Nov. 1, 2008
STANFORD, Calif.- Junior Nora Soza scored her first career goal four minutes into the first overtime period, lifting Stanford to a 2-1 upset over No. 16 California on Saturday afternoon in the rain-drenched regular season finale at the Varsity Turf.
Soza's goal came at the 73:20 mark of the first overtime session, securing a crucial victory for a Cardinal team looking to duplicate last year's memorable postseason run and shake off a season filled with a number of tough, one-goal defeats.
Stanford (6-10, 4-2 NorPac) will now enter next weekend's NorPac Tournament in Farmville, Va., as the No. 2 seed. Had Stanford lost on Saturday, the Cardinal would have dropped to the No. 5 seed.
More importantly, Stanford finds itself on the opposite side of the bracket with regular-season champion and No. 1 seed California (12-4, 5-1 NorPac). The Cardinal defeated the Golden Bears 3-1 in last year's NorPac Tournament championship game and will be looking to defend its title.
Victories over California have been hard to come by- the Golden Bears have won 19 of the last 21 in the all-time series. So Saturday's thrilling win on Senior Day in front of the largest crowd of the year should provide a momentum boost heading into the postseason.
"I'm very happy for the team and particularly the seniors," said head coach Lesley Irvine, who picked up her 49th career victory. "Anytime we play Cal it is a hard-fought, competitive game and today was no exception. This puts us in a better position for the conference tournament and also gives the players the confidence to know they can win the tight games. The last two conference wins have been huge for us."
And Stanford appears to be coming on strong at the perfect time yet again, winning three of its last four overall to represent its hottest stretch of the year.
Both teams battled a steady rain and windy conditions, with numerous puddles having already accumulated on the turf prior to the contest. The weather made for a defensive-minded contest, with shots at a premium and play centered mainly around midfield.
California held advantages in shots (13-6) and penalty corners (8-6). The Golden Bears owned a 6-4 shot edge through the first quarter and took a 1-0 lead at the 19:11 mark. Andrea Lo and Rachel Moffitt initiated the penalty corner attempt and fed Carolina Bistue, who lofted an arching shot into the corner of the cage.
In the 50th minute, Stanford knotted the game at 1-1 following junior Midori Uehara's team-leading ninth goal of the year. Junior Jennifer Luther started a penalty corner attempt with a pass to sophomore Xanthe Travlos, who then lobbed a pass to Uehara for a goal to the low post.
Neither team could convert on their scoring opportunities at the end of regulation.
The Golden Bears opened the first overtime period with a pair of shot attempts that sailed high. Stanford's first shot following a penalty corner attempt was stopped by Cal keeper Kelly Knoche.
One minute later, sophomore Camille Gandhi dished a pass to Soza, who was positioned perfectly near the endline. Soza proceeded to fire her first career shot attempt into the cage for the game-winner, as Cardinal teammates and fans mobbed her on the field with a driving rain continuing to fall.
The NorPac Tournament begins Thursday, Nov. 6. Pairings will be announced Monday.