A near sweep A near sweep (October 20, 2004) for Barnhart and Cardinal

Goalie sandwiches winning outing with national team between her college matches

by Rick Eymer

icole Barnhart wasn't going to let her Stanford women's soccer teammates down even if it meant missing a chance to play for the United States national team.

"That shows you what kind of a teammate she is," junior midfielder Leah Tapscott said. "She said she wouldn't go unless they could book flights so that she could play in both our games this weekend." With the national team playing a Saturday match in Kansas City, Barnhart worked her schedule so that she could play in all three games. Her weekend ended with a 2-1 victory over Arizona State that featured senior defender Emilee Shim's first career goal, assisted by Tapscott. Martha West also scored for the Cardinal (1-1-1, 9-3-2). Barnhart recorded three saves, upping her career total to 172, good for fourth on the Cardinal all-time list. Barnhart, a fifth-year senior goalkeeper, began the weekend with a heartbreaking 1-0 double overtime loss to Arizona on Friday night. She managed a brief appearance with the national team - as a forward -- in a 1-0 victory over Mexico. The Stanford men's team lost to UCLA, 2-0, on Sunday and tied UC Davis, 1-1, in a nonconference match on Friday. Both teams travel to UCLA on Friday. The Stanford men (1-1-2, 6-2-5) lost their sixth straight to the Bruins and haven't scored against them in seven straight. UCLA leads the all-time series, 24-3-2. "I think we gave the game away," Stanford coach Bret Simon said. "I don't think we came out in the second half with the same level of commitment as the first half. What it means is it takes a conference championship out of our hands. If we won, we would have been in a position to keep it in our hands. Now we have to hope for other teams to beat each other." Meanwhile, Tapscott picked Barnhart up from the San Jose airport on Sunday morning four hours before game time. "She had this glow around her," Tapscott said. "She said she would have had the glow even if she didn't play at all. She's great on the field and off the field. She's one of my best friends." Barnhart, who climbed out of bed at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday to catch a flight to Kansas City, became the first national team goalkeeper to ever play forward. She even managed a few touches and had a scoring opportunity before passing off. "It was an awesome experience," she said. "Just to get in there with the whole national team experience was special." Sleep was a luxury over the weekend for Barnhart, who also had to find time to study for a midterm in psychology. "It was a little overwhelming and I'm starting to feel it a little bit," she said. Barnhart was sitting on the bench with Brandi Chastain and Joy Fawcett late in the game against Mexico wondering who would replace injured forward Angela Hucles, who scored the game's only goal. "Brandi yelled out 'Barney can go in,'" Barnhart said. "It was a last resort. We had run out of substitutes. So there I was switching uniforms on the sidelines." Then she switched gears on the flight home to help Stanford win its first Pac-10 contest and remain within striking distance of first place. "It's definitely a tough road," Barnhart said. "All the teams are tough and upsets happen all the time." Tapscott, who decided not to run track last season to concentrate on soccer, says she's playing the best soccer of her life right now. "I've just learned so much my first years and learned to play to my strengths," she said. "I think we also feed off each other and no matter how good we are playing, there's always room for so much improvement." Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said giving up track made all the difference for Tapscott. "She committed 100 percent to soccer," Ratcliffe said. "She just needed to work on tactical things. She has the heart of a champion and can jump through the roof. She's a winner who comes through in big games." Arizona beat Stanford for the first time ever, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Cardinal. The Wildcats (3-1, 12-3) are tied with UCLA (3-1, 10-4) for the conference lead. Men Stanford will hope to get back on track this weekend with its match at UCLA. "At home, when you have a chance to do well, you better not blow your chance," Simon said. "You lose an opportunity in conference with this many good teams. UCLA has great talent and to play effectively against them you have to be focused the whole time." The Cardinal still have designs on the conference championship, with Friday's contest against the Bruins becoming a must-win situation. Stanford still has a good chance to gain a berth in the NCAA tournament, after missing out last season. The Pac-10 sent four teams to the tournament last year and there' a strong possibility four will get in this year. "Ultimately we want to do well in the NCAA tournament," Simon said. "But the conference championship is also one of our goals." Against UC Davis, senior Jason Griffiths scored with less than six minutes remaining in regulation to give Stanford the tie. In the 85th minute, senior Matt Janusz was fouled outside of the Aggie penalty box. On the ensuing free kick, Griffiths struck a low line drive that snuck through the wall and into the lower left-hand corner of the net.

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