STANFORD, Calif.- Michele Polizois' goal at the 5:27 mark of the first period turned out to be all the offense No. 19 Albany would need in a 1-0 shutout of Stanford on Sunday afternoon at the Varsity Field Hockey Turf.

One day after nearly pulling off an upset of No. 4 Iowa before falling 3-2, Stanford dominated play against another nationally-ranked foe but could not pull out the victory.

The Cardinal drops to 1-5 overall with the loss while the Great Danes improve to 4-2 on the year.

Sunday's loss closes out a brutal early-season schedule for the Cardinal, which faced four nationally-ranked opponents through the first six games. Of those six contests, three were decided by one goal.

For the first time this year, Stanford outshot its opponent and controlled tempo for much of the match. The Cardinal held a 14-6 edge in shot attempts and a 10-5 advantage in penalty corners.

Albany got on the board early in the first period, when Polizois was set up by Michelle Simpson and Jess Lindsey following a penalty corner at the 5:27 mark. That gave the Great Danes a 1-0 lead and they were able to limit the Cardinal's scoring chances over the first 35 minutes.

But Stanford has played much better in the second half of games so far this year, and did so once again on Sunday. The Cardinal outshot the Great Danes 11-1 after halftime and held a commanding 10-0 advantage in the penalty corner department.

However, Stanford was unable to execute on those opportunities and instead suffered its first 1-0 home loss since falling by the same score to Iowa back on Sept. 22, 2002.

Sophomore Camille Gandhi led all players with six shots, with almost all of those attempts coming off penalty corners. Gandhi now leads the club with 18 attempts through six games. Junior Midori Uehara chipped in with two shots off the bench while six other players recorded one shot apiece.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Alessandra Moss, who made a career-best 13 saves in yesterday's loss to Iowa, notched four saves.

Stanford now hits the road for a three-game, five-day roads stretch that will feature three matches against conference opponents. The Cardinal opens the week at Appalachian State on Wednesday, Sept. 17, before playing neutral site contests in Davidson, N.C., against Radford (Friday, Sept. 19) and Longwood (Sunday, Sept. 21).