from The Daily Aztec: SDSU suffers first defeat UNCG coach's comments from gostanford.com: Nogueira a Candidate for Senior CLASS Award and Gleason Earns Pac-12 Weekly Honor
Stanford again tortured its fans before putting away a pretty average Arizona State team in H2. The Cardinal gave another disappointing yo-yo performance and its offensive inconsistency is starting to wear thin on the 12th player - just read paltrysum's thoughtful posts or listen to fan chatter during the games. After the Georgetown game, and to a certain point after the BU and UNCG matches too, I was hopeful the team would find its rhythm and start using the midfielders as true playmakers. But after the Sun Devil game, I'm starting to lose my patience too. Stanford's success depends almost exclusively on Garciamendez and Nogueira winning ball after ball in the first and second third, and then hoping for goal chances through set pieces. The PK sealed the deal this time, but I don't know how far brute force and set pieces will take the team in the long haul. All in all, not much to report from this really boring game, save a couple of individual performances that merit some recognition: Verloo (this year's main provider), Theuer (yeah!), and Oliver (finally!). The rest of the team earned a set of very dull yellow lights.
I always dread results before the 1st week of classes. Sometimes it's difficult to focus when you're moving to new digs, meeting old friends, and making new ones, even more so when you're just prepping for one game. I got a lot of friendly stick last year when I said the same thing before hosting Arizona, but the last few years were different because you had leaders on the attack. This year seems like there's a lot of looking over your shoulders and waiting for someone to lead this team in attack. Very listless H1, halftime changes brought much-needed change of pace up front. If Liedle can provide more width and penetration from left-back, Rat would have no reason to not play her. But as in the WV game, if someone else can provide width and penetration at that position, they'll stick and play. I wonder if left-back is really the ideal position for her. She does cover a lot of ground and has steel, perhaps d-mid next year will be a better fit for her attributes. If there was only one game, why was it played sunday at 1400? Why not earlier say at noon? Why not Friday? What's up with the upcoming Thursday- Sunday schedule? Is this sked-rigging really just to provide content for the Pac12 network, which I don't get anyway. Next up are the Oregon schools. Not to overlook Oregon, but OregonSt. are 9-1 but have a mediocre RPI and are in danger of not hosting a game if selected to the Tournament today. They are hungry for a quality win and are ready to take down Stanford. from the ASU website: Third-Ranked Stanford Defeats Sun Devil Soccer 3-0 from the Daily: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/0...fense-extends-shutout-streak-to-five-matches/
from the Daily: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/09/26/w-soccer-oregon-schools-to-visit-the-farm/ from OSU's The Daily Barometer: Beavers face huge road test at No. 2 Stanford
Another infuriating weekend. Stanford Yo-Yo's pound a potential contender in Oregon State and then barely top a potential doormat in Oregon. What can you say when the best goal of the weekend was scored by an opponent? The Cardinal continues to flirst with disaster, playing with just enough grit to overcome its own mediocrity, but boy has Stanford's product lost its luster. Team chemistry is clearly in the dumps and many players are playing very selfishly (careful Ubogabu!!). No choreographed buildups, no texturized passing, no killer finishes, no individual creativity with deadly ulterior collective motives. It's gotten so bad this season that I traipse to Cagan Field only to see the outrageous Theuer-Garciamendez tandem and the rest of the backline carry the load. But it feels a bit retro to me, like when I lived in the wrong side of the state and rooted for the baby blue weenies just because "they were very tough to beat". I would never regress to that point -my anger has limits- but for now no more wowow reporting until this head cools off. On a side note, I hope Rosen's knock isn't serious. I don't want her taking a back seat again.
The answer to the last question ... Yes. Colorado's game this week was 3PM Friday which dropped attendance by 1/3, but CU has no lights so Friday games are in the afternoon anyway, just not that early. Utah's Friday game was at 1PM, dropped their attendance 60%. And Utah has lights.
from the Daily: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/09/27/w-soccer-rout-of-oregon-state-extends-win-streak-to-six/ from the democratherald.com: Stanford too much for Beavers to overcome in 5-1 loss from OSU's Daily Barometer: No. 2 Stanford trounces OSU in Palo Alto 5-1 and Beavers moving on from Bay Area debacle from Oregon's Daily Emerald: Ducks soccer ends California road trip without a win
from the Daily Utah Chronicle: Soccer: Utes not intimidated by Stanford ..... Utah have won all their home games thus far, & are hungry for this win to pin their hopes on hosting a 1st-rd NCAA game, or face the prospect of driving south to Provo in the 1st round. For us, 1st road game since August. This is a new Pac road trip, one that hasn't been experienced before. 6 of the next games 8 are on the road. 3 road games, 4 plane flights in the next 7 days. SLC & Boulder are altitude games, and if the lack of oxygen doesn't get you, brrrrr is the forecast for Colorado. Can this team rise to the challenge?
from the Salt Lake Tribune: Women’s soccer: No. 2 Stanford beats Utah 1-0 from the Deseret News: Utes fall to No. 2 Stanford
http://video.pac-12.com/video/w2M3E1Njqj4ge97wAwR0k9pwWOqt5rmc from the Arizona Daily Wildcat: Arizona soccer falls to Stanford in near shutout
Hey Sanfordites, what do you all think of your radio broadcast team? I'm listening to the Washington State game and, to me, they seem terrible. Am I missing something?
Maybe they're students? Don't know. Interesting game, though, even if the broadcast wasn't so great. Stanford put on a clinic on how to conduct set plays, and WSU showed Stanford what good, offensive possession soccer is supposed to look like. WSU's left back (#3) was the best player on the field. It was like watching Cami Levin in another team's uniform as far as her ability to win balls and control her side of the field. Very impressive.
from gostanford.com: Verloo Named Pac-12 Player of the Week from the Daily Bruin: UCLA Bruins hope to beat back Cardinal after falling short last year from espn.com: Pac-12 powers battle for national supremacy Hope the team can focus on playing $C first, before thinking of UCLA
"Hope the team can focus on playing $C first, before thinking of UCLA" I'm concerned about the same with UCLA/Cal...quite a formidable opponent. I've had the priviledge of watching several of Stanford's games on the PAC12 network, and am quite impressed with their senior leadership, ball possession and abilities on set plays. It is however, quite a different team than last year's and I'm very excited about the matchup, as it could be quite an entertaining game. I'm hopeing that despite the result, that both are able to represent the PAC12 as #1 seeds in the tournament.
Video: http://video.pac-12.com/no-1-stanford-comes-back-beat-no-2-ucla-highlights from the Daily: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/1...a-to-clinch-fourth-straight-conference-title/ from the Daily Trojan: Women of Troy suffer a pair of one-goal losses from the Daily Bruin: No. 2 women’s soccer falls in late Stanford rally
from topdrawersoccer.com: UCLA women still can't clear biggest hurdle from gostanford.com: Quon, Oliver, Win Pac-12 Weekly Honors and Rachel Quon Named Stanford/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week
from dailycal.org: Cal welcomes defending champs Stanford at Edwards from gostanford.com: Witness Character Seniors supply standards in soccer success
from gostanford.com: Stanford Earns Top Seed in NCAA's As I predicted in the tournament thread, Idaho St will be the 1st-rd opponent. And that Santa Clara, SDSU, & UCLA will be in the Stanford quadrant, but the lineup changed slightly. Should the bracket play itself out: Santa Clara are unseeded & a potential 2nd-rd opponent. Maryland are potentially the 3rd-rd opponent. The winner of UCLA/SDSU are potentially the 4th-rd opponent. The Stanford quadrant is undoubtedly the toughest. Gotta hand it to the selection committee to ensure that the top Western teams knock each other out. from collegesportsmadness.com: Stanford / Maryland Region Women's Soccer Tournament Breakdowns from espn.com: Plenty of intrigue in NCAA soccer bracket
Pac-12 postseason selections: First Team Alina Garciamendez Mariah Nogueira Emily Oliver Rachel Quon Chioma Ubogagu Honorable Mention Courtney Verloo Lo LaBonta All-Freshman Team Laura Liedle Maya Theuer Coach of the Year - Paul Ratcliffe Congratulations to everyone, especially to Paul. 4 unblemished Pac seasons, and has guided this edition to a 1-seed. ===== from the Daily: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/11/08/senior-sit-down-rachel-quon/
hey you knowledgeable West coasters! you have seen santa clara lately? are you concerned about the friday game?
Hey Stanford People! Did you see Stanford at Boulder? Are you concerned about the Friday game? But seriously, just one game, but on that particular afternoon, Stanford did not look like a #1 team. Despite possessing the ball approximately the entire game, one shot on goal in 70+ minutes against the last-place team in the conference does not suggest a juggernaut on The Farm this year. Yes, Stanford won, as great teams find a way to do. As for Friday, it depends on which teams show up. If it's the Stanford team that deserves its #1 ranking vs the Santa Clara team that was tied by San Francisco, less than no problem. If it's the Stanford team that showed up in Boulder vs the Santa Clara team that tied BYU on the road (a bit of an escape) and San Diego State, you will have a lot more of a match on your hands than you are expecting. Should Stanford win? Absolutely. But smugness and comments about opponents can wait until Stanford is in the College Cup. Or can wait forever.