Sunday's late-night game in Hawaii saw Stanford ride its strong offense to the 6-2 victory over Hawaii. Here's the starting lineup that the Cardinals (#2 in the CS360 Composite Rankings) sent out in the their season opener (note that the positions may not be exactly correct and are based on what the Hawaii scorekeeper entered - CS360 will try to confirm, it's possible that Levin played midfield and Heath was up top, in a 4-3-3):
G #1 jr. Kira Maker (Potomac, MD) ... D: #2 so. Camille Levin (Newport Coast, CA), #3 sr. Ali Riley (Pacific Palisades, CA), #4 fr. Alina Garciamendez (Fairview, TX), #6 sr. Alicia Jenkins (Diamond Springs, CA) and #11 fr. Rachel Quon (Lake Forest, IL) ... M: #7 so. Teresa Noyola (Palo Alto, CA), #21 fifth-yr sr. Hillary Heath (Seattle, WA) and #24 jr. Morgan Redman (Indianapolis, Ind.) ... F: #19 sr. Kelley O'Hara (Fayetteville, GA) and #23 so. Christen Press (Palos Verdes Estates, CA).
Of note, sophomore All-America forward Lindsay Taylor (Los Altos, Calif.) did not start (but did play) in this game, thus requiring the likely shift of one of the midfielders into a start on the forward line. The starters vs. Hawaii included four seniors (one a 5th-yr), two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen. Five of the starters are California native, with the six others hailing from Maryland, Texas, Illinois, Washington, Indiana and Georgia.
Stanford returned nine starters from its dominating 2008 team that went 22-2-1. The two big losses (both in quality and size!) are from the central defense spots: All-American Marissa Abegg (now a member of the Stanford coaching staff) and fellow all-Pac-10 performer Allison Falk (both of those players were drafted into the WPS). Hawaii failed to score a goal on Friday vs. BYU, but the Wahine found the net twice vs. the Cardinals (who allowed only eight goals in all of the '08 season). Stanford inserted two promising freshmen into the starting lineup: Alina Garciamendez as a central defense spot and Rachel Quon at right back (we're guessing that Ali Riley was the left back and Jenkins filled the other central D spot,).
Stanford's veteran pair of forwards – senior Kelley O'Hara and junior Christen Press (1A) – each scored twice in Sunday's win, giving O'Hara 33 career goals with the Cardinal while Press now has 25. Highly-regarded freshman Courtney Verloo (Tualatin, Ore.) came off the bench to contribute a goal and two assists. Stanford finished with a 29-4 shot edge (14-2 in shots on goal) and owned a 6-2 margin in corner kicks.
Christen Press (above) scored twice in the win over Hawaii and now has totaled 25 goals in 47 career games at Stanford.
Press assisted on the first goal (in the 5th minute), with a thru-ball that sprung O'Hara for a breakaway goal. Freshman Mariah Nogueira (Wesminster, Calif.) provided the header that later assisted on Verloo's rising, far-post score from 12 yards out (39') and sophomore Teresa Noyola scored shortly before halftime (41'), with a low shot to the far post (Taylor's flick over the defense set up that third goal).
Hawaii made things a bit more interesting early in the second half (54'), when sophomore midfielder Rachel Domingo (Honolulu) tapped in a low cross from freshman forward Skye Shimabukuro (Kalaheo) – but Stanford responded with three goals in a five-minute span. Press showed her speed and skill be beating two defenders to score far-post (69'), followed minutes later O'Hara scoring on a low shot past 'keeper xxx (Verloo supplied the thru-ball). Verloo then sent another thru-ball that connected with Press, who scored on a high far-post shot for the 6-1 cushion.
Hawaii capped the scoring in the 81st minute, when senior forward Ambree Ako (Aiea) sent a low cross from the endline and junior forward Britta Bourne (Honolulu) – a transfer from the University of Montanta – scored on a low strike.
Promising freshman Courtney Verloo came off the bench to register a goal and two assists in the win at Hawaii.