DENVER – Despite a late game surge, No. 20 Stanford was unable to overcome No. 10 Denver in the season opener on Saturday, falling to the Pioneers 17-13.
Saturday's game marked the first under Head Coach Danielle Spencer, who returned to The Farm after three years at Dartmouth. "Failure is feedback," explained Spencer. "We played a great Denver team today and got into a bit of a hole in the first half. We won the second half though. I'm extremely proud of our fight, our resilience, and our toughness. We will use today's feedback to learn and grow."
Jay Browne led the Cardinal with four goals and two assists in her collegiate debut, totaling six points. Ali Baiocco had a hat trick and led Stanford with eight shots, while Genesis Lucero led the Cardinal with 10 draw controls.
Goalkeeper Trudie Grattan made eight saves and the Pioneers did not score after the 14:53 mark in the second half.
How It Happened
After the Pioneers got an early goal, Baiocco put the Cardinal on the board to tie the game within the first three minutes after the opening draw control. Denver then scored three straight to take a 4-1 lead. Baiocco cut Denver's lead to 4-2 after she scored her second goal of the match.
The Pioneers and Cardinal went goal-for-goal for the next five minutes. Browne scored her first of four goals at the 20:24 mark, while Mikaela Watson scored her first of two goals with 16:34 remaining in the first half to make it 6-4.
However, Denver scored six straight to bring its lead to 12-4 and Stanford was never able to overcome that run.
With one second remaining in the first half, Baiocco scored her third goal. The Cardinal went into halftime trailing 12-5.
Katherine Gjertsen scored right out of the break, but Denver answered with three to bring the score to 15-6.
In the second half, Browne scored an impressive three goals, including two straight, to get the Cardinal back within striking distance.
Down 17-9 with 14:53 to play, Stanford scored four straight to end the game, including two goals from Galen Lew and one each from Watson and Jacie Lemos, but there was not enough time to overcome Denver's early lead.
Numbers
Denver held the advantage in shots (35-31) and ground balls (24-17), while Stanford had a 22-9 advantage in draw controls. The Cardinal was 4-of-10 in free-position shots, while Denver converted on 3-of-6 of its attempts. Stanford committed 23 turnovers, including 16 in the second half.
Next Up
Stanford (0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) returns to action on Friday at 3 p.m. when it hosts No. 8 Virginia at Cagan Stadium.
