With season-high attendance at Maloney Field last weekend, the Stanford women’s soccer team dominated both Arizona State and Arizona.

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John Shen

Sophomore Kate Mannino outruns an opponent to gain possession. Women’s soccer won both games against the Arizona schools at home this past weekend, satisfying the expectations of a season-high attendance at Maloney Field.

The sophomore class led the Cardinal to a 3-2 win against the Sun Devils (5-6-2, 0-3-0 Pac-10), on Friday. Sophomore forward Hillary Heath scored the game-winner in the last 25 minutes, pulling the Cardinal (8-5-1, 1-1-1) out of a first-half deficit, while sophomore defender Allison Falk put Stanford on the scoreboard in the first half off of a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Lea MacKinnon. It was Falk’s first goal of the season.

“This weekend we played some of the best soccer I have seen us play yet,” Heath said. “We played with a lot of heart and confidence, and we really showed we can battle.”

ASU responded less than four minutes after Falk’s goal with a free kick when freshman midfielder Carly Kallas scored with a diving goal. The Cardinal offense had a chance to record another goal with 15 minutes left in the half. MacKinnon connected with junior midfielder Lizzy George on the right side, but George’s shot went just wide of the goal.

In the 37th minute, the Sun Devils scored on another opportunity when freshman midfielder Dante Perea put one past sophomore goalkeeper Alex Gamble from the middle of the box.

Consistent with previous games this season, Stanford entered the break having out-shot its opponent 10-3, but still trailed 2-1. However, the Cardinal held the momentum on Friday and came out to dominate the second half of play. Freshman forward Kelley O’Hara tied the match, scoring off of freshman defender Ali Riley’s cross, making it the fourth goal of her Cardinal career.

Shortly after, sophomore defender Marisa Abegg and Heath combined to strike the final blow to ASU. This marked Heath’s second goal of the season. Despite the lead, the Cardinal did not let up, taking five more corner kicks and seven more shots during the remainder of the game.

Friday’s game concluded 3-2, and marked the 11th time this season that the Stanford defense held its opponent to two shots. Junior goalkeeper Erica Holland led the Cardinal defense throughout the second half, posting her first win of the season. The Cardinal out-shot the Sun Devils 22-4 at the end of the second half.

“I think that the fact that we were able to come back from the 2-1 deficit at halftime was great for us,” Heath said. “We really put up a fight and came out on top, which is always a good sign.”

Stanford went on to sail past Arizona on Sunday 3-0, recording their ninth shutout of the season, and the first shutout in conference play. With two corner kicks in the first two minutes of play, the Cardinal dominated from the start. Falk got a shot off the first corner kick, but it was stopped by the Wildcats’ defense. Arizona followed with a pair of corner kicks, but they were stopped by Holland and Abegg, respectively.

The Cardinal continued to control the game, scoring on an exciting play to end the first half. Freshman midfielder Kristen Stannard served a corner kick to Falk, whose header was deflected to Abegg. The sophomore midfielder one-touched the ball into the goal to score her second career goal. This put Stanford in front, 1-0 going into the break. The Wildcats were not able to get a shot off during the first 45 minutes of play.

The Wildcats came out strong in the second half with two shots in the first few minutes of play. Both were stopped by Holland. Stanford went back on the offensive, dominating possession for the remainder of the game. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Riley put the Cardinal on the scoreboard for a second time and marked her third goal of the season.

Stanford scored the third and final goal on a corner kick. MacKinnon found O’Hara in the middle of the box, and the sophomore one-touched it to give the Cardinal its 3-0 lead.

The Cardinal defense stopped the three Wildcats shots during the last 19 minutes of play. Sunday’s game tallied the 12th match Stanford has held to two shots.

Stanford is coming out of a big weekend in Pac-10 play, having turned their conference record around with two wins and gaining momentum for the remainder of the season.

“I think that the past two weekends have taught us that every game is different and all you can do is come out with a good mentality,” Heath said. “Last weekend we struggled offensively, and I think this weekend we learned that no matter what happened in previous games we have the capability to score lots of goals. That’s always a good thing to remember.”

The Cardinal continue conference play next weekend with a pair of games in Washington. The Cardinal face Washington State on Friday afternoon at the Lower Soccer Field, which will be followed by a Sunday afternoon match against Washington at Husky Soccer Field.