Stanford women beat Northern Arizona

STANFORD, Calif. – Christen Press scored two second-half goals, both on assists from Kelley O’Hara, to lead No. 1 Stanford to a 2-0 victory over Northern Arizona in the first round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament on Thursday.

Stanford (21-0) next plays BYU (18-3-2), a 2-0 winner over UC Santa Barbara in the first game of a tournament-opening doubleheader at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the same field.

Northern Arizona (10-9-2), the Big Sky Conference tournament champion, came out firing and was even with Stanford in shots, at 3-3. But Stanford held the Lumberjacks without a shot for the last 81 minutes of the game, while gunning 34 consecutive shots of its own.

Press scored first by calmly chipping a left-footed shot into the upper corner of the net from the top of the box, and next on a header to the near post. Press now moves into second place on Stanford’s all-time single-season scoring list, with 49 points (18 goals, 13 assists).