Stanford’s Seniors Sign Off With a 2-1 Win Over Cal, Then Hand Their Season to Boston College
Stanford did everything it could on Thursday night. Whether it’s enough is now out of their hands.
The Cardinal beat No. 17 Cal 2-1 on Senior Night at Varsity Turf, and the seniors wrote the script themselves. Star Horlock and Gemma Townsend combined barely two minutes in, Horlock threading a pass through the Cal defence for Townsend to slot home one-on-one. Then Horlock struck again from a penalty corner late in the second quarter, finishing at the near post after Natalie Hoppe found her, and Stanford led 2-0 at half-time.
Cal, to their credit, didn’t fold. Liz Klompmaker pulled one back from a penalty corner rebound just over two minutes into the second half, her 15th goal of the season, and suddenly Stanford’s corner defence was the whole game. It held. Six successful penalty clearances, three stops as the third quarter expired, and goalkeeper Anya Jackson finished with six saves. Coach Roz Ellis called the corner unit “brave”, and singled out Esther Pottebaum’s marking job on Klompmaker as an exceptional defensive shift.
Stanford finish the regular season 10-7 overall and 2-6 in the ACC, with a 7-3 home record. Cal finish 9-7 and 2-6. Both teams sit ninth and around it in the conference, which is why Friday matters so much.
Stanford need Boston College to beat Syracuse on Friday at 4pm ET to claim the final spot in the ACC tournament. That’s it. One result, somewhere else, decides whether a Senior Night win becomes a postseason or just a nice memory.
For our money, Stanford earned the right to be scoreboard-watching. They defended their circle like a team that wanted more hockey, and Horlock’s three-point night was the kind of senior performance that sticks. Now they wait, and hope Boston College does them a favour.
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