March 28, 2011

Stanford, Calif. - No. 7 Stanford returns home this week for a pair of games at Cagan Stadium. First, the Cardinal will face Brown at 4pm on Tuesday, March 29, before taking on Cal in a big MPSF matchup on Friday, April 1, at 7pm.

After winning its first eight games, Stanford finally dropped a game, Sunday at No. 15 Vanderbilt. The 8-1 Cardinal will look to get back to its winning ways Tuesday against the 5-2 Brown Bears. Stanford is undefeated at home this year and has a 19 game winning streak at Cagan Stadium, dating back to 2009.

Stanford in 1-2 all-time against Brown, but has not played the Bears since 2003 when the Cardinal came away with a 16-7 win. The Bears are coming off two-straight wins and are 2-1 on the road this season. They are led by Kaela McGilloway and Bre Hudgins who each have 18 goals on the year.

The Cardinal continues to be one of the top scoring teams in the nation, averaging 15.67 goals per game. Leslie Foard leads the Cardinal with 22 goals and 30 points. She is also the team leader with 21 draw controls. Overall, the Cardinal have had a balanced attack with seven players already with 10 or more goals.

Friday night, the Cardinal will resume the MPSF portion of the schedule with a conference game versus Cal. Stanford is already 1-0 in conference this season after defeating Fresno State earlier this year. Cal is 8-4 overall this season, but is also undefeated in MPSF play with wins over UC Davis and Saint Mary's.

Overall, Stanford is 22-7 against Cal including defeating the Golden Bears 9-7 in last year's MPF tournament. Overall, Stanford has knocked off Cal five straight times with the Golden Bears last winning during the regular season in 2008. Stanford has also knocked Cal out of the MPSF tournament for three consecutive years.

The Golden Bears are led by Tara Arolla with 29 goals, while Megan Takacs and Vail Horn each have 21 goals.

The Cal game will mark the first of five straight conference games for Stanford before it closes the season at No. 2 Northwestern. The Cardinal will then seek the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament by trying to win a fifth-consecutive MPSF tournament in Moraga as Saint Mary's will play host this season.