Nov. 13, 2015
Palo Alto, Calif. --- The San Jose State women's team saw its season come to an end Friday night with a 2-0 loss to #1-seed Stanford in the NCAA Tournament's first round.
A 17th-minute own goal and Stanford's 43rd minute goal by Averie Collins put the Spartans away in their only other appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2000.
"Our team is just a great team," said Spartans' head coach Lauren Hanson. "They are a family and they play for each other, so a loss like this is hard. I'm just so proud of them and our seniors who were amazing all year long."
Stanford's (17-2-1) advantage in the possession battle limited San Jose State (10-8-4) to three shots. It was just the third time in 2015 which the Spartans were shutout.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, a 64th minute throw in by Carley McBeath gave SJSU perhaps its best chance to put one in the back of the net. The ball bounced around inside the box among players from both teams before eventually being cleared out.
"Stanford is a great team and they are a number one seed for a reason," Hanson said. "They did a fantastic job keeping the ball and it just wore us down."
Maricruz Chapa managed to get off the Spartans' only shot in the first half, which came from near the top of the box in the 27th minute. Dorthe Hoppius' header in the 89th minute went on goal, but into the hands of Stanford keeper Jane Campbell.
"A lot of people wrote us off this year," Hanson said. "All along I believed and so did our squad and our staff. It was a huge building block for this program."