May 15, 2010
Tournament Central | Postgame QuotesSAN DIEGO, Calif. - No. 1 seed Stanford will play for a chance at its second national title as the Cardinal punched its ticket to the National Collegiate Championship title game with a 6-3 win over California Saturday at Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego.
The Cardinal (26-2) will meet USC in Sunday's title game, set for a 5 p.m. start. The contest will be televised live on CBS College Sports.
Stanford will be playing in the fifth national championship game in program history Sunday, and will seek its second national title after last lifting the golden trophy in 2002.
Melissa Seidemann found the back of the net twice in the victory to lead all Cardinal scorers. Additional goals were scored by Cassie Churnside, Alex Koran, Kim Krueger and Pallavi Menon.
Junior goalie Amber Oland started the contest and anchored a Stanford defense that held California scoreless in the second half. Oland would end up with 12 saves in the contest.
An evenly-played first half would see the teams knotted at 3-3 following 16 minutes of action Saturday afternoon. After the Cardinal took a 2-1 lead after the opening frame, California would answer with two goals of its own in the second to pull even.
The Cardinal defense would take over, though, in the second half, as Oland anchored the line that kept the Golden Bears off of the scoreboard for the final 16 minutes.
A pair of Cardinal goals in the third period helped put Stanford in front for good, and a final tally in the fourth built a three-goal cushion that held to the final buzzer.
Dana Ochsner scored twice for California while Meghan Corso added a goal. In the cage, Stephanie Peckham made eight saves.
California - 1 2 0 0 = 3
Stanford - 2 1 2 1 = 6
Stanford Goal Scorers: Seidemann 2, Churnside, Koran, Krueger, Menon
California Goal Scorers: Ochsner 2, CorsoGoalie Saves: Oland 12 (S); Peckham 8 (C)