Sept. 15, 2007

Box Score |  Travel 

Palo Alto, Calif. - The top-ranked Stanford Cardinal (5-0-0, 0-0 Pac-10) defeated the 20th-ranked University of Missouri women's soccer team (4-1-0, 0-0 Big 12), 3-2, Friday night in Palo Alto, Calif. The Tigers kept the game close, tying it at 2-2 in the 77th minute with a Michelle Collins goal, but in the 88th minute, Stanford cashed in on their sixth corner kick to remain undefeated and escape the upset bid.

"Our team showed tremendous character, tonight," Tiger Head Coach Bryan Blitz said. "We came back late in the game and we were in position to win it."

Most of the first half was quiet, with each team getting their chances, but neither offense dominating the game. At the end of the half, Stanford led Mizzou in shots, 4-3.

In the 38th minute, Stanford's All-Pac-10 forward Kelley O'Hara, the Cardinal's leading goal scorer with three on the season, collided with Mizzou's starting goalkeeper, Tasha Dittamore near the top of the box. Both players were forced to sit out the rest of the game. Tiger goalkeeper and forward, Mallory Forst, switched jerseys and went in goal for Mizzou.

Just about six minutes after Forst assumed the goalkeeping duties, she faced her first penalty kick of the season.

In the 44th minute, just before halftime, Tiger defender Kat Tarr fouled Stanford's Christen Press in the box, giving the Cardinal a penalty kick. Midfielder Shari Summers took the kick and drove it to the left post, outside of Forst's diving reach. That goal gave Stanford a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

The Tigers tied the game a little more than four minutes into the second half, as Pleasant Hill, Calif. Native Kristin Andrighetto took a pass from Ashley Hamblin in the middle of the box and put it past Stanford keeper Erica Holland to tie the game at 1-1.

The tie would not last long, however. Just more than three minutes after Andrighetto's fifth goal of the season, Stanford's Morgan Redman scored her second, from a Press cross. Press crossed it from the right side, about 20 yards out, to Redman, who was camped out on the left side of the goal. Redman put it past Forst to give the Cardinal the lead once again, at 2-1.

But the Tigers would not give up. In the 77th minute, with only 13:30 left, Hamblin passed the ball ahead to Andrighetto, who played it to Collins in the middle of the box. Collins found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2 late in the second half. The goal was Collins' fourth of the year.

But like after Mizzou's first goal, the No. 1-ranked Cardinal had an answer. With just more than two minutes to go, Stanford got a corner kick, that would give them a goal, and eventually the game. Lizzy George served it to the far side of the goal, where Allison Falk found it and headed it off the crossbar. Falk jumped up again and headed it past Forst to give the Cardinal a 3-2 lead.

Mizzou would get another corner kick, and one last shot by Forst, who came out of the box to try to tie the game, but her shot went high and the Tigers fell for the first time this season.

"We grew as a team tonight," Blitz said. "And that is one of the reasons we came out here. We're looking forward to Sunday's game against a very good Santa Clara team."

3rd-ranked Santa Clara escaped an upset bid earlier in the evening, as they defeated No. 12 Rutgers, 2-1, in the second ten-minute overtime. The Scarlet Knights were up 1-0 with about two minutes left, when Courtney Lewis tied the game at 1-1. In the second ten minutes of overtime, Katherine Reynolds scored the game-winning goal to keep the Broncos undefeated at 3-0-1.

Game Notes

Final shot total: Mizzou 12 Stanford 13

Corner kicks: Mizzou 3 Stanford 6

Fouls: Mizzou 15 Stanford 9

The Cardinal goal in the 44th minute was the first goal an opponent has scored on the Mizzou defense in 284 minutes and 55 seconds.

Stanford had only given up two goals in its first four games.

Hamblin's two assists are her first two points of the season.

Andrighetto now leads the team in points with 11 after a goal and an assist in Friday night's game.

Stanford's Ali Riley is playing for New Zealand in the 2007 Women's World Cup.

Injury Note:

Tiger freshman forward Krista Kruse broke her nose in last Sunday's game against Western Michigan and did not make the trip with the team.

Up Next:

The Tigers will face No. 3 Santa Clara Sunday (Sept. 16) at 1 p.m. (CT) to finish the Stanford Invitational. Once again, Gametracker will not be available for the game, but check MUTigers.com after the game for a complete recap and statistics