Sept. 13, 2001

OXFORD, Ohio - Senior Melissa Stai and junior Liz Ott each scored one goal and one assist in Stanford's 4-0 romp over the Miami University (2-5) field hockey team. While pushing the RedHawks losing streak to five games the Cardinal (4-6) out shot Miami 24-4 and allowed only three penalty corners.

The two schools took a moment of silence prior to the game in light of this week's events and shortly after the opening pass-back Stanford rallied to score the contest's first goal. Stai gave Stanford the 1-0 advantage when she received a pass from Ott and put the ball past Miami's goalkeeper, senior Marie Vaughn (Davis, Calif./Davis), for her third goal of the season. Moments later Stanford almost scored its second goal but junior tri-captain Julie Nelson (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) stopped the ball from going into the goal and recorded her first defensive save of the season.

With 8:22 remaining in the first stanza the Cardinal streched its lead to 2-0 when senior Erica Swesey misdirected an errant shot into the goal. The hitter of the initial shot, junior Christina Williams, was credited with the assist.

Stanford continued to press its offense in the second half and subsequently dominated the period. Ott tallied the Cardinal' third goal of the game at the 24:25 mark and junior Amanda Billmyer added an insurance goal, Stanford's fourth, with 13:24 remaining in the contest. Ott's goal was her second of the season and Billmyer's was her first. In addition to out shooting the RedHawks, Stanford took 14 penalty corner's to Miami's three.

Senior Rebecca Shapiro and sophomore Emily Zander split the goalkeeping duties in Stanford's third shut out of the season making two saves. Vaughn recorded 11 saves for the Red and White before being relieved by freshman Kerri Orr (San Diego, Calif./Serra) at 22:16 in the second half. Orr allowed one goal past her defense and made two saves. Senior Karen Preikszas (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) registered her third defensive save of the season in the game.

"I think not having to play a contest for eight days will be good for us," says coach Lil Fesperman. "We're going to go back to the fundamentals in practice and it is there that we will have to rebuild our confidence."

This is the fifth time in the history of the program that Miami has had a five-game losing streak. The longest losing streak was six games during the 1999 campaign. The Redhawks return to action next week when they open Mid-American Conference play at Central Michigan, Sept. 21, at 3 p.m. and at Ball State, Sept. 22, at 1 p.m.

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