The Bulldogs traveled to California this past weekend, defeating University of California Berkeley before losing to No. 13 Stanford on the road.

Yale (4–7, 1–2 Ivy) scored early against Cal (4–8, 1–2 Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference), then held off the Golden Bears’ late comeback attempt to win 3–2. The Elis scored their first two goals off penalty corners within two minutes of each other late in the first half. Midfielder Nicole Wells ’16 and midfielder Emily Schuckert ’14 both scored off feeds from captain and midfielder/back Georgia Holland ’14.

The Bulldogs continued their attack in the second half, getting a goal from forward/midfielder Erica Borgo ’14. The defense shut down the Golden Bears’ offense for almost 60 minutes until California broke through at the 59:46 mark. Forward Lara Kruggel scored both goals for the Golden Bears in the second half, with the second goal coming off a penalty stroke with less than five minutes to play.

Goalkeeper Heather Schlesier ’15 was in goal for a majority of the game, saving two shots while allowing just one goal. Goalkeeper Emily Cain ’14 replaced her and closed out the final 6:56 of the game. Overall, the Elis outshot the Golden Bears 13–10 and earned more penalty corners 9–4.

Yale battled against Stanford (10–3, 3–1 NorPac) but was unable to pull out a win, losing 4–0. Stanford, one of the top teams in the nation, has made four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. The Cardinals had three players represent their respective nations at the Junior World Cup this past summer; defender Kelsey Harbin, NorPac defensive player of the year last year, was teammates with Holland on Team USA.

Four different players scored for Stanford. Harbin scored in the 27th minute, followed by attacker Lauren Becker two minutes before the end of the half. The second half featured goals from midfielder Elise Ogle and midfielder Kasey Quon. Stanford took advantage of their three penalty corners, scoring a goal on each one.

“Stanford had strong skills and could execute corners well,” midfielder Kelsey Nolan ’17 said.

The Elis were never able to get past Stanford goalkeeper, Dulcie Davies, who made seven saves to preserve her sixth shutout of the season. Most of her saves came in the second half when Yale out-shot Stanford 8–7 with six shots on goal; Stanford now has a seven game home winning streak. Yale was out-shot 14–11 overall, and, although the Bulldogs were tied with Stanford 3–3 on penalty corners, the Elis were unable to convert throughout the game.

Nolan said that the experience Yale gained this weekend will prove useful later in the season.

“Exposure to different teams and different styles will help us improve our game against the Ivy League teams,” Nolan said.

The Bulldogs return to New Haven next week with games against Dartmouth on Saturday and Maine on Sunday.