Stanford field hockey emerged from last weekend’s cross-country trip with a win and two losses in games played against No. 13 Louisville, Georgetown and Indiana. The team’s record on the season is now 8-6 overall and 4-1 in the NorPac conference.

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Agustin Ramirez

The Stanford field hockey team took on No. 13 Louisville, Georgetown and Indiana this weekend. The Cardinal’s highlight was a 10-2 defeat of the Hoyas between losses to the Cardinals and Hoosiers.

After traveling all the way to Louisville, Ky. last Friday, the Cardinal took on No. 13 Louisville in a game that wasn’t decided until overtime when the opposing Cardinals pulled out a 2-1 victory. A goal by Louisville’s Julie Barton in the fourth minute of overtime proved to be the deciding factor.

“They’re definitely a strong team,” senior Jess Zutz said. “It’s always good to get ranked opponents on your schedule.”

“While this loss was disappointing, I am proud of the way the team competed today,” head coach Lesley Irvine told GoStanford.com following Friday’s loss. “Our number one focus was to manage our own performance and play 70 minutes with intensity. We did that. It’s hard to lose in overtime but being there against a team like Louisville hints at the talent this team has. We are excited moving forward from here.”

On Saturday, the Cardinal took on a weaker Georgetown team and had little trouble, cruising past the Hoyas by the score of 10-2. Stanford was spurred by freshman Xanthe Travlos, who netted three girls in the rout.

“That was definitely our easiest game on the trip, and it showed by the score,” Zutz said.

On Monday, Stanford traveled to Bloomington, Ind., to take on the University of Indiana. Once again, the game went into overtime. For the second time on their three-game road trip, the team fell in the extra period in a 2-1 loss. The Hoosiers’ Katie Griswold won the game dramatically with a goal in the last minute of the overtime period.

In explaining both overtime losses, Zutz said, “They certainly could have gone either way.”

Despite losing two of three games on the trip, Stanford was very happy with its performance over the weekend.

“Throughout the entire road trip we played really well,” Zutz said. We played with a lot of heart — two different coaches came up to us and said that. That’s something we’re extremely proud of.”

The three-game road trip was the last in a set of road non-conference games for the Cardinal. Stanford’s conference, the NorPac Conference, is weaker than most in Division I. The Cardinal used its recent non-conference games as a way of testing itself against tougher competition, and the team believes that the experience will pay off.

“A lot of the teams we play out of our conference are generally from highly ranked conferences,” Zutz said. “That really helps our strength of schedule and it helps us — we get to see stronger opponents and what’s really out there as opposed to seeing the same teams.”

The Cardinal will face its toughest non-conference opponent of the season this Sunday when it matches up against No. 4 Michigan at home. Although Stanford recognizes the daunting challenge that the Wolverines present, the team is looking forward to Sunday’s game.

“Coming into this Michigan game I think we’re definitely looking to move forward and we’re certainly looking to play the full 70 minutes with a lot of heart,” Zutz explained.

After that, a conference match-up with Radford remains; if Stanford wins that game, they will be co-champions of the NorPac Conference.

As a whole, the Cardinal is excited for the rest of its season, including the NorPac Conference Tournament, the competition which decides who will represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re beginning to peak at just the right time,” Zutz said. “We’ve definitely had a lot of ups and downs this season — we’re definitely on an upward trend right now.”