Oct. 14, 2008
STANFORD, Calif.- A balanced offensive attack and stingy defensive effort translated into a 3-0 victory for Stanford over Davidson on Wednesday afternoon in a NorPac conference match at the Varsity Turf.
The Cardinal (4-9, 2-2 NorPac) controlled tempo throughout and simply overwhelmed Davidson (3-12, 0-4 NorPac), looking more like the squad that blanked Pacific 7-0 at home two weeks ago instead of the team that entered Wednesday having dropped its last two games and four of five overall.
Three different players scored and eight different players registered a shot attempt, as Stanford took a 1-0 lead into halftime and tacked on two insurance scores midway through the second period.
Sophomore Xanthe Travlos led all players with five shots, the second of which gave the Cardinal a 1-0 at the 10:21 mark. Travlos collected a pass in the circle and rifled a shot past Davidson keeper Christa Goeke for her fourth goal of the season, thanks to the first of two assists from sophomore Camille Gandhi.
Two days after leading the USA U-21 National Team to a gold medal at the 2008 Junior Pan American Games in Mexico City, Gandhi increased her team lead in assists to seven. She also chipped in with four shots, looking very sharp despite missing Stanford's previous two games because of her commitment with the USA National Team.
Stanford finished the first half with edges in shots (10-3) and penalty corners (6-1), playing aggressive and maintaining the pressure on the Davidson backline.
Eight minutes into the second half, junior Midori Uehara scored her team-leading seventh goal of the year when she found the cage with an assist from Gandhi following a penalty corner.
At the 50:37 mark, freshman Stephanie Byrne scored her fifth goal of the season to put Stanford ahead 3-0. Taking a pass from Travlos, Byrne dribbled through a scrum in front of the goal to close out the scoring.
Stanford outshot Davidson 17-5 and held a commanding 11-3 edge in penalty corners.
The Cardinal has posted back-to-back shutouts over its last two home games, outscoring its opponents 10-0 over that span. Much of the credit goes to redshirt freshman keeper Alessandra Moss, who notched four saves on Wednesday to lower her GAA to 1.46.
Stanford is back in action on Sunday, Oct. 19, hosting UC Davis. The Cardinal has two league matches remaining following an Oct. 24 matchup at California.