TEMPE, Ariz. – Ashley Grossman, Jamie Neushul and Maggie Steffens each scored twice and the No. 1 Cardinal rode a dominant second half to a 9-6 victory over No. 3 USC and claim third place at the MPSF Tournament in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday afternoon.
Trailing 5-4 at the half, Stanford (22-2) scored the game’s first three in the third quarter to turn a one-goal deficit into a two-goal advantage. The Cardinal would put home five goals in the game’s final 16 minutes while surrendering just one to bounce back from yesterday’s defeat at the hands of California in the MPSF Semifinals.
“We played well from the beginning,” Stanford head coach John Tanner said. “USC had a three goal streak at one point that made it look like the tide was turning, but I never felt like we lost control. To come out in third quarter and get those three goals to go up 7-5 from down 5-4, that was huge.”
Jamie Neushul led the charge with her second of the day at 6:14. Less than a minute later, Maggie Steffens fired her penalty shot off the crossbar, down and in to make the score 6-5 with 5:39 remaining in the third quarter.
With 1:40 on the clock, Kiley Neushul’s perseverance paid dividends. USC (22-5) was whistled for a contra foul and Gabby Stone took possession and surveyed the pool for Stanford. The Cardinal keeper lofted her pass up the pool to a streaking Neushul down the right side. The senior’s cross-cage attempt from point blank range was blocked by Monica Vavic, but not controlled. The ball floated in front of the goal for a split second, which Neushul used to pick it up and rifle a backhand past USC goalkeeper Victoria Chamorro.
“We talked about responding,” Stanford senior Ashley Grossman said about coming back after yesterday’s loss. “I think that’s been one of our themes this season. It was about having more energy, a little bit more fire, and making today like a championship Sunday and I think we did. We worked together as a team. That was the difference.”
Grossman did her part to close out the victory, the Cardinal’s second of the year over USC. With 49 seconds on the clock in that important third quarter, Sohi fed Grossman’s right hand inside. Stanford’s two-meter force knew the double team would be coming, but released her backhand attempt and rattled the cage before it could arrive.
She scored the game’s final goal with 7:24 to go in the fourth, again displaying some perfect timing. With just three seconds on the shot clock, Steffens dumped it down low to Grossman, who caught, fired and scored all while creating space. The goal put the Cardinal up 9-6 before it would run out the clock down the stretch.
“We don’t change things up a lot,” Tanner added. “We do what we do. Our focus on defense was really good as was our sustained energy level. USC puts a lot of pressure on you at both ends of the pool. We stopped all but one of their six 6-on-5s, were resilient coming out of timeouts and made big plays in critical moments. There were numerous field blocks and Gabby Stone played a great game. There was much better balance at both ends than yesterday.”
Stone made 11 saves, her fifth time this season in double figures, and 12 Cardinal field blocks helped turn away USC’s potent attack, which entered the weekend averaging 17.04 goals per game.
To seal the win, Jordan Raney picked the pocket of Eika Daube with 3:50 to go. Fifty-eight seconds later, Stone got up on her legs and blocked a point-blank attempt from Daube. Stanford’s goalkeeper closed the match with a pair of saves at 1:38 and 0:50 on shots from Monica Vavic, the league’s leading scorer who was able to put home just one on Sunday.
Stanford’s third-quarter, three-goal run proved to be the one that mattered most, but each time had similar first-half spurts. Down 2-1, the Cardinal reeled off three in a row late in the first and early in the second. Shannon Cleary turned her defender and had inside water, passing back to fellow freshman Katie Dudley for a goal with 2:04 remaining in the opening period.
At 6:49 in the second, Kiley Neushul held the ball out at 12 meters and sent in a perfectly-timed pass to Steffens as she was coming free far post, which she powered home. Stanford converted its only 6-on-5 with 4:09 on the clock when Jamie Neushul went top right corner to put her team up 4-2 (4:09).
Stephania Haralabidis scored back-to-back at 3:51 and 3:27 and Brigitta Games added her only goal of the day with a 180-degree turn just 22 second until the break to put the Trojans on top 5-4.
“Today was wonderful, but we’re still the same team that played yesterday and played poorly,” Tanner said. “We have a lot to clean up and move forward. There was some quality play, but a lot of grit. We can build off that. We’ll improve and will be better two weeks from now.”
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Kiley Neushul and Maggie Steffens were named to the 2015 MPSF All-Tournament Team following the event's conclusion. Steffens led Stanford with five goals in the Cardinal's two games in Tempe while Neushul contributed four.
No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 3 USC
April 26, 2015 • Tempe, Ariz.
USC 2 – 3 – 1 – 0 = 6
STAN 2 – 2 – 4– 1 = 9
USC Goals: Stephania Haralabidis 2, Melissa Bergesen, Brianna Daboub, Brigitta Games, Monica Vavic
USC Saves: Victoria Chamorro 9
Stanford Goals: Ashley Grossman 2, Jamie Neushul 2, Maggie Steffens 2, Katie Dudley, Kiley Neushul, Jordan Raney
Stanford Saves: Gabby Stone 11