Feb. 10, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. - No. 6 Stanford hung with No. 1 Northwestern into the second half, but in the end, the Wildcats overpowered the Cardinal, winning 18-6. Northwestern, who has won six out of the last seven NCAA titles, controlled possession to eventually wear down a young Stanford team.
"The draw controls were really important," said head coach Amy Bokker. "We can't allow them to have that many possessions."
Northwestern won 20 of 26 draw controls in the game, making Stanford have to work to earn possession. The Wildcats also created turnovers in the Cardinal defensive end, although Stanford did its fair share of creating turnovers as well.
Northwestern led just 7-4 at half as Stanford got two first-half goals from Anna Boeri. Rachel Ozer added a goal and an assist in the half, while Catherine Swanson scored as well.
Defensively, Stanford was solid in the first half as it created seven turnovers and kept the game close despite not winning a single draw control before the break. However, the Cardinal also turned it over seven times on its own and were unable to create as many chances off the turnovers as it would have liked.
In the second half, neither team scored for the first eight minutes before the floodgates opened for Northwestern. The Wildcats tallied 11 goals in the final 21:39 to pull away from Stanford and win 18-6.
The lone bright spots for Stanford were unassisted goals from Anna Kim and Hannah Farr.
In goal, Lyndsey Munoz was busy, making a career high 13 saves. The Wildcats managed to convert just 10 of 21 free-position shots as Munoz was solid in the cage.
Stanford will be back in action on Sunday when it takes on No. 18 Ohio State at 3pm. The Cardinal will look to respond against another tough opponent.