STANFORD, Calif. – Sparked by the play of freshman Andrea Lee and senior Casey Danielson, Stanford moved up to second place after two rounds of the 21st Stanford Intercollegiate at Stanford Golf Course.
Lee, who won last week's Windy City Intercollegiate in her Cardinal debut, birdied the challenging par-4 18th hole Saturday to cap a 4-under 68 and is tied for second individually at 2-under 140. Danielson played the last 12 holes 3-under and posted a 69 and is tied for fourth at 1-under 141.
"Andrea and Casey played really well in the conditions out there," said Anne Walker, the Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Golf. "It was blustery on the back nine and hard to gauge which way the wind was blowing."
Stanford, the defending champion, has a 36-hole score of 15-over 583 (292-291). UCLA moved into the lead (287-285) in the count four of five score format and is at 4-over 572. Cal is third at 589.
The Bruins were led by Bronte Law, seeking medalist honors for the third-consecutive year. She shot a tournament-best 65 and has a two-round total of 7-under 135, five strokes ahead of Lee and Georgia Lacey of San Diego State.
Stacey Prammanasudh of Tulsa is the only three-time winner (1999-01).
The strong 17-school, 18-team field includes seven programs ranked in the top 20, including the No. 2 Cardinal.
After playing in rain for most of Friday's first round, conditions were sunny and partly cloudy, with wind kicking up in the afternoon.
Lee started fast with birdies at the first, third, fifth and seven holes to make the turn in 4-under 31. She hung tough on the back nine and rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the final green.
Danielson carded birdies at seven, 11 and 12, the first and last tap-ins. Her lone bogey came at the par-3 third. She credited a nice par-save at the par-5 16th for helping her maintain momentum coming in.
"Really steady and just took advantage of my birdie opportunities," said Danielson. "I wasn't hitting it as well as I would have liked, so I just tried to stay patient and wait for those birdies to come."
Danielson finished fourth in this event last year and second in the Stanford-hosted Peg Barnard Invitational last spring.
"I love playing this course," she said. "But the thing right now is it's playing a lot different because of the wind and weather, so we don't have as much of a home course advantage. We haven't really seen these conditions."
Sierra Kersten (76-76) and Shannon Aubert (74-78) have 36-hole scores of 10-over 152 and are tied for 46th, and Jisoo Keel (74-80) is at 12-over 154 and is tied for 63rd.
"We struggled a little bit three through five," Walker said. "We have quite a few things to work on. The big thing I saw today is that we're just not a very mature team relative to last year. That catches up to you when conditions get tough. We just need to learn how to settle down."
Senior Quirine Eijkenboom sparked the Stanford B team by shooting a 72 and played her back nine (the front) in 2-under with birdies at the first, third and sixth holes. Junior Calli Ringsby shot 75, freshmen Emily Wong and Madie Chou 76s, and freshman Albane Valenzuela 77.
Eijkenboom (147) is tied for 19th, Wong and Valenzuela (151) are tied for 39th, Chou (152) is tied for 48th and Ringbsy (153) is tied for 56th.
The final round begins Sunday at 7:30 a.m. Pacific Time on the No. 1 and 10 tees. Stanford starts at 9 a.m. on the first tee, while the B team goes at 7:30 a.m. on the 10th tee.
Rain is in the forecast.
"Everybody will be in the same boat because it's wet," said Danielson. "Hopefully it won't be that bad."
For live scoring, visit gostanford.com.
