Iowa City, Iowa - No. 21 Stanford picked up its biggest win of the season so far, upsetting No. 6 Michigan 4-2 in Iowa City, Iowa, behind 10 saves from junior goalkeeper Kelsey Bing. With the victory, Stanford increased its winning streak to eight, marking the longest win streak for the Cardinal since a 12-game streak during the 2014 season.
Junior midfielder Phoebe Crosthwaite put the Cardinal (8-3, 1-0 America East) ahead of the Wolverines (9-5, 5-1 Big Ten) for good just seven minutes into the second half. The unassisted goal was her fourth on the season, and broke a 1-1 tie that had held for the past 30 minutes of game action.
Stanford defeated its highest-ranked opponent since Aug. 30, 2015, when the Cardinal knocked off No. 5 Duke 3-2 in overtime at the Varsity Turf.
The first half was a battle, as both teams created chances, but each side had to settle for just one goal. The Cardinal broke through first, when junior defender Nina Randolph put back a rebound just over 10 minutes into the first half for her third goal of the season. Randolph also scored the first goal of the game in the Cardinal's 2-1 win over Pacific last weekend.
Michigan struck back just two minutes later and then continued to apply pressure for much of the rest of the first half, but Bing had six first-half saves to help keep Michigan to only one goal. The Wolverines had 13 shots — seven on goal — off five penalty corners in the opening frame, but Bing, the reigning America East Defensive Player of the Week, stood tall and kept the Cardinal square in the game.
In the second half, the Cardinal broke through the Wolverine defense for three unanswered, first with Crosthwaite's transition goal, then with sophomore Corinne Zanolli's 16th goal of the season, and finally Emma Christus slotting one into an empty net to finish things off. Zanolli's season total of 16 surpasses her team-leading 15 goals in 2017 for a new career best, which she will look to keep increasing as the season continues.
Stanford looks to push its winning streak to nine with another top-10 matchup on Sunday at 12:30 PDT at No. 10 Iowa.