Oct. 26, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif.- The Pacific field hockey team said farewell to its six seniors on Sunday Oct. 26, with a NorPac Conference matchup against northern California rival Stanford. The Tigers fell 2-1 to the Cardinal in penalty strokes, in a thrilling battle between the two teams. Pacific fell to 5-10 overall and 4-2 in NorPac play, while Stanford moved to 5-10 overall and 4-2 in the NorPac.
The first half started fairly slow for both teams, with strong defense taking control. Stanford earned a penalty corner 3:14 into the game, only to have it stopped on a defensive save by junior Katy McDonough (Ventura, Calif.). The teams went back and forth for several minutes, until Stanford got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Stephanie Byrne, as she was assisted by Xanthe Travlos, to put Stanford up 1-0.
The aggressive play continued, as both teams combined for eight penalty corners in the half. Senior goalie Kelly Miller (Monterey, Calif.) came up big for the Tigers with a blocked shot against Camille Ghandi at the 33:16 point, to keep the game close. Pacific's defense came through once more in the first half as junior Lisa Muhl (Harleysville, Pa.) earned a defensive save with only thirty-eight seconds left in the half. As time expired in the first half of play, Pacific entered half-time within striking distance of the Cardinal, down 1-0.
The Tigers started off the second half with the same aggressive tone that they had in the first. They pushed hard on the offensive end and held their ground on defense. Their effort was rewarded as Pacific earned five penalty corners in the second half, to Stanford's one. Miller made another save, as she stopped a shot by Katherine Donner at the 42:34 mark to keep the Tigers within one. Several minutes went by, and again Stanford took a shot on goal, but missed wide. The Tigers drew a penalty corner at 58:11 by senior Melissa McGhee (LaVerne, Calif.), as she passed the ball to Muhl. Muhl then dribbled past her defender and took the shot and scored to even things up midway through the second half, 1-1.
The teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the half, but as the clock ran out the teams were still tied, forcing the game to overtime.
The first overtime period began with excitement right out of the gate. McDonough took a shot at the 73:02 mark, and barely missed wide, much to the dismay of the crowd. Pacific recovered and went on to put up their best defensive stance of the game. Stanford earned six penalty corners in the period, but Pacific stopped each one. Miller totaled four saves in the period. At the end of the first overtime, the score remained tied, so the teams headed to a second overtime period.
At the beginning of the second overtime Pacific's McDonough drew a penalty corner. The ensuing shot from Muhl was saved by Stanford's goalie and the Tigers immediately got the ball back off a steal and McDonough got the ball again and fired off a shot. Her shot barely missed the cage, just leaking wide at the last second. Miller snared another save as she grabbed the shot by Ghandi at 90:28. Twenty seconds later Stanford earned another penalty corner, and again was unable to capitalize on the shot attempt. The teams continued to exchange shot after shot throughout the period, as Pacific outshot the Cardinal 4-3, until the Tigers just missed capitalizing on a penalty corner with 13 seconds remaining. Time ran out in overtime, which gave way to the thrilling occurrence of penalty strokes to determine the winner.
Pacific was first to shoot in penalty strokes and senior Sasha Larsen (Vista, Calif.)'s shot was saved by Moss to start. Stanford then converted their first attempt to take a 1-0 lead in penalty strokes. Six consecutive goals were scored from this point, as Muhl, senior Erica Nestle (San Jose, Calif.) and sophomore Rachel Taylor (Southampton, N.Y.) all scored for the Tigers. Pacific trailed 4-3 in shots, with one shooter left for each team. Junior Kim Keyawa (Chico, Calif.) had to make her shot to extend the game, as the crowd and teams waited with anticipation. Keyawa fired her shot, and Stanford's goalie was able to slide her body in front of the ball to give Stanford the 2-1 victory over the Tigers.
Pacific was led by Muhl, who scored the Tigers' lone goal of the contest. Miller totaled eight saves on the game in goal.
Stanford was led by Byrne who netted the only goal for the Cardinal, and Alessandra Moss had five saves on the game.
Pacific is next in action Saturday November 1, in an exhibition game against rival UC Davis. Game time is set for 3:00pm.
