Stanford Speeds Past Harvard With Quick Play

On a day when the penalty corner was essential, the Harvard field hockey (6-4, 2-1 Ivy) team failed to draw enough fouls to defeat a tough Stanford squad (10-1, 3-0 NorPac).

The Crimson’s winning streak ended at four, as Harvard fell, 4-1, to the seventh-ranked Cardinal on Saturday in front of a sizeable crowd at Jordan Field.

Down two goals—both of which came off penalties—the hosts entered the second period gaining momentum and threatened to half the deficit with a penalty corner of its own.

But Stanford’s quickness from the goal thwarted the Crimson’s attempts to score, and soon afterwards, at the 49:49 mark, the Cardinal put one in the back of the net after a series of quick passes, giving it a three-goal advantage, which Harvard was unable to overcome.

“We were hoping to get more corners,” junior forward Emma Keller said. “We only drew two today. They move their feet. Their hands are low; sticks are down, so it was really hard to draw corners today. But we scored one out of two [penalty corners]. We’ve been working a lot on those.”

“I think we played very well,” Crimson coach Sue Caples said. “They’re a very strong team. We competed 70 minutes. It came down to speed of execution. I think we have to do some things a little sooner, and we got a little unlucky on defensive corners.”

Three out of the four goals Stanford scored came on the penalty corner, which showcased the speed the Cardinal had throughout the game.

“Their offensive penalty corners were really fast,” Keller noted. “They were great.”

The first half was a hard-fought battle, with Stanford pulling ahead with two goals on the penalty corner. Defender Becky Dru scored on a low hard blast to the left at the eight-minute mark, and defender Kelsey Lloyd put one in from the left goal post after two quick passes at 16:50.

“Sometimes you just get little deflections,” Caples said. “They had a rocket of a shot. We actually were anticipating more drag flicks, but we really didn’t see that. They just executed on corners, and those were well done.”

Keller had the lone goal for the Crimson on the day, scoring on a penalty corner at 58:25 on a tap-in by the left goal post.

“We ran a slant to Georgia, and I was inserting and went to the top,” said Keller. “[It was sent] over toward [sophomore] Rachael [Rosenfeld] for the shot. [She] tipped it, and it landed right it front of me, and I just popped it in.”

Dru topped off the scoring for the Cardinal near the end of the game at 67:33, with a very similar shot to her first goal.

Despite being outshot, 23-5, on the game, Harvard demonstrated the ability to put pressure on Stanford throughout.

“We’re pretty happy with everyone’s effort, especially on the press,” co-captain Carly Dickson said. “The forwards did really well. We had a couple different presses we wanted to use on them, and they did a good job with all of them.”

“We did a great job pressing and transitioning seamlessly,” Caples added. “It was impressive. We think of a press as being attack-oriented, and we did a great job in the organization of that.”

Although the Crimson executed the press well, the Cardinal was able to use its speed to thwart almost every opportunity Harvard was building, especially near the net.

“We need to be able to penetrate the circle and get some more shots or at least draw some corners,” Caples said. “Those were tough to come by for us today.”

“Their flat-stick tackles are great,” Dickson added. “They’re very solid on defense, [and] they have good positioning.”

Goalkeeper Cynthia Tassopoulos made eight saves on the day, keeping the Crimson in it for most of the game.

“Cyn was as ever rock solid in the goal cage,” Caples said.

With Stanford being probably one of the best teams Harvard will face all year, the team was proud with its performance against the seventh-ranked team in the nation, and it hopes to use this tough matchup as a building block for the rest of the season.

“We did more than hang in there,” Caples said. “We competed. We played with them … These are the ones you love to play to see how you measure up.”

“We like playing these types of games because it picks up our level of speed and our level of play,” Keller said. “When you play a tough team like this, it brings out the best in you.”

We were tested and we tested them and we’re a better team after today. But now what do we do, what’s next, and that’s exciting to see.”