CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A second-half surge and Elizabeth Cusick's game-winning goal with two seconds remaining propelled No. 19 Stanford past Harvard in a thrilling 10-9 victory Tuesday night as the Cardinal pushed its win streak to six.
Stanford (7-2) came out to score first with Anna Salemo putting away her 13th of the year, but the half was dominated by the Crimson, as Harvard (5-4) ripped off four straight goals. The hero of the night, Elizabeth Cusick, took advantage of a yellow card to snap the slide as she added two of her four goals, but Harvard added two more to close out the half with a 6-3 lead.
After the break Stanford emerged a different team by flipping the script after Harvard bested the Cardinal in shots, ground balls and turnovers in the first period. Anna Salemo started it again for the Cardinal, but the Crimson answered with two more to open up its biggest lead of the night with the score holding at 8-4 with 20 minutes remaining.
Stanford remained composed as it went to work chipping away at the Crimson lead to rattle off five unanswered goals with Dillon Schoen spearheading the effort with two of her own to take a 9-8 lead with five minutes remaining.
Coming down to the last minute of play, Harvard's Maeve McMahon scored with 25 minutes remaining to make overtime imminent. Dillon Schoen came up huge for the Cardinal again to force a turnover with 13 seconds remaining before Elizabeth Cusick blasted the game-winning goal past the Harvard keeper with only two seconds remaining.
The Cardinal remains out east this week as it sets to take on Yale on Saturday. Game time is set for 3 p.m. PT in New Haven, Conn.
