University of Georgia
No. 2 Stanford
Soccer Drops Overtime Heartbreaker To Stanford
September 11, 2010 | Soccer
PALO ALTO, Calif. --- The No. 23 Georgia soccer team led at halftime but ended with a 2-1 overtime loss at the hand of second-ranked and 2009 national runner-up Stanford on the road at Cagan Stadium Friday night, part of the Stanford Nike Invitational.
The Bulldogs (4-2) were lifted by senior Marah Falle's chip shot over the Stanford keeper in the 15th minute and held the 1-0 lead through halftime. But Georgia surrendered the tying goal with 12 minutes left in the second half and allowed the winner with just 39 seconds on the clock in the first extra period. Stanford improves to 3-0-2 on the year with tonight's win in their home opener. The Cardinal have now gone 27 straight games at home without a loss.
"No question we played incredibly well tonight and we knew that to get a result we needed to be at our best," said head coach Steve Holeman. "Our defense was phenomenal and Ashley Baker was big-time in goal. It's disappointing because I think we had them. We had chances to win this game and didn't get it done, but we are proud of the girls. They fought hard and showed that they can play with anybody in the country, because Stanford is one of best teams I've ever seen play."
Stanford led Georgia in the shot column in both halves of regulation, including an 11-4 clip in the first frame. But Falle broke though to put the Bulldogs on the board first, taking a long cross from Kelli Corless stationed on the right, settling and chipping it over keeper Kira Makers into the net with 14:21 elapsed in the contest. It was the first of the season for Falle, who earned her second start of the season tonight.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Ashley Baker was brilliant in goal in the first half, keeping the Bulldogs on top as the first 45:00 came to a close. Baker finished the first half with five saves and ended with a career-best 11 in all.
The teams continued to battle after halftime, until with just 12 minutes to go in regulation leading-scorer Christen Press lofted a Camille Levin pass perfectly into the upper 90 and out of the reach of Baker to even the score at one all. It was the fourth of the season for Press.
The Bulldogs kept the pressure on in looking for the go-ahead down the stretch, but the second half came to a close with the scoreboard still reading 1-1.
With just 39 seconds to go in the first extra period, Stanford's Rachel Quon sent a cross in from the right flag where a bunch of players from both sides waited. The ball took a tough bounce and ricocheted past Baker into the bottom right side to push the Cardinal ahead, 2-1, in the 100th minute of play. The sudden-victory goal was ultimately credited to Press, her second of the night and fifth of the season.
Stanford ended the night taking 23 shots to Georgia's 11, and leading the Bulldogs in corners, 4-2. Baker's 11 saves were the highlight of the night for UGA, as the first-year starting netminder kept the Bulldogs right there with Stanford all night.
Freshman winger Alexa Newfield led Georgia with six shots, four of which found the frame. Falle took two shots for Georgia. Press fired 12 of the Cardinal's 23 shots. Falle's goal was the first scored by a Bulldog senior this year.
Tonight's loss snapped the Bulldogs' four-game winning streak and was their third consecutive road game.
Georgia is now 1-2 all-time vs. Stanford.
The Bulldogs will stay put in northern California tomorrow and will face ninth-ranked Santa Clara here Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Keep up with the action on Georgiadogs.com with both live stats and the live blog. Santa Clara improved to 4-1-1 in the first game of the tournament tonight, defeating the University of the Pacific by a score of 2-1. Stanford and Pacific will meet Sunday afternoon.
