Both UCLA and Stanford put down quality opposition to open the season decisively. Hard to say who is more stacked or how the rest of the PAC12 is going to keep pace. Cal scratched one out v a very good Santa Clara side while USC handled UC Davis comfortably despite a tighter score than meets the eye. Colorado definitely out to a slow start but dont sleep on them. Utah and Arizona look to be solid. The rest will bring up the rear What say you???
I think Stanford is still the class of the field. Brought back most of their squad and added a great class. Need to wait on USC before I can make any judgements on them until they start playing against stronger opposition. They lost some key individuals to graduation. Colorado added some transfers to their program so they in essence reloaded. I think they are an NCAA tournament team so they should be a tough out for any team. The only team I think is a dark horse to upset the hegemony that is Stanford is UCLA and even then I am hesitant to say they will do it this year. Their roster is young. They picked up an outstanding class and they look real good already in the 2 games I watched so far. The issue is experience and whether they buy into the system that UCLA preaches. IF they do, they could be a scary team this year.
Pretty impressive that the PAC12 has 6 teams in the Top 25. UCLA deservedly perched atop at #1, Stanford #5, USC #7, Utah #17, Colorado #21 and Cal#25 Some quality match ups this week...lets see what happens!
Wow Stanford got punished hard for losing to Florida. I didn't think they would drop much, so I was pretty wrong about that.
With the coming weekend marking the end of the Non-Conference games, the Pac12 accumulated a 15-4-1 record over the weekend. 11 of 12 left the weekend with at least 3 points (Utah drew BYU in their only game). Stanford continued with a weak schedule and padding stats by taking down San Francisco and Yale by 8 and 7 goals respectively (after putting up 7 on Navy and 4 on G-town last week...yes they outscored their competition 26-0) Their firepower is undeniable....Their Freshman class is putting up monster numbers (Macario has scored in all 7 games). UCLA played a very entertaining game vs Virginia and was fortunate to end their long roadie with 3 points. USC got all 6 pts with a great comeback win over a very talented Santa Clara, but looked tired and lacked energy in their win vs Iowa State. Cal had to come back from 1-0 to squeek by Sac State (not sure what happened there but after losing to the aforementioned San Francisco the week prior the alarm bells may be ringing) Colorado traveled to Texas and was promptly handed a beatdown from Texas (3-0...the goals were the first 3 allowed on the season) before rebounding verse a gritty UTSA. UCLA and Stanford still seem a step above USC, Cal, Utah. Washington has opened eyes with the quality win over Florida, and Colorado continues to play to the level of their competition. Bring on the final weekend ahead of what should be a great conference battle
I think the PAC 12 gets 7, possibly 8 teams into the NCAA tourney. Stan, ucla, Cal, USC, Utah, Wash, and Color. Possibly Wazzu if they can steal a win from the above teams, and tie sum others
So the Non conference schedule has closed for the PAC12 and things look pretty solid with 11 of 12 teams at ,500 or better (ASU finished 3-4-1) Some interesting results over the weekend had UCLA drawing with Pepperdine in a very entertaining game that saw UCLA dominate the first half but Pepperdine came out energized and pushed UCLA all the way thru the 2 OTs. Stanford and Santa Clara played a very solid game both way. Stanford went ahead on a long strike from Boissere that defined alot of their success on the season. Santa Clara drew even on a 2nd half deflected free kick and was looking strong to draw or even go ahead until a Michelle Xiao cracker into the true upper right V from 15 yards put the game away. USC scored two sloppy wins over the weekend vs Loyola Marymount and San Diego but go into the Conference game with just a single somewhat fluky loss to Kansas Cal came out and shutout a previously unbeaten Oklahoma State side 3-0 and did not allow a SOG Washington blanks Seattle U for their 5th straight shutout Colorado takes Denver to the woodshed 6-1 Oregon finishes with two shutouts over marginal competition Utah Finishes with a victory over Kansas shortly after a tough loss to Duke. WSU, Arizona, OSU, and ASU finish well. Single game schedules start the Pac12 next week UCLA at Colorado USC at Utah Cal at Washington Stanford at WSU Oregon at Arizona OSU at ASU Good Luck to all
Week One of Conference play in the books. Some very entertaining and close games across the board. Thursday gave us a tight Stanford-WSU match that featured 2 excellent Goals from Stanford while WSU stayed in the game converting a 1st half PK. Another late PK was given to WSU, but Johansouz covered and cleared to save the W. UCLA traveled to altitude in Boulder but seemed to control tempo as CU Bunkered the first half and gave up 2 second half goals. USC flew to Utah for a Saturday match but couldnt breakthrough despite 10 SOG and a post. Utah's keeper came up big on a somewhat telegraphed PK late in the 2nd half. Both sides with OT chances but settled for 0-0 draw. Cal was at Washington in a very competetive and equal game. Cal pulled out a 1-0 victory, but the highlight was the Play by Play on the Washington home feed. 2 Australian girls that were funny as hell in their own Homer way. If there is a replay available you gotta give it a 5 minute look. Finally both Oregon teams traveled to the desert only to be thwarted by AZ and ASU. This week brings into play the Thursday/Sunday Schedule Oregon/OSU in Socal Vs UCLA/USC Col/Utah at Wash/WSU Ariz/ASU at Cal/Stanford
Pac12 play saw each team limited to the single game week. Probably well appreciated by most teams managing minor and major dings. Thursday saw UCLA and Utah go to battle. Utah played a very disciplined game and went into halftime even with the Bruins. Neither team had too much to offer in the first half. The second half turned with The Bruins getting a Cracker from freshman Shehan only to be equalized on a set piece a few minutes later. Midway through the second the Bruins went up on a long shot from Flemming that should have been fairly easily tapped over the bar. 2-1 Final USC and Colorado played Friday...CU struggled again and failed to penetrate the goal despite USC missing 2 starters. USC got first half goals from Anthony and Sladek to seperate and held serve in the second hald 2-0 Oregon over ASU 3-0 Arizona over OSU 2-0 Stanford and Washington battled Friday eve in a very entertaining Game. Stanford brought possesion and speed only to be rebuffed by the Washington D and keeper time after time Though they didnt offer much offensively, you could tell the defense was keeping Washington in the game and active. Late run by Stanford down the left flank with a centering ball to Carusa who megged the keeper for the winner 1-0 Finally Cal smoked out WSU 2-0 (note I only commented on games I watched) At this point Stanford (6-0) still holds the lead in Pac12 with USC and UCLA sharing second at 5-0-1 and Cal at 4-1-1. The kicker to this is that all of these teams will play each other over the lqast 3 playdates of the regular season....Gonna be a fun ride
Weekend recap By and large the PAC12 saw fairly predictable results with the exception that was WSU up ending UCLA in Pulman. They took advantage early on converting a corner just minutes into the game and held off the Bruins the rest of the way. For more of a deep dive into that game see the exceptionally detailed recaps in the UCLA thread. Stanford (8-0-0) continued to roll as the Oregon schools were in the bay. They dispatched Oregon 4-0 and OSU 6-0. Since conceding a PK Goal to WSU on Sept 21st, the Card have outscored 24-0 over 6 games. They hold their own fate in their hands as they close out Vs. the other top 3 teams in conference. USC has leapfrogged into 2nd place at 7-0-1 while Cal and UCLA both come in at 6-1-1. With each team facing the other 3 to end the season, we basically have the makings of a conference tournament in a disjointed sort of way. All 4 teams can run the table and win the PAC 12. This is gonna be one heck of a week. Elsewhere AZ, Wash, WSU and Colorado are fighting for a tournament bid. Washington took one on the chin this week with 2 losses and look to be vulnerable along with Colorado. Should be a great final week and a half
Sure would like to watch this Cal/ Santa Clara game. No sound and buffer buffer buffer. Not impressed.
I can't even get the stream at all. Pac 12 live stream really dropped the ball this weekend. Disappointing that they'd replay a basketball game rather than show the game on TV as well.
Cal receives a Red Card in the 3rd minute- ouch. Santa Clara scores with the PK. Cal's Pac-12 1st team defender is sent off, and they'll play the match with a man down.
So I feel like I just watched a U12 game. Stanford takes down Utah Valley 9-1 ( and had 2 or 3 others called back) Part of me thinks this was bush league from Paul. He left Macario in the whole second half and was hard pressing the UV defense all the way to the final horn (macario took a shot with 4 seconds on the clock). Long and short is Stanford looks unbeatable....yes I know they will be challenged in their bracket and crazy things happened, but they did this without Sully who will be back next week...wooooof
Not a Ratcliffe apologist, but he had to sub out Civana when she was cautioned. I was not pleased that it was Macario coming in for her, coz he still had his 18th field player yet to take the field. So yeah, he could have done that instead. To be fair, neither team played like the scoreboard told them to. To UVU's credit, they were the first away team to score on Stanford this season. The Card gave up an ungodly number of CKs and shots, much much more than they're used to. UVU had a good game plan - press high, force the defenders to turn the ball over or surrender a CK, and when they have the ball, shoot quickly against GK1 who has butterfingers and even worse positioning and footwork. one day, someone will have the gumption to shoot from the center stripe coz that's how far she wanders from goal. Unless you have speedsters such as UCLA, pressing high is probably the best way to harass Stanford into giving up goals. UVU were playing and fighting to the very end. Stanford played like any team with a 6-goal lead was supposed to - don't shoot from distance, take it to goal. Rat wanted to finish the game with the youngsters, as they will be leading two editions from now. Many of those sophs have a lot to prove as this year's and next year's class are, and will be, making a very strong case for PT. I've attended Stanford matches for almost 2 decades now, and I haven't seen Stanford bring to bear this firepower from the bench. Civana and Haley are nominally substitutes for this edition. Think about that for a moment. In any of the previous 5 editions, both of them would have started, but it takes three Day 1 starters to be unavailable for them to crack the first XI. This season's Stanford's subs are no ordinary subs. Yeah, Macario should have played the flag in the final minute, and not shoot when the PA guy was counting down. Hopefully, that part of her game of her game will mature as well. Or maybe Lemay told her something she didn't care for, and wanted to teach him a lesson or two.
Not a great day in the Pac-12 with 3-6 losing and UCLA having to go to OT with northwestern to get through. Good on WSU for maximizing their opportunity. Good luck to the 3 team s remaining
WSU has advanced through and good for them but they played paper tigers. UCF and Tenn are decent teams but put them in the Penn St. Wake. Rutgers. WVU group and they would be one and done. Committee did themselves a solid putting them where they did.
I was able to get the UCLA game, but it took 3 different devices-- it wasn't coming thru on phone or Ipad (strange??)...came in quite well on home computer-- finally stopped freezing and was able to enjoy the game...
Why aren' the pac12 teams on bigger networks like ESPN or something? Why are only the east coast divisions given a beautiful showcase on national tv?