May 14, 2011
Gainesville, Fla. - The best season in program history came to an end for Stanford on Saturday. No. 4 Florida defended its home field, knocking off No. 7 Stanford, 13-11, in a back-and-forth first round NCAA game. The Cardinal fought back from an early deficit, but fell just short as Florida scored three of the last four goals.
The game was delayed five hours because of rain in Florida and when the teams finally took the field, it was the Cardinal that had the sluggish start. Florida scored the game's first four goals before Stanford got in the board at the 6:11 mark in the half.
Carolyn Bradley scored the first goal by Stanford, which led to a run of four straight Stanford goals. Emilie Boeri added a goal and the assisted her sister Anna Boeri to pull Stanford within one. Karen Nesbitt completed the run with 5:54 to play in the half to get things even.
Florida scored a late goal to take a 5-4 lead to the half, but the Cardinal had fought back to make things interesting. Stanford was outshot 12-11 in the half, but did secure six of 10 draw controls. Annie Read had two of her five saves in the first half.
The Gators widened its lead early in the second half to 7-4, but again the Cardinal fought back. Lauren Schmidt came alive to score three goals in just under two minutes to pull Stanford even. Leslie Foard then added a goal to earn Stanford's first lead of the game, 8-7, with 23:28 to play.
Florida pulled even, before Anna Kim found the back of the net on an assist from Karen Nesbitt. The Gators then retook the lead with a pair of goals, but Sarah Flynn retied the score at 10-10 with her school-record 49th goal of the season. With 13:50 to play Stanford had evened things up, but would get no closer.
Florida scored three of the next four goals to earn a hard-fought victory. Foard had her second goal to get it to 12-11 with 11:29 to play, but Stanford would fall just short.
Florida outshot the Cardinal 27-26, while Stanford had a 14-12 edge on draw controls. Lyndsey Munoz came on in relief in goal to make two saves in the final 11:59.
The season ends with Stanford having a program-best 16 wins and earning its highest-ever national ranking of No. 6 earlier in the season.