Nov. 5, 2009
STANFORD, Calif.- Less than 24 hours after being named the NorPac Player of the Year, junior Xanthe Travlos displayed why she is worthy of such recognition.
Travlos notched her second hat trick of the season and third of her career, leading an eye-popping offensive onslaught as the Cardinal dismantled Appalachian State 9-0 in the opening round of the 2009 NorPac Championship at the Varsity Turf.
Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this year against No. 1 Maryland and No. 15 Louisville, Stanford looked every bit like the squad that raced out to an 8-0 start and has been a fixture in the national rankings for the last two months.
Stanford improved to 14-4 overall, matching the 1997 squad for the most victories in school history. The No. 1 seed in the West Division, Stanford is attempting to win its third consecutive conference tournament title and Thursday's dominating performance is clearly a step in the right direction.
Appalachian State generated two shots after back-to-back penalty corner attempts in the game's opening minutes- and that was it.
Stanford responded with an incredible 46 unanswered shot attempts, holding a 31-2 edge at halftime and a 15-0 margin over the final 35 minutes. Travlos led the charge with nine attempts, while freshman Becky Dru chipped in with eight and sophomore Stephanie Byrne added five.
Six different players found the cage for the Cardinal, which also received a pair of goals from junior Katherine Donner, who found the net twice in a span of five minutes late in the game.
Dru opened the scoring in the 10th minute to give Stanford a 1-0 lead, thanks to an assist from junior Camille Gandhi.
After Travlos scored twice in a four-minute span midway through the first half, junior Jaimee Erickson padded the lead to 4-0 with her eighth goal of the year.
Byrne then made it 5-0 at the 45:06 mark and Travlos completed her hat trick 10 minutes later on an unassisted score.
Playing in just her sixth game, freshman Alysha Sekhon fired a rocket from 15 yards out past Mountaineer keeper Denise Adams for her first career goal to ice the Stanford shutout.
Appalachian State starting goalkeeper Bridgette Street made 19 saves, allowing six goals before being pulled in the 59th minute.
Next up for Stanford is a date with Longwood on Friday, Nov. 6, at 1:30 p.m. in the semifinals.