Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Cut red onion into very thin rings, place in a bowl and cover with lots of lime juice and a sprinkle of sea salt. Let them sit at room temp for at least a half hour? hour? until they’re a beautiful tangy pink.
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well to break up the cocoa powder evenly.
Note: The three sugars listed are interchangeable in any amount as long as the total
sugar for the recipe equals two cups.
Pour maple syrup, vinegar, and melted shortening over the dry ingredients. Add cold water
immediately and stir vigorously until all lumps are gone.
Oil and lightly flour muffin tins or add paper cups to the trays. Fill with chocolate cake batter to roughly 3/4 full
(batter will rise). Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick stuck through the middle of the
cake comes out clean.
Let cool completely and frost with your favorite vegan frosting.
Enjoy!!
Makes 18-24 cupcakes.
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Saute the oil, onion and garlic.
Blend in a food processor the tofu, yogurt, salt, nutritional yeast flakes, basil and parsley, until smooth and creamy.
Stir in the onion and garlic. Start making layers in 2 quart / 2 L baking dish, beginning with half of the pasta sauce on the bottom, and a layer of half the lasagne sheets. Next, spread the tofu filling evenly over the noodles, arrange the other half of the noodles, and then pour over the rest of the tomato sauce.
This can be topped with the mozzarella/parmesan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbling and the cheese is melted.
NOTES:Yet another recipe from “Tofu Quick & Easy”. My uncle, who is a meat eater, & one of the pickiest eaters on earth, loves this. He said if he didn’t already know the “ricotta” filling was tofu, he couldn’t tell it.
In the filling, where the ingredients say “optional”, I highly recommend using them. It adds to the taste.
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Sauce
While the oven is preheating, cook the pasta until al dente, then drain and place in a bowl.
In a large skillet, heat the oil, then add the seitan. Brown the seitan for 3-4 minutes, then add the soy sauce. Combine the browned seitan with the drained pasta, mix it together and set aside.
To prepare the sauce, dissolve the kuzu in 1/2 cup of the water and set it aside. In a saucepan, heat the soymilk, another 1/2 cup water, the tahini, salt and cinnamon over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is almost boiling. Add the dissolved kuzu to the pot and sir this sauce as it thickens. If the sauce gets too thick, add a little more water (no more than 1/2 cup). Adjust the seasonings.
To assemble the casserole, first layer half the pasta-seitan combination in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Pour half the sauce evenly over the top; add the rest of the pasta and cover with the remaining sauce. Top with a layer of breadcrumbs.
Cover the casserole with foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes to brown the crust. Serve hot.
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Prepare grill. Peel bananas; peel & core pineapple. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Alternate bananas & pineapple on skewers. Place skewers on hot grill & cook 5 to 10 minutes, turning once. When hot, baste with glaze, two or three times. Turn & baste again.
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Northwest Pakistan Variation
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Add the orange juice and vegetable stock. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in the peas and sweetcorn and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes
until rice and vegetables are tender.
Add the peanuts, parsley and orange rind. Add salt and pepper to taste and
serve.
After its most convincing display in the NCAA Tournament thus far, the No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer team is back in the College Cup for the second consecutive year.
The Card (24-0-0) swept aside a talented Boston College team — the two seed in the region — Friday night at Cagan Stadium, winning 3-1 with a controlled possession style that kept Stanford in the driver’s seat all match. It was a far cry from the team’s first three tournament matches, in which the Cardinal looked uncomfortable and off its game for large stretches.
“This was our best performance of the tournament,” said Stanford Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe. “We played great possession soccer and scored three great goals.”
You couldn’t have blamed the team for losing its composure when Boston College (18-4-2) got off to a dream start not even two minutes into the match. BC’s sophomore Julia Bouchelle received a pass near the top of the box before dribbling to her left and unleashing a low shot with her left foot. Stanford junior goalkeeper Kira Maker flung herself to the left, but could only watch as the ball caromed off the far post and into the net to give the Eagles a shock lead. Just one minute and 35 seconds had ticked off the clock.
Despite giving up its first goal in NCAA tournament play, however, Stanford was not rattled. The team went right back on the offensive and equalized play just 50 seconds later. Junior forward Christen Press saw her long range effort hit the crossbar, but senior Kelley O’Hara was in perfect position to tap in the rebound and make it 1-1 less than three minutes into the match. Surprisingly, it was the first goal of the postseason for the record-setting forward — but it would not be her last.
The teams were back at level pegging, but it was the Cardinal that looked likely to grab the lead. O’Hara nearly added another in the 23rd minute, but was narrowly beaten to a loose ball by Eagles’ sophomore keeper Jillian Mastroianni, and Press shot just wide after cutting between three defenders in the box two minutes later.
The pressure paid off in the 27th minute, though, when sophomore Lindsay Taylor flicked on a long ball and Press slipped it past the backline to O’Hara, who was making the run. The senior outraced the BC defenders and blasted a shot over the on-rushing Mastroianni to make the score 2-1. The goal pushed her single-season goals record to 25 and also gave Press the single-season mark for assists with 15 on the year.
Press came close to getting a goal of her own numerous times before the end of the half, but was unable to find the back of the net. Still, Stanford was dominating the match, outshooting BC 18-3 in the first half. The Eagles weren’t completely out of the game — Maker had to make a fine one-on-one stop on BC’s freshman Victoria DiMartino in the 43rd minute — but the Stanford backline kept the Eagles’ opportunities to a minimum.
Boston College fired another warning shot to begin the second half. In the 49th minute, Eagles freshman fullback Kristen Mewis swung in a cross from the left that found senior Gina DiMartino — Victoria’s sister — at the top of the box. The midfielder sent her shot toward the upper corner of the goal, but once again Maker was there for the save.
The remainder of the match was all Stanford, as the Card outshot BC 12-1 over the final 40 minutes. O’Hara came close to completing a hat trick multiple times, but it was Press who would finish off the scoring, providing the knockout punch in the 85th minute.
Senior defender Alicia Jenkins played a long ball out of the back and Press used a burst of speed to charge past the BC backline before calmly slotting low past Mastroianni. The goal — her 20th of the year — made it 3-1 and effectively punched Stanford’s ticket to College Station, Texas for next weekend’s College Cup.
Much of the attention afterward was on Stanford’s two goal scorers, but O’Hara was quick to credit the defensive effort as well.
“Boston College is an amazing team and our defense held them to five shots [for the entire match],” O’Hara said, who<\p>–<\p>along with the rest of the senior class<\p>–<\p>played her final match on the Farm. “Everyone did their jobs tonight.”
Ratcliffe echoed his star’s comments after the comprehensive victory.
“This was a really strong performance against a good BC team,” he said. “I’m very proud.”
The Cardinal will now face conference rival UCLA on Friday, since the Bruins (21-2-1) defeated Portland 2-1 to claim their seventh consecutive College Cup berth. The game will be a rematch of the Oct. 18 conference match, which Stanford won 2-0 at home. That match was the key as the Card ended UCLA’s run of six straight Pacific-10 Conference championships and the Bruins are sure to be out for revenge.
UCLA and Stanford will be joined in Texas by defending national champions North Carolina (21-3-1) and last year’s runners up Notre Dame (21-3-1), which makes this year’s final four the exact same as last year’s. Last year’s Cardinal team — Stanford’s first to make the College Cup since 1993 — lost 1-0 to Notre Dame in the semifinals, but the 2009 version is confident that this year will be different.
“We’ve been there before — we have experience,” O’Hara said. “Hopefully [that experience] will lead us to two wins next weekend.”
Friday’s semifinal match will kick off at 2:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast by ESPN2 and ESPNU. The national championship match will be played at 10 a.m. on Sunday and will be shown on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com.
United Front Games has been very busy lately perfecting their upcoming PS3 exclusive kart racing title that we only got a couple updates since the gam…
The Stanford women’s volleyball team is on roll and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Heading into the NCAA tournament, where it is the No. 4 overall seed, Stanford (21-7, 14-4 Pacific-10) has won its last six matches, including a thrilling five-set win over Cal on Friday in the “Big Spike.”
Playing in front of a home crowd of more than 5,000 people on Friday in Maples Pavilion, the Card engineered an amazing come-from-behind victory to beat the Golden Bears (18-10, 11-7 Pac-10) in five sets, 23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-4. The win gave Stanford its fourth consecutive Pac-10 championship and boosted the team’s momentum heading into the NCAA tournament.
“I think it was extra special winning it this year just because nobody expected it from us,” said junior outside hitter Alix Klineman. “However, making it to the Final Four and winning a national championship is our ultimate goal and we knew that, to be really feeling confident going into the playoffs, we needed to win this match.”
Klineman led the team in kills in the match, setting a new career high with 33. The team also got strong contributions from junior Cassidy Lichtman, who recorded her ninth triple double of the year with 13 kills, 18 assists and 10 digs and senior Janet Okogbaa, who had 12 kills on Senior Night.
“Winning the Pac-10 for the fourth time in a row was huge for us,” said senior outside hitter Alex Fisher. “In the beginning of the preseason, we made a list of team goals. It’s nice to be able to check this one off the list.” Fisher also added that she was voting “Klineman for Heisman” after her performance on Friday.
Although the Cardinal got the final result it wanted, the start of the match was a different story. Stanford came out on top backed by the raucous Maples crowd and took a 4-1 lead. Cal cut the lead to one with a quick run, but the Card responded and stayed on top, 9-5. Stanford continued to maintain its lead before a 4-0 run by the Bears cut the Stanford lead to one, 19-18 and resulted in a timeout by Stanford head coach John Dunning. Another 4-0 run by Cal would give the Bears the set, 23-25 and put a damper on the excitement of the Cardinal fans.
In the second set, Cal used its momentum to take an early 4-1 lead. The Card went on a run, including a kill by Fisher, which tied the score at eight all, but found itself down again after a 6-1 run by the Bears. After Stanford cut the lead to one on a kill by Lichtman and an ace by freshman Karissa Cook, Cal posted seven straight points to take a 21-13 lead. The Bears took the second set 18-25, leaving the Card in a tough position in its last game of the season.
“Coming back into the locker room after losing the first two sets was tough,” Fisher said. “Rather than talking about technical elements of the fix, we talked about what this match meant to us. [Sophomore] Katherine Sebastian said it best: ‘We are not going to let Cal stop us from winning the Pac-10. Not Cal. And not in three [games].’”
Additionally, the Card shifted its lineup slightly heading into the third set, putting sophomore Stephanie Browne in as a middle. The third set started with back and forth play, as the teams traded points on the way to a seven all tie. The Bears pulled ahead on a 4-0 run, but two kills by Okogbaa and a block by Klineman and Browne reduced Cal’s lead to two. Following a run by the Bears, which put them up 16-21, the match was almost out of reach. However, feeding off the energy of the crowd, the Card went on a 5-1 run, including a kill by Browne, cutting the lead to one and forcing Cal to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, a kill by Klineman led to a set point for Stanford and Cook served another ace to give the Card the set, 25-23, to avoid the sweep.
“I think the comeback at the end of the third game is what turned it around for us,” Lichtman said. “We just kept fighting in that game and the adrenaline and momentum from it carried over into the rest of the match.”
Using the third set win as the turning point, the Card took a 7-4 lead to open the fourth set. Following a Cal run, the lead switched back and forth until a 6-3 Bears run gave them a 16-19 lead. However, three kills by Klineman and one apiece by Lichtman and freshman Hayley Spelman, put Stanford back on top 21-19. Behind two more Lichtman kills, the Cardinal would even the match at two sets apiece, taking the fourth 25-20.
In the fifth set, Stanford carried its momentum to an early 5-2 lead and never relinquished it. Klineman recorded seven kills in the set and Stanford won the set, 15-4 and the match, capturing its fourth Pac-10 championship.
“I think each of our last six wins are really important because we got them in different ways,” Klineman said. “Some matches we dominated, others we struggled and in all of them we won. We really learned to fight no matter what the circumstances were and find a way to win, which will be really important come tournament time.”
Now the Cardinal heads into the NCAA tournament where the team will be playing at home for the first and second rounds as the No. 1 seed in the Stanford regional. Stanford will head to the tournament for the 29th straight time, joining Penn State as the only two teams to have made it to all 29 NCAA Women’s Volleyball tournaments.
“The NCAA tournament is do or die so we just want to keep winning,” Lichtman said. “I think we are hitting our stride at the right time and we just need to play each match as it comes. At this point there are not many easy wins so we are going to have to fight for everyone.”
The Cardinal will face Long Island (21-13) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Maples Pavilion, with the winner of that match facing the winner of a match between Saint Mary’s (22-4) and UC Santa Barbara (22-7) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion. Stanford will be looking to claim its seventh NCAA title and 15th appearance in the national title match when play begins on Friday.
As the referee threw the ball up into the air at tip-off, all the statistics looked to be in favor of a dominant Cardinal weekend. While there were rough spots on the way, that is exactly what Stanford fans got as the Cardinal battled its way to a 60-41 win against Utah last Friday and a 105-74 victory over Gonzaga on Sunday.
Stanford came into the Utah game riding its best start in five years, with four straight wins to open the regular season (plus two wins in preseason) and with an unbeaten record (then 10-0) against the Utes. The Cardinal is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in both the Associated Press Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Poll. Stanford has at least shared the Pacific-10 Conference title for nine straight years and consistently performed well in the postseason, leading the team to have high hopes of challenging for another NCAA trophy in March.
But a closer look at the Cardinal’s last meeting with the Utes, in 2007, tells a different story; that day, it took double overtime to separate the two teams. Stanford eventually eked it out 81-77 after junior Melanie Murphy kept the game alive with a three-pointer to tie the game in the last seconds of regulation.
This time around the Cardinal finished slightly more comfortably with a 19-point win, but it was still a tough, hard-fought game.
Early on, both teams struggled with shot accuracy, but as the game progressed, Stanford (6-0) pulled in front, ending the first half up 24-11. It might not have been pretty, but the No. 2 Cardinal showed its strength in the first half, playing swarming defense and effectively stifling the Utah offense.
Undeterred, the Utes (2-3) came out much stronger after the break, doubling their first half score in the first five minutes to close within seven points. With the momentum firmly in Utah’s court, someone needed to step up for the Card to put the game away.
Several players answered the call. Junior forward Kayla Pedersen scored three baskets in just two minutes to turn the game back in the Cardinal’s favor, eventually achieving her second consecutive double-double. Sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike and junior guard Jeanette Pohlen both made crucial steals, rebounds and buckets.
Despite seeing her team take command again as time wound down, Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer was somewhat underwhelmed with her team’s performance.
“That wasn’t a game that I’m really excited about,” VanDerveer said. “I don’t think we played real inspired, but we got some really good effort from some of our team.”
Any team can beat any other on its day, but only the very best, the championship contenders, can have a bad day and still come away with a win.
“I just think that we just had a rough day and I think every team is going to have one of those days,” Pedersen said. “As long as we stay and encourage each other and know that we have a lot more that we can give, I think that that’s the main thing that we take away from this game.”
“We just stuck after it and I’m proud of our team for doing that,” she added.
Highly rated senior center Jayne Appel exemplified this attitude, as she recovered from a bad flu enough to play 21 minutes, grabbing six rebounds in the process.
Where last Friday’s game left the Cardinal feeling a little disappointed with a less than perfect performance, the game against Gonzaga two days later was a chance to get back on top.
In the first few seconds, it was clear this would be a whole different affair. Shots that had bounced off the rim before were dropping in for both sides and the early goings went back and forth. A traveling call against the Zags (4-2) in the first few minutes gave possession to Stanford, allowing the Cardinal to take a four-point lead<\p>–<\p>one it would never surrender.
“I thought our team really stepped up,” VanDerveer said. “[I thought we] really made a statement that we’re going to go inside and they really finished well. We shot the ball very well.”
The Cardinal powered forward to take a 59-38 lead at halftime and went on to a 105-74 win. Every player in the starting lineup played a crucial role, making it hard to separate out one strong performance from the next.
Although Pedersen just missed her third consecutive double-double, she led Stanford in points with a career-high 30, breaking the 1,000-point mark for her career in the process.
Not wishing to be outdone, Ogwumike scored just one point less than Pedersen, a career-high 29 and registered 13 rebounds to come out as the top performer of the game.
“It’s a good night to get a career high. Gonzaga is really a top team,” VanDerveer said.
Adding to the good news for Stanford, Appel was back in form after her illness, posting a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, bringing her career rebounding total to 999.
Stanford hits the court again on Dec. 13, when it will play the No. 21 DePaul Blue Demons (5-1). That game marks the beginning of an interesting winter campaign for the Cardinal, which will play several talented teams. Stanford plays host to No. 11 Duke on the Dec. 15 and No. 6 Tennessee on the Dec. 19, then heads east for a big rematch of last year’s national semifinal against the unanimously top-ranked Connecticut Huskies. The game is scheduled for the Dec. 23 and will be broadcast from Hartford on ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m. PT.
The Card’s last game of the 2009 calendar year will be on Dec. 30 at Fresno State. Stanford will kick off the Pac-10 season against rival California on Jan. 2 at home. The game is set for 12 p.m. and will be televised on CSN Bay Area.
After falling at the buzzer to Oral Roberts on Nov. 18, Stanford men’s basketball knew that Thanksgiving would bring anything but a “break” for the team. In fact, the Cardinal was in for a series of battles — not the least of which was against the football team for fan turnout on the day of Big Game, plus the battles on the court with Florida A&M, Virginia, No. 5 Kentucky and Portland State — before classes resumed.
So, Stanford (4-3) went to work, notching a 30-point win over the Rattlers of Florida A&M (0-7) on Nov. 21, despite losing fans at the half to a less successful appearance by the football team at Big Game. Sophomore guard Jeremy Green led all scorers with a season-high 21 points, while senior Landry Fields earned his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds along with a season-high six assists.
Sophomore forward Jack Trotter and guards Drew Shiller, Jarrett Mann and Emmanuel Igbinosa all reached double figures in scoring as well, helping the Cardinal to lead by as much as 34 partway through the second half and to earn an eventual 99-69 victory.
Fields believes that the shared scoring in the Card’s most dominant win to date is a sign of Stanford’s continued improvement as individual players and as a group.
“Playing with each guy, I think the rotation is starting to really set in,” Fields, Stanford’s team captain, said. “A lot of guys are really starting to find their identity out there — I feel like everyone’s getting comfortable with their roles.”
Coach Johnny Dawkins agreed, noting that he’s seen the most improvement this season in Stanford’s young players.
“Some guys ducked into the lineup when they probably weren’t expecting it with Josh [Owens] around,” Dawkins said. “To see those guys really step up and compete for us at a really good level and to see those guys continuing to get better — when I’m speaking of those guys I’m speaking of the Zimmermanns, the Trotters, the Matei Daians — those guys at every practice have really come and battled, you can see the improvement in them.”
Stanford rode the momentum from the win all the way to Cancun, Mexico, where it met the University of Virginia (4-2) in the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 24. The matchup was fairly even, with six ties and 13 lead changes over the course of the contest. Both teams struggled in shooting — the Cardinal shot 38.9 percent from the floor to UVA’s 37.8 — but Fields lifted the Stanford offense with 25 points and 13 boards and found some help from Green, the only other Cardinal player to contribute in double digits, who added 10 points. Half of Green’s points came in the final 5 minutes of play, helping Stanford to pull away from the Cavaliers after being down 47-46 with 4:52 remaining.
At 4:42, Mann scored on a lay-up and Green followed with a lay-up of his own and then a long ball, along with a lay-up and two made foul shots by Fields to finish the 11-5 run by the Cardinal to win the game by the score of 57-52.
The win against Virginia placed Stanford in the tournament’s championship game against the fifth-ranked University of Kentucky (5-0). The Wildcats jumped out to what would be their largest lead of the meeting, holding a 19-11 advantage eight and a half minutes into the game. However, the second of Green’s five three-pointers at 12:21 jumpstarted an 11-0 run by the Card to give Stanford a three-point edge.
By the half, the teams had already seen six ties, but a final burst by the Cardinal earned the team a 38-32 buffer at halftime.
With Kentucky expected to dominate Stanford, Dawkins said that his team’s confidence in itself allowed Stanford to hang with one of the nation’s top teams.
“I think our kids believe that we can be competitive and that’s the first step — believing,” he said.
Throughout the second half, that belief and the Cardinal’s play, hung tough. Despite shooting only 31.8 percent, Stanford maintained a slight lead until 6:42, when a lay-up by Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson put the Wildcats up by one.
In the final three minutes, the teams tied four more times, but with nine seconds left, the Cardinal held a two-point lead. A pair of missed free throws by Mann failed to clinch the victory for Stanford and a foul by sophomore Andrew Zimmermann gave Kentucky the chance to make everything even. Clutch conversions by guard John Wall — he went eight-for-eight from the stripe on the night to help earn his game-high 26 points — made it 63-all and the teams went to overtime.
In the extra period, however, the young Stanford team crumbled under a combination of inexperience and fatigue. The Cardinal did not score a single field goal in the remaining five minutes and the team was outscored 10-2 in overtime, falling 73-65.
Stanford was led by Fields’s third consecutive double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds and Green added another 18 in the loss. No other Stanford players reached double digits.
Dawkins blames some of Stanford’s shortcomings thus far on youth. But he also acknowledges that this team has more potential than it has yet reached.
“We’re not exactly an old team,” Dawkins said. “There are a few things that we’re still trying to see with our guys. We do have an idea of what our guys can do. That’s what this time of the season is about for us — it’s a growth period. I think we’re learning more — and there are a few things that we need to clean up, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Back on campus, Stanford looked to rebound against Portland State (1-4) on Nov. 29. Again, play stayed relatively close throughout the first half and the Vikings’ eight-of-13 threes — and 65 percent overall shooting — certainly helped keep it that way. In fact, Stanford only had a two-point lead until Fields stepped up and hit a three of his own with one second left to close the period, 43-38.
Dawkins was less-than-thrilled with the Cardinal’s performance, though he gave credit to Portland State for its offensive success in the first half.
“They made us play the way they wanted to play,” he said. “We didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked to see us play in the first half. I thought our second half defense was better — and that’s a credit to our guys in making some adjustments and being really focused. [But] this is one of the best shooting teams that I’ve seen in the last couple years. They really shot the ball well.”
Luckily for the Card, the Vikings’ shooting fell to 37.9 percent after the break and the team went only 2-for-11 from long range. Meanwhile, Stanford’s shooting jumped to 69.6 percent and the game became increasingly one-sided.
The Cardinal finished with an 83-64 victory and was again led in scoring by Fields with 25 points. Green, Shiller and Trotter added 19, 11 and 10 points, respectively. Despite the improved scoring, though, Dawkins saw room for improvement and he hopes that the next two weeks — when the team breaks for finals — will give Stanford some time to prepare.
“I think we have to continue to get better defensively,” he said. “We have to get better on the boards — we battle pretty good, but I think we can battle even better there, so those are areas I think that need to be cleaned up the most. Offensively, we’re still working on our spacing and some timing issues and you know we’ve got to clean that up. So, I’m definitely not satisfied with where we are. I think there’s a lot of room for us to improve some of the intangibles of the game really. And I think if we make those improvements, we can be a better ball club.”
“Like coach said, there’s a lot to improve on,” Fields agreed. “I think we are improving and I feel like these next two weeks we’ll get better in a lot of aspects of the game, in a lot of our deficiencies. But I’m liking how it’s going right now, but we can’t be satisfied with anything, especially with this team because our margin for error is so small. We just have to keep getting better.”
Stanford will have a chance to test these improvements when it returns on Dec. 13 to take on UC-Davis at Maples Pavilion at 7 p.m.
“This is the guy,” said Head Coach Jim Harbaugh following Saturday night’s game.
He was talking, of course, about Toby Gerhart, who recorded an impressive 205 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns — including the game-winning touchdown — as Stanford defeated Notre Dame, 45-38, in its final game of the regular season.
Gerhart all but completed the game-winning drive solo in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. With 5:03 on the clock, second-and-four on the Stanford 24-yard line, he broke a pair of tackles before being brought down at the Stanford 47-yard line for a gain of 13 yards. At 3:04, freshman quarterback Andrew Luck connected with wide receiver Coby Fleener on a 14-yarder that brought the ball to the Notre Dame 35-yard line — but then it was all Gerhart.
At first-and-10 at the Notre Dame 35, he took the ball seven, two, then three yards to bring it to the Notre Dame 23-yard line. With 1:03 left in the game, it was all Gerhart again — this time, he found a seam up the middle for a spectacular 19-yard gain. It was then 0:59, first-and-goal on the Notre Dame 4. Sensing the inevitable touchdown, Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis parted the Fighting Irish sea and Gerhart cruised past.
“We had to score,” Gerhart said. “We had six minutes, five minutes, we wanted to end the game with the ball in our hands and when we had an opportunity like that, we did not want to be denied. It was a good drive all around. The offensive line got after them. I was dying. I couldn’t breathe, but we finished in the end zone.”
Altogether, the Stanford offense posted 496 total offensive yards, to Notre Dame’s 447. Stanford was able to establish a balanced attack, with 280 yards on the ground and 216 through the air. In contrast, Notre Dame was largely restricted to its passing game, recording 340 passing yards.
But the Fighting Irish actually led the Cardinal for the better part of the game, twice by 11 points.
The opening minutes saw Stanford linebacker Nick Macaluso force a Notre Dame fumble at their own 15-yard line, which Stanford safety Delano Howell was able to recover. The Cardinal capitalized with the first seven points. On the very next Stanford possession, however, Notre Dame safety Sergio Brown stripped running back Tyler Gaffney on a punt return and Notre Dame recovered the ball. A few plays later, the Irish pulled even at 7-7.
At the end of the first quarter, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen engineered a 10-play, 78-yard drive that showcased the team’s offensive variety. With 3:07 left in the quarter, at second-and-6 on the Notre Dame 40-yard line, Clausen connected with wide receiver Golden Tate for a 9-yard gain. Later in the drive, Clausen handed off to running back Robert Hughes for a gain of 8 yards. Then Clausen handed off to running back Theo Riddick, who rushed for another gain of 24 yards.
At 0:40, Clausen launched a pass on first-and-10 to Hughes, 18 yards off in the end zone and Hughes managed to keep his left toes inbound long enough to earn the touchdown and give the Irish a 14-10 lead.
Later in the second quarter, at first-and-10 on the Stanford 22-yard line, Clausen found a wide-open Tate in the flat, who cruised downfield for a 78-yard touchdown. With the score, Notre Dame shot ahead, 24-13.
Stanford responded with a strong offensive drive of its own. At 4:13, first-and-10 on his own 39-yard line, Luck connected with wide receiver Ryan Whalen for a 23-yard gain. A few plays later, Luck found tight end Jim Dray on a 12-yarder, then Coby Fleener on a 23-yard bullet up the middle, to bring the ball to first-and-goal on the Notre Dame 2-yard line. Fullback Owen Marecic punched in the score.
After halftime, though, Notre Dame took to its secret weaponry. At first-and-10 on the Stanford 46-yard line, Hughes took a direct snap, reversed to Tate, who re-reversed to Clausen — at that point the Stanford defense was sufficiently confused to leave Floyd open deep downfield. Clausen pitched it to Floyd for a 46-yard touchdown reception. The Notre Dame lead was again 11, the score 31-20.
Into the fourth quarter, a touchdown tradeoff and Stanford kicker Nate Whitaker’s field goal had brought the score to 30-38. With 8:59 left in the game, Stanford faced fourth-and-4 on the Notre Dame 18-yard line. On the next play, Stanford kept its offensive unit on the field and introduced some secret weaponry of its own. Luck handed off to Gerhart, who rushed right before stepping up and pitching a floater to Whalen in the end zone. Whalen, fighting through pass interference, dove and caught the ball. The ensuing 2-point conversion tied the game at 38 all.
“Pretty much all year we’ve been practicing that,” Harbaugh said of the play. “Sometimes it’s looked good, sometimes it hasn’t. [Coach Willie Taggart] suggested it and we went with it. It was covered well — it was a perfectly thrown ball. I think Toby was kind of just throwing it up and putting it over the defender’s head and then Ryan made an incredible play.”
The win over Notre Dame rounds out the regular season, with the Cardinal improving to 8-4 (7-3 Pac-10) and again securing top 25 rankings in both national polls: 23rd in the AP and 24th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
“[I’m] really proud of our guys,” Harbaugh said, reflecting on the season. “They’ve fueled this. It was their fire that fueled this. I’m proud of them. 8-4 is a heck of a season and we’ve got another game to go.”
Every time Pakistani students Asfandyar Ali Mir ‘12 and Shahryar Kamal Malik ‘12 enter the United States, they are detoured to a separate room for questioning.
“They ask you questions about where you are from, where you are going to and what college you attend,” Mir said.
As winter break approaches, finals are not the only worries for international students like Mir and Malik. In addition to pricey plane tickets and multi-hour trips, a few have to deal with visa issue delays and extensive airport security procedures.
Despite estimates by John Pearson, director of the Bechtel International Center, that the number of students who experience delays is decreasing, a few of Stanford’s 462 international undergraduates are still anticipating a long trip home next week — and perhaps a longer trip back to Stanford.
According to Pearson, there is usually no problem with students returning to their home country. The main concern is students reentering the United States after winter break.
The first possible delay, he explained, usually occurs due to visa problems. When students have current visas and the necessary documents, there is little concern with re-entry. But visa delays are problematic.
“Some countries can take some time to issue a new visa,” Pearson wrote in an e-mail to The Daily. “We have seen issues with students from China, Iran and Pakistan in the past few years.”
“Delays in obtaining new visas caused students to miss the beginning of winter quarter,” he continued, something that has happened “in the past few years” to an unspecified number of students.
Pearson suggested that there might be proposed changes at the federal level to the regulations for J-1 visas, the type required for many students, and the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which is administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
“Once we know more, we will be moving ahead with considerable outreach to students,” Pearson said.
In addition to possible visa delays, students also have to deal with immigration. While Mir, a sophomore from Pakistan, said he has only been asked “basic questions,” Malik said he has encountered more persistent interviewers.
According to Malik, questioners became suspicious when he returned to the U.S. this fall from a Stanford overseas seminar in Turkey.
“They seemed to want to imply something bad because they wanted to know more that time,” Malik said. “They don’t understand that I’m in America to just study at a very prestigious university and not anything else like meeting up with terrorists.
“I’m positive that if I say that I study anything to do with explosives and chemicals, they would question me even more,” Malik, who studies history and economics, added. “I think it’s unfair I have to go through this. It’s not right that carrying a Pakistani passport signals a red flag at any American airport.”
Airport troubles sometimes weigh into a student’s decision to go home.
“I’m usually hesitant about going to airports now,” Mir said. “The extra procedure takes me an extra hour or so . . . sometimes, it can take even more than an hour when there are too many people.
“But I don’t have any other option to go home even though the questioning is irritating,” he said.
After undergoing it every time, Malik and Mir have both accepted the procedure as routine for air travel.
“I respect and appreciate the Department of Homeland Security despite the meticulous investigations I have to encounter whilst entering and exiting the country,” Malik said. “I understand that increased security measures are used to assist rather than antagonize us.”
Other Factors
Besides visa and airport problems, time and money also factor into students’ decisions whether or not to go home for break.
“A ticket back home [to Malaysia] costs nearly $2,000,” said Stephanie Siow ‘11. “And the plane trip generally takes about 24 hours, including layovers.”
Stoica Cristinel Popa ‘11, a student from Romania, commented that his trips to and from his home could take up to three days.
“There are usually only flights to Bucharest, but I live four hours away from Bucharest,” Popa said. “Even though it takes several days, I still try to go home every winter and summer.”
According to Pearson, most international graduate students stay for the break because their dorms are open, while international undergraduate students often leave either for home or elsewhere in the U.S. because the dorms are closed.
For students who decide to stay, Stanford accommodates these students and allows alternate options, Pearson said.
“The Stanford Guest House is available for undergraduate students who decide to stay,” he wrote. “Bechtel also offers programs during the break for the students who do stay.”
Still, both Malik and Mir are Pakistan-bound this winter break.
“It’s a hassle,” Mir said. “But it’s become normal now.”
Toby Gerhart just might deserve the Heisman Trophy and for the first time this season, the Cardinal faithful aren’t the only people who think so.
“With the stamina, toughness and competitiveness he’s shown, I think he’s been the most outstanding player,” said ESPN analyst Todd McShay after slating Gerhart as his No. 1 pick.
His partner Brock Huard, a former quarterback at the University of Washington, essentially agreed.
“I think this a two-horse race,” Huard said. “And Toby Gerhart better be well up there. He defined and turned around Stanford all by himself this season.”
When you consider the season he’s had, Gerhart’s 205-yard and four-touchdown (three rushing, one passing) performance against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this Saturday wasn’t all that extraordinary. The future Stanford legend has been racking up these kinds of games all season, especially down the stretch.
Likewise, Saturday’s win fell short of the Cardinal’s best performance this season: the three-headed spear of quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd embarrassed the Stanford secondary at times and the Irish held a 10-point lead well into the second half.
But even without top-notch performances from either Gerhart or his team, Saturday’s win over Notre Dame was ever-important for one simple reason: it was on national television. After all, a win is only as good as the viewers perceive it to be.
Gerhart has been a dark horse candidate most of this season, falling behind Alabama tailback Mark Ingram and golden boy quarterbacks Tim Tebow of Florida and Colt McCoy of Texas on most analysts’ lists. Saturday’s game served to reverse that trend, as the nation finally got to see what the bruising back is all about.
“He’s made that statement the entire year,” said Stanford’s Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. “He was incredible to watch. He said it all by the way he’s played. He’s been about it and not talked about it. He just kept going at it week after week.”
Perception is king in the world of college football, a sport which crowns its national champion largely based on who people think the best team is. Saturday’s game was the best possible regular-season ending for the image of a Cardinal team that has become a media darling of sorts in recent weeks.
For one, as said before, it was on national television. Even on top of that, unusual attention focused on Saturday’s contest as many around the country expected the game to be the last for Fighting Irish Coach Charlie Weis. Last and most simply, it was a good game. The Cardinal’s 45-38 win was a back-and-forth shootout with plenty of offensive talent on both sides of the ball and it didn’t hurt that Gerhart threw a touchdown on fourth-and-four to tie that game with just minutes remaining.
That said, just because a few analysts have Gerhart at the top of their lists does not necessarily mean he will win the award. McCoy and Tebow are two of the best college quarterbacks of this generation, let alone this year, and the media has had its eye on them for four years now. They will both have national audiences for their games this weekend and their teams are playing for stakes Stanford hasn’t touched in decades. Gerhart winning the Heisman would probably still be a surprise at this point.
Whether he wins the award or not, Cardinal fans and players alike can rest assured that both Gerhart and this team are getting the credit they deserve for the season they have had. Saturday’s win over the Irish, more than anything else, was a showcase for a program that has “bowed to no man” since Coach Harbaugh arrived on campus three years ago. And it doesn’t look like it will be doing so anytime soon.
After a monstrous weekend on The Farm, junior forward Kayla Pedersen has been named the Pac-10 Player of the Week.
Pedersen led Stanford in scoring in wins over both Utah and Gonzaga. She netted 18 points against the Utes on Friday before exploding for a career high 30 points against the Bulldogs on Sunday. Her 19 total rebounds left her one short of averaging a double double on the weekend. Pedersen, who takes a number of her shots around the perimeter, finished with an impressive 47.1 shooting percentage.
Pedersen joins sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike on the year’s honoree list<\p>–<\p>they have each won once in the first three weeks of the season. This is the second time Pedersen has won the award in her career<\p>–<\p>her first came in March of 2009.
The Cardinal women are back in action against DePaul on Dec. 13 at Maples Pavilion.
Stanford’s Ryan Whalen has been named an Academic All-American.
Whalen, a junior wide receiver for the Cardinal, made the second team with a 3.43 grade point average. The honor was voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America and presented by ESPN The Magazine.
To be eligible, candidates must receive significant playing time — Whalen is a starter and Stanford’s leading receiver — and hold at least sophomore standing and a 3.30 GPA.
Whalen, a Science, Technology and Society major, joins a long line of Cardinal Academic All-Americans, but is the first football player to receive the award since Troy Walters in 1999.
Whalen was Stanford’s leading receiver against Notre Dame last week. He pulled in six passes for 75 yards and a score in the Cardinal’s 45-38 victory and has 54 receptions for 861 yards and four touchdowns on the year.
Stanford will next be in action in its bowl game, which has yet to be determined.
Stanford’s women’s volleyball team garnered seven different honors when conference awards were announced on Monday.
Junior outside hitter Alix Klineman, for the third time in three seasons, was selected to the All-Pac-10 team. She was sixth in the conference in both kills and points per set. Her teammates, junior outside hitter Cassidy Lichtman and middle blocker Janet Okogbaa, joined her, each for the first time in their careers, although Lichtman was an honorable mention last season.
Libero Gabi Ailes picked up an honorable mention.
The Cardinal freshmen were honored, too, as setter Karissa Cook and middle blocker Jessica Walker made the Pac-10 All-Freshman team and libero Hannah Benjamin was an honorable mention for the same squad.
Stanford, the conference champion, will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal will take on Long Island to open its run at the school’s seventh championship on Friday.