Stanford Women's Soccer Wins Stanford Nike Invitational

STANFORD, Calif. Sept. 15, 2010

The number two ranked Stanford women's soccer team (4-0-2) played their home opener last Friday night against the #23 ranked Georgia Bulldogs (4-2-0), after a multi-game road trip on the East Coast. The crowd was lively with youth soccer teams, Stanford alums and a small, but raucous student presence, eager to watch last year's national runner-up dominate another opponent. But the team that played that night was not the offensive powerhouse who nearly went undefeated last year. Instead the Cardinal struggled to create genuine offensive opportunities in either half and scraped through a grueling, nerve-wracking 2-1 overtime victory.

"In the Georgia game, for whatever reason, we were very flat," said Ratcliffe told gostanford.com on Sunday. "We lacked energy. We definitely talked about that on Saturday, an off day."

In fact, Georgia's Kelli Corless scored first in the 15^th minute on a defensive miscue that produced a crazy, looping shot, sneaking past Stanford's senior goalkeeper Kira Maker. It took over an hour for what is considered one of the nation's most potent and dangerous offenses to even the score. Senior Christen Press (the fourth most productive player in Stanford women's soccer history for goals) scored in the 79^th minute off a short pass from junior Camille Levin when she cleverly placed a lofted shot from outside of the 18-yard box into the back of the net. Finally thirty-eight seconds from the end of the first overtime, after both teams exhaustedly fought to control the midfield, a deep run and well-placed cross by sophomore Rachel Quon gave Press the chance to head Stanford into the lead, and therefore the win, with her second goal.

In 2009, Stanford exploded out of the gate with five generally comfortable wins, including a 6-2 romp over Hawaii and a 5-0 rout of Virginia Tech, showcasing a wealth of scoring potential. In each of the five wins, they outshot opponents easily, even earning a school record with 40 shots during a 2-1 win against Cal Poly. But the true difference is in goals scored—Stanford scored 19 goals in those games alone, averaging nearly four goals a game (3.8). By the end of the year, then-junior Christen Press and senior Kelley O'Hara emerged as the most dangerous strike partners in the country, combining to shatter school and national records for goals, assists and overall points. The two led Stanford to the brink of a national championship and an undefeated season before losing in the final. After the season, standouts Kelley O'Hara (a school record, and nation-leading 26 goals, 13 assists and voted the nation's best player) and defender Ali Riley graduated. Both were picked in the first round by Women's Professional Soccer's FC Gold Pride of the Bay Area and will continue to represent their nations during international competition (O'Hara plays for the United States, Riley plays for New Zealand). Understandably, the bar was set very high.

"Our goal is always to win the Pac-10 title and win the national title," Coach Paul Ratcliffe told the official Stanford athletic site at the beginning of the 2010 season. "That's always our goal from the beginning of the season."

That is why the Georgia game was so concerning. It was Stanford's third overtime in their five games. While Press has continued at her record-breaking pace with 5 goals on the season, the team as a whole has only scored 9 goals. They're still undefeated but began the season with two ties, albeit against ranked opponents. Their schedule is packed with several more matches against nationally-ranked, NCAA tournament teams like Georgia. This less-than-stellar victory, combined with a few low-scoring overtime battles, called into question Stanford's unchallenged offensive domination and the possibility that the Cardinal will return to the College Cup to avenge last year's championship defeat to twenty-time champion North Carolina (according to the official UNC athletic website). By the Cardinal's high standards, it was not up-to-par.

On Sunday afternoon, the Cardinal were back to their old tricks, in top form. Stanford overwhelmed Pacific 4-0 to clinch victory in the annual four team tournament and assuaged any concerns fans harbored.

"Today, we came out with positive energy," Ratcliffe said of the game, speaking to gostanford.com. "We looked sharp and we were moving the ball, we created four great opportunities and scored four great goals. It was whole turnaround, a much better mentality."

Three Stanford players (senior captain Allison McCann and sophomores Mariah Nogueira and Rachel Quon) earned their first goals of the season. The team outshot the Tigers 24-5, stretched their home win streak to 24, and their unbeaten streak to 28 games. The Cardinal debuted a number of fresh faces, including freshman goalkeepers Emily Oliver and Lindsay Dickerson. It was Stanford's first shutout of the season. Also, Christen Press assisted on two of the early goals in the match, giving her 35 overall and moving her to second all-time on the list.

"It's going to be [a] really entertaining team, with some very exciting players playing an exciting brand of soccer," Ratcliffe said in a recent interview with gostanford.com. "They're enjoyable to watch, no doubt about it."

Stanford's online schedule indicates that they will play in the Santa Clara Classic against Utah and #18 Georgetown this weekend, before returning home next weekend to take on Hawaii and #4 Portland at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.