By David Kiefer
Stanford Media Relations
Lindsay Taylor and Kristy Zurmuhlen scored within 40 seconds of each other in the first half to lead No. 1 Stanford to a 2-0 victory over Cal in a rainy Pac-12 women’s soccer season finale and allowed the Cardinal to earn its place in history.
Stanford (19-0-1 overall, 11-0 Pac-12) became just the second school to finish three consecutive regular seasons unbeaten, and the first to do so since North Carolina from 1991-93. Stanford extended its regular-season unbeaten streak to 62, its home winning streak to 46, and its conference winning streak to 31.
The four-member senior class of Camille Levin, Teresa Noyola, Taylor, and Zurmuhlen has a regular-season record of 75-1-1 and has never lost at home.
Cal (12-6-2, 5-4-2), which hopes to get an NCAA at-large spot when the 64-team tournament field is announced on Monday, controlled the ball early. However, Stanford scored when Taylor struck a 30-yard free kick off the crossbar and across the line for her career-best 17th goal of the season at 19:19.
Moments later, Zurmuhlen fired in a close-range shot off a short pass from Levin after the ball had been knocked around the penalty area off another set piece. It was her fourth goal of the season.
Stanford survived a second-half shot off the crossbar by Cal’s Lauren Battung, and got a one-on-one save by goalkeeper Emily Oliver in the early going on the way to recording its 13th shutout.
The Cardinal hopes to earn the overall No. 1 seed for the tournament and expects to play host to a first-round match on Friday.