SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A career-high eight saves by Kelsey Bing and the second goal of the season by Kristina Bassi highlighted the day, though Stanford's effort fell short of stopping the reigning NCAA champions and No. 1 Syracuse Orange Sunday afternoon at J.S. Coyne Stadium. The Orange took a 3-1 victory while pushing their winning streak to six.
The Cardinal (1-4) came out strong with a penalty corner and shot right out of the gate, but the Orange (6-0) defense stymied Stanford's offensive efforts in the rest of the half without allowing another shot. Kelsey Bing made an amazing save in the 16th minute, but rebounds have been the Cardinal's Achilles heel on defense as SU's Laura Hurff was there to put it away to make it 1-0.
Hurff got involved again in the 23rd minute of the half as she wound up to take another shot that teammate Elaine Cary was able to deflect to make it 2-0 Syracuse headed into the break.
"Syracuse is a polished team for this phase of the season and they quickly capitalized on our missed assignments," said head coach Tara Danielson, "We gave a solid effort for where we are right now and it's exciting because we're building and improving each game."
The second half saw a renewed Cardinal squad come out firing, as it doubled its offensive output of the first half in the first four minutes alone. A shot by Fran Tew was turned away only to set up a penalty corner that produced Caroline Beaudoin's second assist of the year where she set up Kristina Bassi to make it 2-1 with over 30 minutes remaining.
The Orange never let up the pressure on Stanford by blasting nine shots in the half, forcing Kelsey Bing to make an unreal six saves. 'Cuse was able to break through one more time in the 50th minute with a deflection off an Orange shot to bring the game to its final score of 3-1.
The Cardinal will remain east as it sets to take on Cornell on Tuesday, September 13. Game time is set for 10 a.m. (PT) in Ithaca, N.Y.