Oct. 19, 2008
PULLMAN, Wash. - Freshmen Lindsay Taylor and Teresa Noyola combined twice this afternoon in a 3-0 win over No. 24 Washington State to make sure fifth-ranked Stanford left the Pacific Northwest with two valuable Pac-10 wins. Junior Kelley O'Hara knocked in the third goal for insurance as the Cardinal rolled to its 14th victory of the season.
Stanford barraged the Cougars' net with five corner kicks in the first 30 minutes, and was finally successful after the fifth try. After Noyola restarted play off the fifth corner, the ball found its way back to the Palo Alto, Calif. native, who then served up a ball right to Taylor who directed the ball into the net with her head.
The Cardinal carried its one-goal lead and 5-1 and 7-2 advantages in corners and shots, respectively, into the second half, and it took just over five minutes for its offense to get moving again. On the team's sixth corner kick, Taylor again scored with her head, knocking in Noyola's direct serve off the corner kick.
Five minutes later, O'Hara joined in on the scoring party, taking advantage of her speed over Washington State goalkeeper Lindsay Parlee, as she beat the netminder to a loose ball and poked it past her just enough to cross the goal line.
Sophomore goalkeeper earned her ninth shutout of the year only having to make a pair of saves, one in each half, and the Stanford defense as a whole blanked an opponent for the 11th time this season.
"It was another great team victory," said head coach Paul Ratcliffe, who with the two victories this weekend tied Berhane Andeberhan as the most winning coach in Stanford women's soccer history with 77 career wins. "Lindsay scored two great headers off of two beautiful serves from Noyola, and Kelley played great as well."
Taylor's set of goals marks the third time this season the Los Altos, Calif. native has recorded a multi-goal game. O'Hara became the team's overall point leader this weekend with 28 points total (nine goals and ten assists).
The Cardinal returns to The Farm with a 14-0-1 overall record and a Pac-10 leading 4-0 mark and will complete its regular season home schedule with a set of conference matches against the Arizona schools this coming weekend.