Sept. 25, 2009
Catching Up With Midori Uehara
STANFORD, Calif.- No. 13 Stanford pounced on Pacific with four first-half goals and cruised to a 5-1 victory on Friday night at the Varsity Turf, remaining undefeated while establishing a school record for the best start to a season at 8-0.
Like the majority of Stanford's games this year, this one quickly turned into a blowout.
Five different players scored for the Cardinal to pace an explosive offensive attack, while a suffocating defense held the Tigers without a shot attempt until the 62nd minute.
The result was another convincing victory for Stanford (8-0, 2-0 NorPac), which needs one more victory to match the longest winning streak in school history at nine games.
Friday's win was especially important as Stanford looks to separate itself in the NorPac's West Division. Pacific (2-6, 1-1 NorPac) entered the night tied atop the division with Stanford thanks to a surprise win over Cal, but the Tigers are now one game behind in the standings.
Stanford held a commanding 21-3 edge in shot attempts and maintained possession for essentially the entire game. The Cardinal also owned an 8-0 edge in penalty corners, which helped generate three of the five goals.
Junior Camille Gandhi, who led all players with five shots, put Stanford up 1-0 at the 16:55 mark after both teams got off to a slow start. On a textbook penalty corner attempt, junior Jaimee Erickson injected a pass to senior Nora Soza, who set up Gandhi for her third score of the year.
The Cardinal continued to pressure but when junior Xanthe Travlos was denied on a penalty stroke attempt in the 23rd minute, it appeared the Tigers had a glimmer of hope.
Not the case.
Stanford scored three goals over the next eight minutes, dashing away any chance of a Pacific comeback and sticking with a theme of taking control from the outset. In eight games this year, the Cardinal has now outscored its opponents 17-2 over the first 35 minutes.
A penalty corner goal from Erickson with help from Soza and freshman Becky Dru made it 2-0 at the 27:53 mark. Two minutes later, Travlos eluded multiple defenders and scored on a breakaway for a 3-0 lead. Two minutes after that, senior Rachel Mozenter scored unassisted from the right side to put Stanford up 4-0 and kill any short-lived momentum for Pacific.
Meanwhile, Stanford's defense was outstanding, as Pacific failed to attempt anything close to a shot in the first half.
Dru capped the scoring at the 49:55 mark, finding the cage following a penalty corner that included assists from Erickson and Soza.
Robin Nelson came off the bench to attempt Pacific's first shot of the game with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest, but the attempt sailed wide.
Katy McDonough made Pacific's second shot of the game count, avoiding the shutout when she took a pass from Brianna Cummins and chipped an arching shot past Stanford netminder Alessandra Moss.
Stanford is back in action on Sunday, Sept. 27, against California. The Cardinal is looking for its first victory in Berkeley since a 1-0 shutout back on Nov. 1, 1998. After losing 18 in a row to California from 2001-2007, Stanford has now won three of the last four games- two of which resulted in NorPac Tournament championships.
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NOTES: Stanford has now won five in a row over Pacific, with the Tigers' last win coming on Sept. 30, 2006 ... The school record for consecutive wins stands at nine, accomplished from Oct. 9-Nov. 8 back during the 1985 campaign ... Head coach Lesley Irvine picked up her 60th career win ... Stanford is one victory shy of matching last year's overall mark of 9-11 ... A crowd of 267 witnessed the victory. Easily the largest crowd of the season and boosted by onlookers from the 7 p.m. men's soccer game at nearby Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, fans lined the east side of the railing from goal to goal ... Camille Gandhi picked up her first goal since finding the cage twice in Stanford's season opener against Missouri State back on Aug. 30. Despite the scoring "drought", Gandhi still leads Stanford in shots with 24 ... Nora Soza's stick-stopping efforts netted her three assists, and she now has a team-best five on the year ... Stanford has registered at least 20 shot attempts in a game three times this year.