April 23, 2017
STANFORD, Calif. – The visiting San Diego State lacrosse team came up on wrong side of a 19-8 score at Stanford on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both sides at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
Despite the setback, the Aztecs (9-7, 3-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) clinched the fifth seed at the MPSF Tournament, where they will square off against No. 4 seed Oregon on Thursday, April 27, starting at 4 p.m. PT in Los Angeles, Calif. Meanwhile, the Cardinal (11-5, 6-2 MPSF) enter the championship as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed California in the other quarterfinal match-up earlier that same day.
Against Stanford, SDSU received goals from five different players, including a hat trick by senior Kristen Hickey, while fellow classmate Ijeoma Ikpe finished with two strikes of her own. In addition, seniors Alex Watson, Kayla Deitz and Erin Jeffery notched single markers for the Scarlet and Black, while sophomores Jill Haight and Harlowe Steele contributed three draw controls apiece.
Trailing 1-0 early in the first half, the Aztecs tied the score on a free position shot by Deitz with 26:40 remaining in the period before the Cardinal reeled off three straight goals to take the lead for good. After Hickey's goal at the 20:23 mark cut the deficit to 4-2, Stanford closed with a 7-2 surge to build a comfortable 11-4 advantage by intermission.
SDSU was unable to match the Cardinal's firepower in the second half, as the host school tallied three quick strikes in the first 1:42 of the period to put the game out of reach at 14-4.
Stanford's Kelsey Murray led all players with seven points on four goals and three assists, while teammate Elizabeth Cusick finished with four markers of her own.
As a team, the Cardinal outshot the Aztecs by a 35-15 margin, including a 23-7 spread in the decisive first half, while maintaining a 23-11 advantage in ground balls and a 17-12 edge in draw controls. In addition, Stanford went 12-for-13 (.923) on clears, compared to SDSU's 11-for-15 clip (.733).
In front of the net, Aztec senior goalkeeper Katrina Reeves made four saves to go with a game-high five ground balls, while her Cardinal counterpart Allie DaCar made five stops before giving way to Maddie Belin with just under 10 minutes to go in the game.