April 25, 2011
STANFORD, Calif.- Head coach Tara Danielson has announced the 2011 Stanford field hockey schedule, which features four contests against NCAA Tournament squads from a year ago and the return of the NorPac Championship.
The 17-game regular-season schedule includes six contests to be played at the Varsity Turf, including the home opener on Sept. 9 against Indiana.
After starting the season at home for the previous nine years, Stanford will open on the road for the second straight year in 2011. The Cardinal's lid-lifter is a neutral site contest against Hofstra on Aug. 27, kicking off a four-game road swing to begin the year.
Road games against 2010 NCAA Tournament participants Connecticut and Albany follow, on Aug. 28 and Aug. 31, respectively. The extended road stretch concludes with a matchup against Yale on Sept. 3.
Stanford's home opener is slated for Sept. 9 against Indiana at 4 p.m. The first homestand of the year concludes two days later with a visit from Northeastern.
A Sept. 17 contest at Pacific kicks off the start of NorPac play, which will once again feature a round-robin format. Stanford will then play road games at California and UC Davis the following week, as both waves of conference matches are bunched together.
The Cardinal hosts Robert Morris on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m., the first of three night games to be played at the Varsity Turf in 2011.
Another East Coast road trip follows, with Stanford facing Harvard (Oct. 8) and New Hampshire (Oct. 9) on back-to-back days.
Stanford closes out league play with another three-game NorPac stretch, this time at the Varsity Turf. First up is the rematch against Pacific in another Friday night game on Oct. 14, followed by the second game against California two days later.
Senior Night falls on Oct. 21, with UC Davis serving as the Cardinal's opponent.
The regular season wraps up during the final weekend of October with road games at Michigan State and Michigan, both of which qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Stepping out of conference play late in the season against tough non-conference competition allows Stanford to strengthen its postseason resume.
The NorPac Championship returns to the Varsity Turf, getting underway from Nov. 3-5. Stanford has served as the host site for the conference tournament on four occasions (1999, 2002, 2007, 2009). The Cardinal has captured four straight NorPac Tournament championships overall, defeating California in every appearance.
Another potential home game exists in 2011, as the NorPac Tournament champion will host an NCAA Play-In game. It's the first time the NorPac champ has been awarded a host bid since 2007, when Stanford blanked Lock Haven 1-0 at the Varsity Turf.
Stanford (15-6, 5-1 NorPac) was impressive once again in 2010, making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance and capturing the NorPac Tournament title for the fourth straight year. Tara Danielson became the school's winningest first-year head coach, as the Cardinal remained a fixture in the national rankings for all but one week. A 4-2 road upset of No. 8 Wake Forest in late September proved to be a signature victory for Stanford, defeating its highest-ranked opponent since shocking No. 3 Michigan State in 2001. Xanthe Travlos was named an All-American for the second straight season, leading a balanced team attack in which 18 players appeared in at least one game, 15 scored at least one goal and 16 registered at least one point.