STANFORD, Calif. -- No. 12 Stanford handed California field hockey its first loss in America East action, defeating the Golden Bears 4-0 at Varsity Turf on The Farm. Cal falls to 9-5 on the season, and 4-1 in conference play.
After taking a win over the Cardinal earlier this season, the Bears entered the game full of energy but struggled to find their rhythm, which ultimately resulted in three first-half goals for Stanford. The Cardinal were able to score two goals off of penalty corners, unleashing a barrage of offense in the 33rd minute to score two goals within one minute.
The Bears found themselves overpowered after the first 35 minutes of play, with Stanford tallying an 11-2 difference in shots and 5-1 difference in penalty corners.
After recalibrating at the half, Cal came out with markedly improved effort in the final 35 minutes, limiting Stanford to just three chances in the semicircle in the second half and stopping their penalty chances altogether. Stanford added just one more goal to its total as Clemence Couteau received the wayward ball just outside the cage and tapped it in.
Despite the loss, head coach Shellie Onstead was encouraged by her team's improvement after the halftime break.
“It was definitely a disappointing first half. That being said, we corrected it after the first half and that's a big improvement from the last time we were down that much from halftime, so I'm going to take it as a step forward and just try to build on that second half,” she said.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kori Griswold tallied four saves in the loss. Her Stanford counterpart, Dulcie Davies, tallied three saves off of shots from juniors Syndey Earle and Nicole Henriksson and sophomore Mara Gutierrez.
The Bears also saw more than 400 fans in attendance as field hockey alumnae from around the globe traveled to Stanford to support Cal and its seniors, Kristen Lee and Clara Goni, on Senior Day.
“The alumni were amazing. It was the biggest crowd I've seen at one of our games,” Onstead said. “I know they targeted this day to support the team and I'm so proud of them.”
On opening-weekend performance:
It was definitely a disappointing first half. That being said, we corrected it after the first half and that's a big improvement from the last time we were down that much from halftime, so I'm going to take it as a step forward and just try to build on that second half.
On fan support:
The alumni were amazing. It was the biggest crowd I've seen at one of our games. I know they targeted this day to support the team and I'm so proud of them. We've got all generations here, all the way back to the 80s.
Stanford's Goals
17:31 – Sarah Helgeson (unassisted)
33:24 – Katie Keyser (unassisted)
33:49 – Fran Tew (assisted by Clemence Couteau)
56:56 – Clemence Couteau (unassisted)
News & Notes
This is Cal's third shutout loss of the season.
All three shutouts have come at the hands of top 12-ranked teams: No. 12 Louisville (1-0), No. 1 UConn (10-0) and Stanford (4-0)
Next Up
Cal is Buckeye State-bound for a pair of matches against Kent State and Ohio State. The weekend opens Saturday, Oct. 24 against Kent State in Columbus, Ohio at 10 a.m. PT and wraps up with Ohio State at 10 a.m. the following day.
