Sept. 23, 2011

Final Stats

STANFORD -

The No. 8 Stanford Cardinal defended their home turf Friday night, handing the No. 12 California Golden Bears a 3-2 defeat. Junior forward Rachelle Comeau scored both of Cal's goals.

The Cardinal scored just over a minute and a half into the game when Kelsey Lloyd took a hard, quick shot from just inside the circle that banged into the goal over the head of Cal senior keeper Maddie Hand.

The Bears answered a minute and a half later. Sophomore midfielder Shannon Elmitt smoked a pass from outside the circle to right in front of the net. Junior forward Rachelle Comeau fought off multiple defenders to knock it in to tie the game, 1-1.

The game remained tied until early in the second half when Stanford scored on back-to-back penalty corners, going up 3-1 with 30 minutes remaining in the game.

"The difference in the game was five minutes and two corners," said head coach Shellie Onstead. "So, in a sense, this is something easy to address. It's not like there were any big issues. It is just not letting up for those five minutes." Comeau had a good opportunity with just over 11 minutes remaining, taking a hard shot right at the goalkeeper, but the Cardinal came up with the save. Comeau took another shot after gathering up her own rebound, but the follow-up flew wide of the cage.

Sophomore forward Andrea Earle got a breakaway with just under two minutes left to play, passing the ball off to Comeau who knocked it in for her second goal of the game, making it a 3-2 contest.

The Bears had the momentum after the goal, but could not translate it into the tying score, falling 3-2 to the Cardinal.

"I thought we might get enough momentum off of that to get it done," Onstead said. "Give me five more minutes and we might have gotten it done."

The loss was just Cal's second of the season, falling to 7-2 on the season and 1-1 in the NorPac. Stanford improves to 7-1 and 2-0 in the NorPac.

"As usual, it was a hard-fought Stanford-Cal contest," Onstead said. "I feel like we stepped up really well in the second half. We had a lot more control of the game in the second half than in the first. We can expect more every time we play them."

Comeau now has six goals this season, tied for second on the team. Earle added another assists to her team-leading point total (23 - 9 goals, 5 assists). Elmitt's assist was her fourth of the season.

Hand played the entire game in goal, logging seven saves, six of those coming in the first half.

The Bears are back at home on Sunday, Sept. 25 when they host the Pacific Tigers in another NorPac contest. Sunday is also the Bears "Stick it to Cancer" game where fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game in support of cancer awareness.