Oct. 5, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Attempting to complete its second three-game road sweep of the year, No. 14 Stanford dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Penn State on Monday afternoon.
It was just the second loss of the year for Stanford (10-2, 2-1 NorPac), which began the three-game, four-day road trip with easy victories over Temple (7-2) and La Salle (4-0).
In an extremely competitive contest, Stanford outshot Penn State 14-13 while the Nittany Lions claimed a 7-6 advantage in penalty corner attempts.
Three different players scored for Penn State (4-8, 1-1 Big Ten), which upset its second top-20 opponent in as many games after defeating No. 18 Ohio State 2-1 three days ago. The defending Big Ten regular season champion and perennial NCAA Tournament participant, Penn State was ranked No. 11 in the preseason top-25 but has struggled early in the year after playing one of the toughest schedules in the country.
The Nittany Lions led Stanford 2-1 at halftime and tacked on an insurance goal in the final minute to preserve the victory. For the first this year, Stanford trailed at intermission.
Jessica Longstreth converted a penalty stroke with a high shot in the 12th minute to give Penn State a 1-0 lead.
Stanford knotted the contest at 1-1 in the 32nd minute, when junior Camille Gandhi tallied her fourth goal of the season. The score came off a penalty corner attempt, with junior Jaimee Erickson feeding senior Nora Soza's stick-stop.
Just over a minute later, Kelsey Amy put Penn State ahead 2-1 after scoring off a deflection following a penalty corner. Kristen Schaefer and Christine Dudek were credited with assists.
The Cardinal controlled play early in the second half with a number of quality scoring chances, but Penn State keeper Ali Meves was solid in goal with six saves and three other players added defensive saves.
Hannah Allison collected her third goal of the year in the final minute to ice the victory.
Stanford is back in action on Sunday, Oct. 11, at Pacific. The Cardinal defeated the Tigers 5-1 earlier this year.
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NOTES: For just the second time this year, Stanford's opponent scored the game's first goal ... Monday's contest marked just the second time in 2009 that the Cardinal did not score at least three goals in a match ... Seven of Penn State's opponents this year are ranked in the top-10 and 11 reside among the top-25 ... Camille Gandhi led Stanford with three shots, increasing her team lead to 35 ... Stanford is now 5-2 on the road this year and 1-0 in neutral site games. Of the five games remaining in the regular season, three will be played away from the Varsity Turf ... Penn State's victory spoiled the homecoming of Stanford assistant coach Mandy Hart, a member of three Big Ten title squads and four NCAA Tournament teams during her playing career with the Nittany Lions (1996-00).