SANTA CLARA, Calif. – No. 9 Stanford (7-1-1) surrendered two early goals, but battled to score the final two in a 2-2 tie with Santa Clara (2-5-1) from a rain-soaked Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Santa Clara's Izzy D'Aquila scored in the second and 22nd minutes to stake the Broncos, who were celebrating move-in weekend and hosted 3,411 fans, to the early 2-0 lead.
Junior Samantha Williams managed to cut the deficit in half with a goal in the 34th minute, receiving a through pass from Amy Sayer and firing it into the back of the net. For Williams, the goal was her fourth of the season.
The Cardinal, which outshot Santa Clara 18-9, chased the equalizer throughout the second half, putting up 11 total shots in the second stanza – including a pair off the cross bar.
Never surrendering, Stanford finally found the equalizer in the 89th minute as freshman Jasmine Aikey dribbled toward the top of the box and earned a free kick. Aikey, who had laced an earlier free kick off the crossbar in the 87th minute, curled her shot past the wall and into the bottom corner of the net to hand Stanford the draw. The goal was Aikey's first of her career.
Junior Ryan Campbell faced nine total shots from the Broncos, including four on goal, while making two saves. On the other side, Marlee Nicolos and Kylie Foutch split the 90 minutes for Santa Clara, with each allowing one goal and posting a pair of saves.
Stanford will now prepare for Pac-12 play beginning with a match at USC on Friday at 2 p.m.
