Feb. 24, 2008
IRVINE, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford learned that overtime giveth, and overtime taketh away Sunday at the Irvine Tournament, defeating No. 3 USC, 7-6, in the extra session before falling 8-7 in sudden death to No. 1 UCLA in the tournament's championship game.
Lauren Silver scored four goals on the day to lead the Cardinal (9-2), including a hat trick in the title game. Koree Blyleven and Jacquelyn Gauthier each scored three times on the day, while on defense, goalkeeper Amber Oland stopped 21 shots over both contests.
The Cardinal began the day seeking to avenge its only previous loss of the regular season, a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the USC Women of Troy on Feb. 9.
The teams battled neck-and-neck through the first half, playing to a 3-3 tie. But USC, fueled by a balanced effort that saw six players account for the team's six goals, got three third-period scores to go into the final period with a 6-3 advantage.
Just like on Feb. 9, Stanford trailed USC by three heading into the fourth period. Yet unlike that previous contest, the Cardinal did manage to tie things up and force the overtime. Three Cardinal goals in the final eight minutes set the stage for the first overtime session, in which the defenses took center stage and saw no goals scored. The Cardinal finally broke the stalemate as Blyleven scored the eventual game-winner with 2:01 remaining, and the Stanford defense continued its stifling play, keeping USC off the board to complete its quest for vengeance.
Gauthier led the Cardinal in scoring for the third consecutive game, scoring twice, along with Kira Hillman. Silver and Heather West added individual goals as well. Oland made 10 saves in the cage.
In the title game, UCLA got out to a 3-1 lead with just over two minutes left in the first half, before a pair of goals from Silver, one prior to halftime and the other at 4:56 of the third period, knotted things up at 3-3.
From there, the teams traded goals before the end of the period, with Silver completing her hat trick, to send the game into the fourth period tied 4-4.
UCLA took leads of 5-4 and 6-5 in the fourth period, but the Cardinal continued to battle, as Gauthier found the back of the cage with 41 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it up at 6-6.
Neither team could finish things off in those final 41 seconds, nor could they create goals in the first overtime session. The Cardinal, for the second straight game, opened the scoring in the second session on Blyleven's backhander to take the 7-6 lead, but saw UCLA equalize on Jillian Krause's 6-on-5 score with just 46 seconds to go.
The teams continued to battle to a stalemate as the sudden-death period got underway, but 2:53 into the session, UCLA's Gabrielle Domanic's shot got past Oland for the winner.
Semifinal No. 1
USC - 2 1 3 0 0 0 = 6
Stanford - 1 2 0 3 0 1 = 7
Stanford Goal Scorers: Gauthier 2, Hillman 2, Blyleven, Silver, West
USC Goal Scorers: Bartunkova, Davies, Dronenberger, Kiss, Riddle, Stein
Goalie Saves: Oland 10 (S); Anae 13 (USC)
Championship Game
Stanford - 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 = 7
UCLA - 1 2 1 2 0 1 1 = 8
Stanford Goal Scorers: Silver 3, Blyleven 2, Eaton, Gauthier
UCLA Goal Scorers: Gandy 2, Krause 2, Domanic, Matthewson, Orozco, Rowe
Goalie Saves: Oland 11, Fullen 15