Oct. 30, 2010
BERKELEY, Calif. - Christen Press followed a Lindsay Taylor goal with two of her own to lead No. 1 Stanford to a 3-0 victory over California in Pac-10 women's soccer action Saturday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
Stanford (16-0-2 overall, 7-0 in the Pac-10) now heads into a showdown with visiting Oregon State (14-1-1, 6-0) for the conference title. The match, to be played Friday at 8 p.m. at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, pits teams with perfect conference records on the regular-season's final weekend.
"It was a dominating performance," said Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe, whose team outshot Cal, 23-5. "The entire team played well. We had good marking on the ball, great goals. It was a top-class performance."
Though Press did not figure in the scoring of Stanford's first goal, she created it by beating a defender to the end line to create a corner kick that resulted in her own curving shot that forced a fingertip deflection.
The subsequent corner resulted in the goal, when the ball bounced out of the goal mouth and was played by Teresa Noyola to Taylor, who scored for the ninth time this season, 18:54.
At 24:02, Press took a deep throw-in from Annie Case, turned and fired a laser of a shot that Cal goalkeeper Emily Kruger had no chance on.
Throughout the match, Kruger had kept the Golden Bears close, deflecting a Press header against the crossbar in the first half and pushing a second-half Press shot wide with a diving two-handed save.
But Press, the nation's leading scorer, got the best of Kruger on a breakaway in the 81st minute for her 21st goal, tying her collegiate high and moving her into second with herself (2009) on Stanford's single-season list. Kelley O'Hara set the record of 26 last season.
The shutout was the third in succession for Stanford, which has allowed only one goal in its past six matches. It was Stanford's ninth shutout of the season and ended with redshirt freshman Aly Gleason playing the final four minutes in goal for her first collegiate appearance.
Starting goalkeeper Emily Oliver was tested by several hard shots, and swiftly intercepted a crossing pass that appeared to be headed for a wide-open Cal player in the box in the 77th minute.
"Emily's a very good goalkeeper," Ratcliffe said. "Whenever she's asked, she makes big plays."
Cal (5-5-5, 2-4) was without star senior forward Alex Morgan, who is with the United States national team at the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament in Cancun, Mexico.
Stanford central defender Alina Garciamendez left immediately after Saturday's match to join the Mexican team at the same tournament. She will be available for Mexico's final two Group B matches, against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday and Canada on Tuesday. She will then return to Stanford and is scheduled to play against Oregon State.
The Cardinal extended its winning streak to 15 and its Pac-10 winning streak to 18.