturday. Jess Zutz had both Stanford goals, while Madison Bell recorded 12 saves. Bell kept the Eagles scoreless until Chelsey Feole finally cut a two-goal Stanford lead in half with an unassisted score at the 60:32 mark but Bell blanked Boston College the rest of the way to secure the victory.
"To come in and beat a team that was preseason ranked No. 9 is unreal, especially when we're not even ranked," said Zutz. "We were very excited about this victory. Everybody came out fired up. We had a lot of energy. We've been looking forward to this game for about six months. This is going to be a great team. It's a special team already."
Zutz started the scoring just 6:44 into the contest when she tipped a ball from Caroline Hussey by Eagle losing goalkeeper Julia Berkowitz (0-1) into the back of the cage. She struck again at 46:45 when she converted a penalty corner with Hillary Braun and Bailey Richardson picking up assists on the play. Zutz just missed a chance at a hat trick late in the contest when her only other shot of the game at 66:23 missed just left.
Boston College made an unusual move in the game's final 3:14 when the Eagles pulled their goalkeeper and put the 11th player onto the field of play but to no avail.
Stanford won despite being outshot, 17-6. Boston College also posted a 14-3 advantage in penalty corners.
Boston College's Bob Dirks took a game-high seven shots, while Zutz's three marked the only Stanford player with more than one.
"It's awesome; they're a great team," said Bell about the victory, which was followed by an exuberant Stanford celebration when the clock finally ran out. "When you get your schedule way back in the spring, you start looking at it and you're always looking forward to that first game. It's been our goal for so long, and what we've been aiming at. So to be here and be successful, and then hold it those last 30 seconds is just a culmination of getting to the start of the season."
"We're obviously really pleased," commented Stanford head coach Lesley Irvine. "This is a great start to the season. There were a lot of incidents in the game that didn't really make things easy for us, but I think the team just really dug in and organized, and were very gritty and hung in there."
"One of our goals [today] was to really come out and set the tone," added Irvine. "This is a really talented group that we have this year. We really wanted to set the pace for this game, and we're pleased we were able to do that [with the early goal]. Mentally, it's great for the confidence."
Stanford will return to action with a scrimmage versus the University of Victoria on Tuesday, August 28 (11 am, PT). The Cardinal will also host a pair of games next Saturday and Sunday, September 1 and 2. Stanford will play Missouri State in Saturday's non-conference tilt (2 pm, PT) before starting NorPac action against local rival Pacific on Sunday (1 pm, PT).