Womens Soccer: Irish fall to top-ranked Cardinal in Sweet 16 on late goal
By ANDY TROEGER
Sports Writer
Stanford's womens soccer team came into their third-round match with Notre Dame having allowed only four goals all season and the No. 1 ranked Cardinal showed why Saturday night, ending Notre Dame's season with a 1-0 victory.
The underdog Irish played evenly with Stanford for 80 minutes thanks to brilliant play by goalkeeper Erika Bohn and gutsy play from a shorthanded Irish squad. But Stanford's Marcia Wallis scored the game winner for Stanford with nine minutes left in regulation.
Notre Dame lost All-American candidate Candace Chapman from the defense early in the first half, while junior midfielder Randi Scheller was forced from the game in the final minutes as the Irish continued to suffer from the injury bug that has hurt the team all season.
"Candace is a very special player who adds so much of a different dimension," said Irish coach Randy Waldrum. "When she went out of the game, that was a big blow for us.
We were just piecemealing the group together at the end, and the depth just caught up with us."
Freshman Maggie Manning replaced Chapman in the lineup. Manning entered in the midfield with sophomore Mary Boland moving back to the defense.
The Irish came out in a different formation in the second half, dropping one of the forwards back into the midfield to make up for the loss of Chapman.
"If we could have kept playing with three up front, we felt like we could throw something at them that they weren't used to seeing," said Waldrum.
Despite the injuries and strong opponent, the Irish, who came out in green jerseys for the first time since the 1999 College Cup semifinals, battled Stanford equally throughout. The Cardinal held only a 6-5 advantage in shots on goal, with a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Stanford's score came off an Irish goal kick. Midfielder Callie Withers passed to Wallis who hit from 16 yards out.
"If they did get shots, they were from pretty far out," said junior defender Melissa Tancredi. "That was our game plan, but one slip cost us."
Stanford will ride a 14-game winning streak into the quarterfinals, having recorded 12 shutouts during that streak.
"Stanford has a great team that is capable of winning it all," said Waldrum. "We have gone through an incredible year with as many as six or seven key people out … and for us to make a run at the end of the year like we did, I'm really proud of our kids. They have been incredible."
All Sports Stories for Monday, November 25, 2002
