IOWA CITY, Iowa – A balanced effort was enough to lift No. 5 Stanford to a 4-2 victory on Sunday over Kent State at Grant Field.
The Cardinal (6-1) claimed its sixth consecutive victory and four players chipped in with a goal apiece to top the Golden Flashes (1-4). Stanford held a 25-24 advantage in shots and scored three or more goals for the third consecutive game.
Maddie Secco opened the scoring in the 13th minute, followed shortly by Sarah Helgeson's first strike of the season a minute later. Lauren Becker set up Casey Deeds in the 23rd minute to make it 3-0 before Kent State struck back to make it 3-1 at halftime.
Marissa Cicione scored her second goal of the road trip to give Stanford a 4-1 lead in the 56th minute, but Kent State responded with a goal of its own nine minutes later.
Dulcie Davies made several key saves down the stretch as the Cardinal endured a late surge of penalty corners and shots by Kent State to end the game. Davies finished the day with a season-high 14 saves.
Stanford returns to action on Friday when it hosts California at 1:30 p.m. (PT). Live stats will be available online and the game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
Game Notes
-In its last two games, Stanford registered 60 shots
-Maddie Secco scored here team-leading fifth goal of the season
-Lauren Becker's assist gave her seven points in the last two contests
-10 Cardinal student-athletes registered at least one shot
-Dulcie Davies' 14 saves were two off her career high 16, achieved against Albany in 2013
