March 7, 2008
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford geared up for its big rematch Saturday against top-ranked UCLA with a dominant performance at No. 17 UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon. Paced by a pair of hat tricks totaling eight goals from Lauren Silver and Kira Hillman, the Cardinal (12-2, 4-0 MPSF) coasted to a 14-2 victory over the Gauchos (4-10, 0-4 MPSF).
Silver matched her season-high with five goals in the contest, while Hillman posted her second hat trick of the year with three goals. Seven different Stanford players found the back of the cage Friday, as Kelsey Holshouser added a pair of goals, and individual scores were tallied by Kelly Eaton, Allie Gerrity, Kim Krueger, and Megan May.
In the cage, Amber Oland made eight saves and gave up only a goal before giving way to fellow frosh Kim Hall, who allowed just one score and stopped a shot.
The Cardinal wasted no time setting the tone for Friday's game blistering the Gaucho defense with shot after shot and stonewalling the UCSB attack en route to an 8-0 halftime lead.
The assault didn't waver in the second half, as Stanford scored twice more to start the second half and stretch its lead to 10-0 before UCSB got on the scoreboard. Stanford immediately extinguished any hope by answering with three consecutive goals to seal matters and remain perfect in MPSF play.
Tomorrow, the Cardinal continues its four-game weekend trip with a highly-anticipated clash against the No. 1 UCLA Bruins. The two teams met previously this year in the title game of the Irvine Invitational on Feb. 24, fighting tooth-and-nail through four periods of regulation and two of overtime before the Bruins got the game-winner in sudden death for the 8-7 victory.
Stanford - 4 4 3 3 = 14
UCSB - 0 0 1 1 = 2
Stanford Goal Scorers: Silver 5, Hillman 3, Holshouser 2, Eaton, Gerrity, Krueger, May
UCSB Goal Scorers: Morgan, Nelson
Goalie Saves: Oland 8, Hall 1 (S); Gonzales 7 (UCSB)