March 5, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford women's lacrosse found out Wednesday morning that they were ranked in the IWLCA Top 20 rankings and went out hours later and defeated the Boston College Eagles 14-10 at Laird Q. Cagan stadium. The game was close throughout, and was keyed by another superb effort by All-American goalkeeper Laura Shane who recorded 17 saves in the victory. It pushed Shane's save percentage on the season to .569, which is even higher than her two previous season's in which she was an named an All-American.
For the second consecutive game goals were scored at a furious pace in the opening minutes with the teams combining for nine goals in the first eight minutes. Senior attack Daphne Patterson scored the first two goals for Stanford and sophomore Dana Lindsay and senior Megan McClain scored the next two to give the Cardinal a 4-2 lead. Golden Eagle midfielder Lauren Fitzpatrick scored a goal, but Lindsay added her second to keep the Cardinal lead at two goals.
Boston College refused to go away though by scoring the next two goals of the match, and the score was knotted at five after ten minutes of action. McClain and Lindsay continued to lead the Cardinal with another goal each and after 18 minutes of play, Stanford held a 7-5 lead.
After Boston College attacker scored the second of her team-leading four goals, Patterson added a third goal and sophomore Claire Hubbard added goals in the final two minutes of the first half, and Stanford went into the break with a 9-6 lead.
The second half proved to be much more of a defensive battle with only one goal scored in the first ten minutes of action, as compared with nine in the first half. After another Fitzpatrick goal, the game remained very close at 9-8. Stanford finally got on the board soon after with junior Maris Perlman's first goal of the season, but Boston College attack Lauren Costello responded quickly and the score was 10-9 with 18 minutes left to play.
The Cardinal tightened up down the stretch, not allowing a goal in the final nine minutes and scoring three of their own. Freshman Sarah Flynn continued her great rookie season with her eight goal of the year, and sophomore Amanda Schwab and redshirt sophomore Bess Siegfried added goals to contribute to the 14-10 final score.
The win kept Stanford a perfect 5-0 at home this season. The game was incredibly physical and plagued with penalties as Boston College committed 26 and Stanford committed 18 themselves. Shane's 17 saves tied a season-high after recording the same amount in last Sunday's upset over No. 10 Notre Dame.
Stanford will return to the field when they face No. 5 Penn on Sunday, Mar. 9 at Laird Q. Cagan stadium. The face-off will take place at 1:00 p.m. and it will be a chance to see the 2007 national runner-up in action.