Stanford shut out unranked California on Saturday and returns home after three road games with three victories to its name. The No. 1 Card (16-0-2, 7-0-0 Pac-10) also took down Pac-10 foes Arizona State and Arizona by identical 3-0 scores last weekend. Stanford’s victory over Cal kept its streak of 3-0 wins alive with two goals from senior forward Christen Press and one from junior forward Lindsay Taylor.
For the majority of the game, the ball stayed at Stanford’s feet, and the first goal came in the 19th minute. Press fired a shot that Cal goalkeeper Emily Kruger narrowly deflected, and the ball rolled outside for a corner. Sophomore defender Courtney Verloo stepped in to take the corner for Stanford and sent the ball into the box, where the Cal defense attempted a clear. Junior midfielder Teresa Noyola was there for the settle and passed the ball off to Taylor, who put the ball in the back of the net for the Cardinal’s first goal of the game.
As the rivals continued to face off, Stanford kept high pressure on the Golden Bears’ defense. Minutes after the first goal, in the 25th minute of play, redshirt freshman defender Annie Case fired a throw-in to Press’s feet. Press pounded a shot across the net into the back right corner to raise Stanford’s goal count to two.
At the end of the first half, the Cardinal had outshot Cal 11-2, while Cardinal freshman goalkeeper Emily Oliver didn’t need to get her hands on a single save. The Golden Bears were playing Saturday’s game without senior forward Alex Morgan, the team’s leading scorer. For Cal’s past three seasons, Morgan has held the title of leading scorer, and Cal had to do without her contributions in Saturday’s game while she played with the United States national team at the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football World Cup qualifying tournament. Stanford sophomore defender Alina Garciamendez played for the Mexican national team in the same World Cup qualifier.
The second half of play varied slightly from the first, as the Card continued to pressure Cal’s defense with 12 more shots. The Golden Bears finally put their shots on goal, and Oliver made her only two saves of the game. Even though Oliver didn’t make a wild number of saves on Saturday, her presence is always felt and valued by the team.
“Emily’s a very good goalkeeper,” said Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe. “Whenever she’s asked, she makes big plays.”
In the 87th minute, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Aly Gleason subbed in for Oliver. Gleason’s time on the field during Saturday’s game marked her first minutes of collegiate play.
Just a few minutes before the goalkeeper substitution took place, Christen Press scored the final goal of the game and her 21st of the season. Press is second in the Stanford record books in goals scored in one season, as Kelley O’Hara still holds the record at 26 goals. Using her speed, Press took advantage of a breakaway and beat Kruger, putting the ball away in an open net in the 81st minute of play. Press had 10 shots in the game, followed by six from Taylor, whose goal in the 19th minute was her ninth goal of the season. Overall, Stanford took a total of 23 shots and held the Bears to only five, continuing its 3-0 shutout streak.
“It was a dominating performance.” Ratcliffe said. “The entire team played well. We had a good marking on the ball, great goals. It was a top-class performance.”
The Cardinal will close regular season play and defend its unbeaten season when it faces both Oregon State and Oregon this weekend. Last season, Stanford had a perfect record of 25-0 before losing 1-0 to North Carolina in the final of the NCAA Tournament.
Stanford will play Oregon State at 8 p.m. on Friday and Oregon at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.