March 29, 2009

CHRISTY SCORES FIVE GOALS IN LOSS TO NO. 2 MARYLAND

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Julie Christy scored a career-high five goals for No. 14 Stanford, but it wasn’t enough in a 20-12 loss to No. 2 Maryland in a nonconference women’s lacrosse game Sunday.  Maryland (11-0) scored the first four goals and led 8-2 with scoring from eight different players.

However, Stanford (7-3) got three goals from Christy in the final 10 minutes of the first half to help the Cardinal draw within 12-8, only for Maryland to answer with two goals at the outset of the second half to re-take control. Brittany Jones scored a game-high six for Maryland, a 10-time national champion.

Christy’s total was one away from tying the school single-game record and eclipsed her previous high of four, against Saint Mary’s on March 6.

Sarah Flynn scored Stanford’s final two goals to take over the team goal-scoring lead, with 21, and finished with six goals on the team’s 1-1 trip. Flynn, Lauren Schmidt (19), Dana Lindsay (19) and Christy (18) all are closely bunched atop the team’s leader board.

The 20 goals were the most allowed by Stanford since a 20-6 loss to Cornell in 2002 and the second-most in school history.

Stanford (4-0 in the conference) returns to action with its biggest Mountain Pacific Sports Federation games of the season, at home against Denver (2-0 MPSF) on April 10 and California (2-1) on April 12. A Stanford victory in either game would ensure a first-round bye in the MPSF tournament, to be held at Stanford from April 23-26.

Maryland 20, Stanford 12
Stanford     8 4 – 12
Maryland 12 8 – 20
S – Christy (5 goals, 0 assists), Flynn (2-1), Hubbard (1-2), K. Nesbitt (1-1), Schwab (1-1), Foard (1-1), Lindsay (1-0), Schmidt (0-2).
M – Bri. Jones (6-0), Mollison (4-3), Bra. Jones (2-2), Merrifield (2-1), Johnson (2-1), McFadden (2-0), Taylor (1-1), Spinnenweber (1-0), Poist (0-1).
Records – Stanford 7-3, Maryland 11-0.

March 27, 2009

No. 14 STANFORD DOWNS JOHNS HOPKINS IN LACROSSE

BALTIMORE, Md. – Baltimore native Sarah Flynn scored three goals in a return to her hometown to lead No. 14 Stanford to a 10-7 victory over Johns Hopkins in nonconference women’s lacrosse action Friday.  The sophomore scored the opening goal and led all scorers as the Cardinal (7-2) quickly built a 5-1 lead and the Blue Jays (4-5) never drew closer than three thereafter.  Much of the task of maintaining the lead fell on the shoulders of sophomore goalie Annie Read, who made a career-high 10 saves.  “She kept Hopkins from closing the gap,” Stanford coach Amy Bokker said.

Flynn, one of seven children, was supported by her family. And Stanford, with eight players from Maryland, had a sizable following of friends, family and alums.

“It was almost like we were in front of our home crowd,” Bokker said.  Stanford showed little evidence of rust in its first game in 19 days, owing to a break for Dead Week and winter quarter finals. The Cardinal got two goals apiece from Leslie Foard and Lauren Schmidt, who has 19 goals to share the team goal-scoring lead with Flynn.  “Our offense needed a little bit of work, but the girls were so excited to put on their uniforms and play again,” said Bokker, whose team has won three straight.

The task, however, grows more difficult for Stanford. Next is 10-time national champion Maryland (9-0 going into its game Friday night), the No. 2 team in the country. Gametime is Sunday at 9 a.m. PDT.  Stanford fans can follow the game through live stats that can be found on the Gametracker link at gostanford.com.

Stanford 10, Johns Hopkins 7
Stanford            7 3 – 10
Johns Hopkins  4 3 –  7

S – Flynn (3 goals-0 assists), Foard (2-0), Schmidt (2-0), Lindsay (1-0), Christy (1-0), Siegfried (1-0), K. Nesbitt (0-2), Hubbard (0-1).

JH – Ibello (2-1), Bathras (2-1), Rossi (1-0), Maranto (1-0), McCaffrey (1-0).

Records – Stanford 7-2, Johns Hopkins 4-5.