SD area recruit from this morning's Union-Tribune: *** Torrey Pines' Buehler takes Stanford offer Torrey Pines High soccer player Rachel Buehler, a Parade magazine All-American, has accepted a scholarship to Stanford. Buehler, who is also a member of the U.S. Under-19 women's national team, is recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL. She suffered the injury in the inaugural FIFA Under-19 Women's World Championships, which the United States won. Falcons teammate Rachel Cohen will continue her soccer career at Duke. Both Buehler and Cohen are members of the Union-Tribune All-Academic Team.
Rachel Buehler is a great steal for Stanford. TPHS produces some very good athletes and very smart students. It seems like every athlete who goes on to play in collegiately has a 4.0+ GPA.
NCAA 1st round: Stanford vs. Cal Poly Stanford 4-0 Cal Poly Once again, the Marcie-and-Marcia show wasted little time in introducing themselves to the visitors from SLO. Marcie launched a CK that found Callie's head. The GK managed to get a hand on the ball, but Marcia knew what to do with that mistake. Stanford 1-0 in the 6th minute. Marcie was graciously credited with an assist. But that assist makes Marcie Stanford's career assist queen. YAY!!! But Marcie was not yet done for the day. Callie's goal came from another Marcie CK that put Stanford up 2-0, 17th minute. But wait, there's more. The Marcie-and-Marcia show was not yet over in the 2nd half. Marcie launched another beautiful FK that Marcia buried for her 2nd goal of the night. Turns out that Marcia's 2nd goal & Biggie's goal were more than enough to beat Cal Poly. Cal Poly played well in the 1st half. Although they were down early, they played patiently, and created several nice combinations to set up their forwards. There were times in the 1st half when Cal Poly seemed to have free rein to do their thing. Stanford mids were giving too much space, and were not challenging the ball-carrier, nor pinning her to the touch-line. Definitely not Stanford soccer. Marquand had another mediocre game in midfield. Dre can't create enough width. Biggie's still learning how to play mid, but she's a natural & very dangerous up front playing a little deeper behind the Marcie-and-Marcia show. Snoop & Biggie should really switch roles. With such a switch, Stanford won't lose much firepower up front. And the midfield would gain another valuable midfield holder in Snoop. If Marquand puts in a good effort, she & Snoop create a lot of width & will cause trouble for Cal. If any of them turn the ball over too much against Cal, put Amy Grady in instead. Against Cal Poly, Marcia was dangerous all night. With Marcie holding the ball, here comes Marcia flying in. Cal Poly's defense was being kept honest all night with booming shots 30 yards out from Callie & Biggie. Sunday's match-up will be against Cal. Recalling their clash in Berkeley 2 weeks ago, Stanford have to play a much better game, especially in the opening minutes. Pabon & the other outside backs have to turn it on, stretch the field & create width against the slower Cal players. And the mids have to defend, hold, & distribute better. Too dependent on Callie Withers. Stanford have to play inspired, and take care of business.
From the Cal website: Kim Yokers' Player Diary As I recall, a relatively uninspired Stanford team beat a motivated Cal team. If Cal had any real talent other than shoving players to the turf and riding players' backs, they would have realized that the game is not about wrestling, but about scoring and preventing goals.
Erickson for the Head Job I just want to say that Stephanie Erickson should get the head coaching job of the women's soccer team at Stanford University at the end of this season. Look at the way she has held it together. Go Ms. Erickson!!! Forget the "big names" and all the hype that will surround it.....go with productivity, not expereince....
NCAA 2nd round: Stanford vs. Cal Stanford 1-0 Cal (OT) Ally Marquand scores the golden goal in the 95th minute of OT. Cal put up a fight the entire time. Cal contested every ball in play. But Stanford's defense was able to destroy Cal's attacks before they developed. There's nothing pretty about a Stanford-Cal match-up, and this one was no different. Even with all the hounding from Cal, Stanford were still able to play well in their attacking third. But Stanford were very unlucky, unable to put the ball in the net. For Cal, their POTM was their GK, who made several great saves of point-blank shots. Marcie, Marcia, & Callie were denied goals by the GK, & Marcia's shot with 5 minutes left in regulation hit the post. You just couldn't buy a goal in this one. On Ally's goal, Marcia sent a cross from the right that Marcie played to Ally. Thank goodness Ally knew what to do with the ball. After whiffing on a shot earlier, Ally made sure she controlled the ball, then took the shot from 15 yards out. Stanford seemed to like living on the edge the entire time. Although Stanford played better than Cal in the 1st half, whatever half-time tactical adjustments made were not apparent. Players were obviously tired, but the coaches probably didn't get the memo that free substitution is allowed in this era. Stanford's deep & talented bench was barely called upon in this contest. Boot-ball from the back is not going to get this team to the championship. While Cal did apply pressure, Stanford forgot how to spread the ball & change the point of attack. Just like the match-up in Berkeley, it was deja vu all over again when it came to critical decision-making from the coaching staff. Maybe someone in the know would give this group an "A". However, from watching 17 Stanford contests this season, it's painfully obvious that when it comes to making decisions/adjustments on player substitutions & tactical adjustments in-game, they flunked the course. One tactic may have been to play the regulars to the very end. But that tactic almost backfired. My gosh, make the subs stretch & sprint. Simple things were not even being done well, if at all. Coaching? What coaching??? Even Cliff can do a better job at coaching this team to the championship. LOL. Stanford are winning because the student-athletes are talented, athletic, & possess a winning attitude. GO STANFORD! BEAT CAL!
Since BS suffered another hiccup, let me congratulate once again the Stanford student-athletes recognized as 1st Team National All-Americans by the NSCAA. Barnhart, Wallis And Withers Earn First Team All-America Accolades Congratulations to Barnie, Callie, & Marcia! Go LSJU!!!
Soccer America's post-season awards Soccer America College MVPs Congratulations to all the winners. Especially to Pabon. After being snubbed as a selection by the NSCAA, Soccer America recognized Pabon's contributions to the country's stingiest, and best, defense.
Withers And Wallis Selected In WUSA Draft Congratulations to Callie and to Marcia, and to the teams that drafted them.
Paul Ratcliffe Named Head Women's Soccer Coach St. Mary's has an added incentive to beat Stanford when they host the Card in September.
From the Stanford Soccer newsletter Stanford Soccer Spring Play Day Bret Simon, Paul Ratcliffe and Stanford Soccer Invite Stanford faculty, alumni, boosters, family and friends to Stanford Soccer Spring Play Day. Join the men's and women's soccer teams for an afternoon of 6v6 soccer games and fun. Date: Saturday, April 26 Time: 2-4 PM Maloney Soccer Complex Games: 6v6 friendly games with Stanford players. Teams will be mixed by gender, age, experience and ambitiousness. (General Rules of the Road--All are welcome, but you must be post college age to play-- no young hot shots) Post Game Picnic details forthcoming. Come and meet the new women's coach Paul Ratcliffe Meet the players Learn more about program development including Maloney Field expansion and enhancement. Please RSVP by Aprill 11th to JT Batson at mailto:jtb@stanford.edu or 650-736-1566.
Paul Sapsford to coach St. Mary's What goes around comes around . . . or something like that . . . Good luck Paul. We hardly knew ya . . . . .
from the Stanford Soccer Newsletter Spring Schedule Reminder: All Home Games Listed, Free Admission Tuesday 5/6, 7pm--Stanford Women vs. Palo Alto U15 Boys Wednesday 5/7, 7pm--Stanford Men vs. Cal Friday 5/9, 7pm--CANCELLED: Stanford Women vs. St. Mary's Saturday 5/10, 10:30am--Stanford Men vs. St. Mary's Saturday 5/17, 10:30am--Stanford Men vs. Santa Clara Saturday 5/17, TBD--Stanford Women vs. Alumni Tuesday 5/20, 7pm--Stanford Men vs. Earthquakes (Donation Requested) Thursday 5/22, 7pm--Stanford Women vs. Santa Clara Friday 5/23, 7pm--US Men's National Team training match (Tentative)
Incoming Freshmen Class Stanford, Calif. - Head coach Paul Ratcliffe welcomes four freshmen that will join the Stanford women's soccer team in the fall of 2003. Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, CA), Gina Farias-Eisner (Calabasas, CA), Shari Summers (Canyon Country, CA) and Rachel Zollner (Littleton, CO) round out the Cardinal's recruiting class.
From the Stanford Soccer Newsletter Women's Soccer Spring Review--Coach Ratcliffe's Comments The Stanford women's soccer team just concluded a very productive spring season. We played a competitive schedule which began with a 2-0 loss to the CyberRays. Both goals were scored late in the second half and we created some good attacking opportunities. Our next games were at the Cal 7 vs 7 tournament. We split our team into two different teams and played games all day. It was a great day for individual player development. We then played against two boys teams, winning the first game and losing the second. It was a great opportunity for us to work on our speed of play. Finally, we concluded the spring with a 3-3 tie against Santa Clara. Brittany Oliveira scored a great long range shot to equalize in the last five minutes of the game. The come-from-behind effort to salvage a tie against a tough Santa Clara opponent was a fitting end to a challenging spring season. As necessitated by injuries and national team call-ups to starters, the Santa Clara game required us to use most all of the players on the roster. This total team performance was an effective way to recognize the efforts of all the players who worked so hard during the spring and seized the opportunity to make valuable contributions. We recently learned that the Stanford Athletic Department recognized two of our student-athletes for their fall season performances: Marcia Wallis and Nicole Barnhart. The upcoming spring awards luncheon will honor graduating senior Marcia Wallis with The Pam Strathairn Award recognizing the female student-athlete who displays the best competitive attitude; returning starting goalkeeper, Nicole Barnhart, will receive The Conference Female Athlete of the Year award presented to a Stanford athlete who distinguishes herself in conference competition. The spring game results and the post-season awards are a nice way to complete the 2002-2003 year and to set the foundation for an exciting 2003-2004 season. I enjoyed working with the team and learned a lot about the ability of each individual player. The players worked hard and team spirit was good. We look forward to playing attractive and entertaining soccer this fall. We hope to see you at our first home game on August 31, at 1:00 PM against Long Beach State. Thank you for your support. Yours in soccer, Paul Ratcliffe