Monthly Archives: February 2014

Stanford Trudges Through UC Davis

Davis, CA Saturday February 15, 2014

Cold off a missed game with Chico the weekend before, the Stanford Women headed to face UC Davis, and in the end came away with a 19 – 5 victory.

The very physical game started rough for the Cardinal women, who were scored on first by Davis, who missed their conversion. The Stanford women did not bring their usual A-game to the set pieces, losing their first of four offensive scrums, and only succeeding in winning the last of 5 defensive scrums. The Cardinal also only won two of their six offensive lineouts, and managed to win only the first of four defensive line outs. One try was scored by Junior Chelsea Harris, and the conversion by 5th year senior Aly Gleason was good, so the Stanford women exited the half in a two point lead over Davis.

In the second half Stanford showed improvement in some areas, managing to win all of their offensive scrums, but unfortunately they also created nine defensive scrums, none of which they were able to recover. Sadly no improvement was made in the offensive lineout, with two of the three being handed over due to the throw not being straight. Defensively, however there was quite an improvement, with the Stanford women taking the UC Davis ball in all but one of the five lineouts of the half. All in all the Stanford performance resulted in a very close attempt at scoring by Davis, which was thwarted due to good red zone defense, and two more tries, from rookie freshman Madda Wilson. Aly Gleason was good for one of the two conversions. Stanford ended the game at 19-5.

While Stanford was able to grind out the win, players were not completely satisfied with the team’s performance.

The second game of the day was a solid performance by all, which ended with a score of 33-10. Many of Stanford’s rookies had strong performances, including number 9 Esther Melton, who put up points.

Next Up:Stanford takes on the Cal bears once again for Big Game round 2, this time at home at Steuber Stadium

Stanford Dominates Cal Women

Berkeley, CA Saturday February 1, 2014

In their first league match of the season, against the Cal women on Witter Field, the Stanford Cardinal played a strong game, ending in a 81-7 victory over the Golden Bears.

The Stanford women started the game with an unlucky dropped kick off, leading Cal to regain possession and fight for territory. The Cardinal defense quickly turned the ball over however, and junior Allie Ballesteros scored the first try of the game, followed by a conversion by 5th year senior Aly Gleason, giving Stanford a 7-0 lead less than 5 minutes in. Cal scored in return, taking advantage of a lost lineout from the kickoff to put up their only points of the day at the 7 minute mark. The Stanford women dominated possession through the remainder of the half, scoring seven uncontested tries, with three missed conversions, ending the half at 50-7.

The second half saw more of the same from the Stanford women, who continued to have a good performance both offensively and defensively. Berkeley’s number 13 repeatedly challenged the Stanford defense, but was unable to put more points on the board. Tries for Stanford were scored by both returning and rookie players alike. The final score of the match was 81-7.

Though Stanford ended the match with a very strong lead, players recognized that there were many areas where improvement could be made. “I think we had a great introduction to league play today. The win felt great, but we also really learned a lot from Cal, especially their number 13, about what we can work on,” said senior prop Maxine Fonua.

In the second game of the day, the Cardinal moved to a different field, but did not let that put them off their game. There was a strong showing from the rookie players, who came out strong against Cal’s second team. They worked hard in both halves of the game to come away with the win, 45-15.

Next Up:Stanford takes on the UC Davis aggies at their home field in Davis, CA on Saturday February 15th.