LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Elizabeth Cusick’s four goals coupled with a dominant Cardinal defense and finesse in the penalty kill led the way to the second NCAA Tournament win in program history with a 9-8 victory over James Madison Friday afternoon at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
The Cardinal (15-4) sloughed off a sluggish start in the first half that saw JMU jump out to a 2-1 lead, but the Cardinal never let it widen as they flipped the script to score five unanswered goals on the Dukes to open up a 6-2 advantage. A key moment in the half came when a JMU goal was called back due to an illegal stick to keep the Cardinal’s momentum rolling.
The Dukes (10-10) proved scrappy, never giving up from start to finish, as they were able to outdraw Stanford 7-5 in the first half. Elizabeth Cusick provided the offensive magic the Cardinal needed, netting three of her four goals to pave the way. Stanford outshot JMU 13-8, ringing the bell six times to take a 6-5 lead into the break.
The Cardinal came out with an altered game plan in the second half as it crushed JMU on draw controls, winning six of the seven. An uncanny event happened next as both teams went 20 minutes without either scoring before JMU broke the drought to stalemate the score at six all.
The Cardinal answered with three unanswered goals in the next three minutes with Kelly Myers and Alex Poplawski chiming in on offense to take a 9-6 edge. While JMU put up 35 to Stanford’s 19 fouls, the Cardinal saw four yellow cards in the game and managed to kill of three of them unscathed. The Dukes scored two more in the last nine minutes to make it 9-8, but the potent Cardinal defense locked it down for the win.
Stanford’s tourney run continues as it sets to take on the host, the fifth-ranked USC Trojans for the third time this season. Game time is set for high noon PT at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.