Stanford University 2025 [R]

Longtime lurker here and a fan of Stanford athletics longer than I'd care to tell you. Also a fan of Cardinal women soccer since the early 2000s. I rarely get to see the team play live anymore as it's quite a drive for an old fart from Orange County but I did get to watch this weekend's game in person with some old friends who live in LA. I enjoy Cachundo’s insights and after seeing the two LA games I thought I'd present my two cents (I’m a fan, not a soccer expert).



This weekend was a tale of two teams, the sublime and the inexplicable.



Up to this point in the season it seems a familiar pattern. The Cardinal come out a well oiled machine get up 2 to 3 goals, substitutions come in to give much-needed playing time for freshmen. Versus USC this played out exactly that way. As opposed to what I saw last year this edition features a midfield which acts as a well oiled machine. Kohler at the top who could turn a possession around with her great anticipation and steals and ball movement, Jung who can find an open teammate in the most crowded circumstance and has a laser shot and Harvey (more on her later) turning chaos into order.



A healthy Aikey running roughshod through the front will score, Kitihata who plays with opposing fullbacks will score and Montoya who seems to have finally found her exceptional shot after her injuries will score. All of these lead to an onslaught that is difficult, at best, for opponents to counter. Subsequent to building a multiple goal lead, the freshmen, who honestly could start in pretty much every D1 team lays waste to the exhausted opponents and their substitutes.



So USC. After a paltry 1-0 lead at halftime the Cardinal stormed out to double that. The usual substitute pattern ensued. Then USC made the mistake of scoring. All bets were off, and they were subject to an onslaught of three more goals including a spectacular shot by Klinger from the next ZIP Code. The #6 team in the country had their band silenced, thankfully.



That brings us to UCLA. First it was HOT. The Bruins did two notable things: They put 5 in the back and attacked the Cardinal fullbacks. They scored early on a fine cross nicely saved by Birkle that unfortunatley went to an unmarked player who put back the rebound. Fine, let’s see the response. Three or four more Cardinal shots ensued but missed the mark. Then -here’s the inexplicable part- out comes Montoya, Harvey, Kohler, Aikey. I think that’s 10(?) goals on the bench 30 or so minutes in. A few more unsucessful shots and its halftime.



Half two went off the rails soon after kickoff. By the middle of the half we have Aikey at 6 and Kitihata at left back. The well oiled midfield gone. Bruins turn a misplay into a breakaway and the net. I lost track of who was playing where. UCLA unloads their bench at the 70th minute. Frankly a mess. I’m curious if this substitution pattern continues. We’ll see.



Some impressions, freshmen: I’m impressed with Birkel, she looks like a leader already as a freshman, but she hasn’t had much adversity yet. Holden will be a star when she eventually adapts to the speed of college play. Freer is getting better every time I watch her. When Y-Lan develops her vision of the pitch she will be all conference.



Klinger is making a case for the starting lineup.



Then there’s the enigma of Harvey. When she came on as a freshman she played the 6 like a senior. She looked like the second coming of Nogueira/Davidson. This continued into her second season – until it didn’t. Bhuta (who if anyone has intel on her please fill us in) was formidible but where did Harvey go? Several games later she re-appears at the 8. And she scores some of the most consequential goals of last season. Now she’s back -at the 6- and the midfield is humming. I don’t thnk she played 30 minutes vs. UCLA.



Conference play begins this week. Which version shows up next? I predict: The Sublime.





Until the next visit to LA…

 

A note about USC as compared to UCLA. I did not see the game, but Portland tied USC @ USC 0-0, and the stats seem relatively even. I did see Portland lose to UCLA @ Portland 2-0 and UCLA looked quite good, although UCLA managed to clear a ball off the goal line and Portland missed a goal off the goal post. The stats were more favorable to UCLA.

My pre-season predictions have UCLA finishing #1 in the Big Ten, followed by USC at #2. Stats expert Chris Henderson, however, has UCLA finishing #1 and USC #4.

My best guess is that UCLA is significantly stronger than USC, at least at this stage of the season.

 

That’s a shame about Emri. Would have been nice for her and Murdock to get experience and take over when Evans leaves.

 

Any news on Kitahata's injury from the Syracuse game?

 

So I’m recovering from a little knee surgery and while couch bound decided to watch my alma mater’s sports teams on TV over the last couple weeks. Firstly, the football team’s victory over Florida State was a pleasure indeed! Not lost on me they were one of the programs that signed a letter in opposition to The Cardinal admittance to the ACC as we would “devalue “ the conference. Revenge served cold.

I was encouraged to give this another go. Excuse the length but I have lots of time at the moment.

on to soccer.

I’ll keep my comments to Virginia and Florida State as those were the fun ones. Once again, I’m a fan not an expert.

For me, the Virginia game was a case of excellence, luck and perplexing coaching. Stanford had the run of it in the first half with three shots from Harvey one wild then two quality headers, one which was saved by an excellent play by the Virginia goalkeeper. Then came the shot of the season by Aickey who, I don’t know if you call it a bicycle kick, but backwards over her head into the back corner of the goal. 1- 0 Stanford. The Enigma goes out after 25 minutes. 10 minutes later lovely header from Kohler hits the back of the net and Stanford is up by two.

The second half was frankly baffling. As I said, the first half Stanford had run of play, but the second half featured the team playing a prevent defense, which allowed Virginia’s very capable offense run of play and set up a series of punishing shots some of which miraculously did not go in. To their credit, our back line would not allow anything by them until the 70th minute when one of the Virginia players seem to have split between Buhta and Thomas with an excellent strike that found home. 2-1.

Later in, a Virginia player made an excellent run off a fine send in and somehow missed the net from 5 feet away.

Shortly thereafter, Aickey was fouled in the box however, Kitihata failed to convert the penalty.

More of the pummeling continued until the game mercifully ended with the victory

I still don’t understand the strategy behind the prevent defense and the substitution patterns that seem to relieve us of our most skilled players during times of stress.

Now Florida State.

This time, again, Stanford had the run of play in the first half. Harvey continued to find space in the middle and, when found, was basically able to run through half the pitch until a fine pass to Aickey, who quickly flicked it to Kitihata who buried it 1–0. Five minutes are gone by. Florida State was not shy to take shots from wherever but the back line was stout. About halfway through the first half Kohler put through a rocket which the keeper failed to handle 2-0.

The second half was a mirror of the Virginia game. Shortly, after commencement of play, Stanford conceded the entirety of the opponent’s half of the pitch and started taking cross after cross after cross. One of the Florida State players took a header so hard to the ground that it bounced over the crossbar! Our only real chance in the second half was a great cross by Harvey that Kitihata headed inches wide of the goal. Finally, FSU scored when Boahma inexplicably ducked a cross in front of Jordan Dudley, who put it in. 2-1. But that was it and The Cardinal came out with an impressive road win.

I’ll say this, for all the talk about Jordan Dudley, she gets hurt seemingly on every play and is a world class actress. Her flopping in the box at the end of the game was waived off but caused a tense moment.


Overall Impressions: Montoya was on crutches on the sideline so that’s very bad news indeed. I really thought Berkel came into her own starting with the Virginia game. She had a brilliant save in that one and seemed much more aggressive in the following match.

Kohler poses serious problems. She is sneaky quick and can put in a shot with her head and feet.

Kitihata, missed penalty aside, is raining goals on opponents. Nice to see Bhuta back on the pitch. She appears to be splitting time with Nguyen who is much better than when I saw her in L. A. Evens and Murdock are so impressive. They may be the best defensive tandem in the country. Jury is out on Boamah. She can be stellar but also lackadaisical so I don’t know what to think. Harvey, I still don’t get. Like last year she has been now moved to attacking. She plays maybe half a game. I looked it up and the last four games she has 3 goals and two assists including a brace. The midfield that worked so well earlier in the season has been ditched. Where’s Jung? Freer appears to be injured (?). I hope not.

Then there’s Ratcliffe. I’m sure he knows better than me but the substitution stuff: it’s not just one player comes in at a time but three or four. How can players adjust to this? 2-0 leads are not a comfortable margin in the ACC. This worries me. And the prevent defense, God Almighty. Our women, Aikey in particular, put a lot of pressure on opponents back line making build up a difficult proposition. Throw that out and we are in a very tense situation. Tempting fate is not the key to longevity.

Hope the Cardinal finish with wins and gets a home date for the conference tournament. Despite all my gibberish, they are one of the most enjoyable to watch among their predecessors.

 

From an FSU fan -- It's rare that we face a team with a clear skill advantage, but this was one of those games. Stanford was the superior team, made us look naive in a way that Notre Dame (4-2 winners against us the previous Thursday) did not. We never really tested Berkel the whole game. Also snapped our 38-game home unbeaten streak (36-0-2). Very impressed by the Cardinal.

Dudley is a great talent but yes, some FSU fans share the opinion that she often goes to ground too easily. She also rides the line between aggressive and reckless in her defensive duties, e.g. closing down opposing defenders (think it was the Stanford game that the ref let a nasty shoulder challenge of hers slide). A card waiting to happen. Needs to clean that stuff up before she will be a good pro.

 

Interesting that Stanford resorted to a defensive scheme in the second half because Ratcliffe’s message was they wanted to go for goal No. 4. Not sure why they didn’t continue to attack. It’s not that Stanford’s backline is weak - it’s that it’s offense is that mich better.

Montoya didn’t play many minutes, so I don’t think she affected it too much. I’m just glad everyone is healthy now.

interesting that Murdock has been getting the start ever since she got healthy. Is she that much better than Freer?

 

No preamble here. I 100% agree with everything. Cachundo said. I am flummoxed by this defensive nonsense that Ratcliffe is pulling in the second half of games against these top teams.

The last two years it made a little sense as goals were precious but this year the onslaught that is Stanford soccer should wipe that notion out of his head.

The Cavs adjusted in the 2nd half and pressured the defense hard and we obliged by shrinking the field to make it easier on them. As in the last game against them, we were lucky to survive.

Replacing Harvey with Holden (!) again, a head scratcher. Even in the first half you could see the change in momentum when she left the field.

That also leaves Aickey in the midfield where she is wasted. The half ending goal was glorious but I wouldn’t hang my hat on more of those.

Kholer, thank goodness, was a marvel.

We will indeed get a rouge’s gallery of top west teams in the bracket.

If the players are allowed to attack as in the first 25 minutes, they can win it all. If they have to exhaust themselves defending it’s even odds.

The title will be decided by the coaches.

 

Maybe Ratcliffe is trying to teach the players how to play soccer at the highest level. To play at the highest level, you have to be able to convert from a more attacking game to gain a lead to a more defending game to preserve a lead. If you don't practice playing a more defending game against stiff competition, you can't master doing it.

So one way to look at the game is Ratcliffe seized an opportunity for the players to practice something they need to improve on. It was a risk, but they got away with it.

 

They don't hang banners or hand out trophies and rings for first-round tournament wins.

 

I suspect what @cachundo is thinking about is that Stanford will get an opponent from the West in the first round. I don't think those from elsewhere in the country understand the level of parity in the West and that even for #1 seeds, surviving a first round opponent from the West is not a sure thing.

 

That wasn’t his point. If Stanford loses on Sunday, they still get a number one seed. If they lose their first round match in their NCAA tournament, the season is over.

So if you had to pick, which one would you rather lose?

 

Really depends on how good I thought my chances of winning the national title were. Which, to be fair, Stanford has lots of reasons to believe they are one of the favorites, if not *the* favorite. There's only a very small number of teams for whom that's true in any given season, however.

I suppose you could argue that is always true of the top teams in the ACC, but I think that goes too far.