Sports
Stanford in NCAA Tournament Action
Aisling Cuffe helped the Stanford women's cross country team finish third in the NCAA championships in Louisville over the weekend.
The Stanford women's cross-country team placed third in the NCAA Championships on Saturday to earn their highest national finish since winning the title in 2007.
Paced by sophomore Aisling Cuffe, Stanford’s top four finished within 15 seconds of each other, from places 21 through 43, at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Cardinal men finished 16th. It was a difficult performance for a team that entered the meet with a No. 2 national ranking. Benjamin Johnson led Stanford with a 48th place finish.
In the 6,000-meter (3.7-mile) women’s race, Iowa State’s Betsy Saina outsprinted Oregon’s Jordan Hasay down the stretch to win in 19:27.9. Though Hasay dropped to third, she led the Ducks to the team title, with 114 points, followed by Providence (183) and Stanford (198).
Find out what's happening in Palo Altofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Stanford’s Pac-12 champion Kathy Kroeger ran in the top 10 for much of the race, but was unable to hold the pace and dropped to 24th in 20:05.0, close behind Cuffe, who was 21st in 20:03.8. Hatton, a freshman, was right behind in 28th, in 20:06.2, and Jessica Tonn was 43rd in 20:18.8.
Stanford, ranked No. 4 coming into the meet, was the only team to place its top four among the top 43.
Justine Fedronic, Stanford’s 800-meter record-holder, emerged in the top seven late in the season and was a personal-best fifth on the team, finishing 150th in 21:05.5. Julia Foster was 161st (21:11.9) and Megan Lacy was 189th (21:27.5).
This was the first time Cuffe finished as Stanford’s No. 1 runner since winning the season-opening USF Invitational in Golden Gate Park on Sept. 1 – a meet that Kroeger did not run.
In the 10,000-meter (6.2-mile) men’s race, Arizona’s Lawi Lalang, who outpointed Stanford’s Chris Derrick to win last year’s title in Terre Haute, Ind., lost for the first time in his collegiate career. The sophomore finished third, behind Texas Tech junior Kennedy Kithuka (28:31.3) and Arizona teammate Stephen Sambu (28:38.6).
Top-ranked Oklahoma State placed four runners among the top 24, and its entire top five among the top 53, to win with 72 points. Wisconsin was second with 135 and Pac-12 champion Colorado was third with 158.
Stanford, which scored 408 points, was led by two runners who had their high team finishes of the season. Johnson, a senior from Albuquerque, N.M., was Stanford’s No. 1 for the first time this year. He ran 30:15.9.
Erik Olson, who hadn’t finished higher than fifth on the team in any race this season, was Stanford’s No. 2, finishing 87th in 30:37.3. Joe Rosa, normally Stanford’s No. 1, was 112th (30:51.2). Next for the Cardinal were Tyler Stutzman (137th, 31:02.5), Miles Unterreiner (140th, 31:03.2), and Jim Rosa (166th, 31:16.7. Stanford’s No. 7 runner did not finish.
In women's soccer action, goals by Alex Doll, Nina Watkins, and Chioma Ubogagu enabled No. 1 Stanford to beat Denver, 3-0, in the third round of the NCAA tournament Sunday, setting up a quarterfinal with Pac-12 rival UCLA.
Stanford (20-1-1) will play host to the Bruins (18-2-2), a 3-0 winner over San Diego State, on Friday at 7 p.m. at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. This will be a rematch of Stanford's 2-1 comeback victory in Westwood on October 28 that clinched a fourth consecutive conference championship for the Cardinal.
Doll opened the scoring in the ninth minute on a first-time shot from 12 yards to give the Cardinal all it needed to extend its home unbeaten streak to 66 and its home NCAA tournament winning streak to 19.
Stanford advanced to the quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive season and, in doing so, is one victory away from completing an undefeated home career for its 10 seniors. The class of 2013 is 51-0-1 at Cagan Stadium and 93-3-4 overall.
Watkins, a senior and San Francisco native, lauched a 25-yard volley into the upper corner in the 57th minute and Ubogagu completed the scoring after Sydney Payne's pass released the sophomore on a breakaway.
The shutout was the 11th of the season for Stanford, which has outscored opponents 57-13 this season.
Tickets for the UCLA match can be purchased online at gostanford.com.
Don't miss news that's important to you Subscribe to our daily newsletter.
|Like us on Facebook|Blog for us | Follow us on Twitter|
