Tag: Stanford

Around the World of WoSo: Stanford Roll, Florida outlasts Arkansas for SEC Title, TCU Collapse, and 64 Teams Set to Dance

Posted on by RJ Allen

Stanford Keeps PAC-12 Title:

 Stanford was my favorite to win this one, but the #21 ranked California Bears put a decent effort in. Within the first 15 minutes, each team had already scored, making for an exciting and unpredictable match-up. In the middle of it all was Andi Sullivan, a player you should be familiar with by now. She leads this team in goals with 11 and is second in assists with 7. Sullivan has proven that she is one of the best players in the nation, even as a junior. She grabbed her goal in the 56th minute by way of a brilliant one-on-one effort to beat Bear keeper Emily Boyd.

    The Sullivan goal seemed to spark the rest of the offense, as sophomore Kyra Carusa and freshman Beattie Goad also contributed goals in the second half to cruise to a 4-1 victory. This was the second consecutive PAC-12 title and 11th in program history for the Cardinals.

FSU outlasts UNC in ACC Showdown:

    Going into this game, I had many expectations, one being that Florida State would win. But I also knew North Carolina would put up a fight. First half was possession-heavy for the Tar Heels, while the Seminoles had troubles connecting the final pass.

    One thing I didn’t expect was for redshirt senior, Kirsten Crowley, to struggle as much as she did in the first half. She gave away bad turnovers, there was a lack of communication between Crowley and the defense, and her passing was horrific. Not sure if it was nerves, fatigue, or just having a rough start, but she did settle in a little more in the second half. A few mistakes by Crowley led to several set piece opportunities for UNC, but they ended up with nothing to show for it.

    One player who is arguably FSU’s best offensive threat is Deyna Castellanos, the explosive freshman from Venezuela. She had her best scoring chance early in the second half, but was stopped by Lindsey Harris, who stood tall for FSU all game. UNC’s best player for me was Maya Worth, who pressured the backline of FSU all game and nearly had a few goals herself. Worth was impressive and very solid in her effort.

    In penalty kicks, the Seminoles converted four while UNC only made three, missing the last one to keep the ACC title in Tallahassee. This is FSU’s fourth consecutive conference title—fifth in sixth seasons.

Georgetown Handles Marquette for Big East crown:

    Two of the best players in the nation happen to be on the same team. Yes, I’m talking about junior Rachel Corboz and senior Grace Damaska. The dynamic pair each scored to lead Georgetown to a 2-0 win and secure its first ever Big East conference title in program history.

    Damaska opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, going unassisted on a loose ball in the box and putting home her team-leading 13th goal of the year. The Hoyas unsurprisingly controlled possession, and they found their second goal early in the second half thanks to Corboz pouncing on a rebound and blasting it home for her 10th goal on the season.

    This win was Georgetown’s 13th shutout of the year, which ties the school record. Another impressive stat was that Marquette only managed one shot on goal, a real testament to the strong defense the Hoyas have put together. This is Georgetown’s seventh bid to the NCAA Tournament in program history.

TCU Collapse Gives West Virginia Big 12 Championship:

    The Horned Frogs got off to a fast start, pressuring and grabbing loose balls, until Michelle Prokof capitalized on a turnover and scored in the 5th minute. That goal was her sixth of the year, putting her at second all-time on the TCU scoring list, with 27 goals to her name. The Horned Frogs struck again just before half. Super sub Allison Ganter earned her ninth goal of the year. What’s notable about that is that Ganter has scored all of her goals when coming off the bench.

    The second half, West Virginia looked more like themselves, pressuring and creating serious scoring threats. Still, the defense of TCU was hanging on. With less than two minutes to go, TCU lost focus, and West Virginia senior defender-turned-forward Kadeisha Buchanan buried a loose ball in the six yard box (from a beautiful dummy by her teammate) to tie the game and give her team life. TCU had the title in their hands, and then it was gone.

    Heading into overtime, the Mountaineers definitely had the momentum—rightfully so. Just seven minutes into OT, senior Ashley Lawrence got ahold of a low cross on the back post for the game winner. It was a remarkable comeback—one that will surely haunt TCU for a while. This was WVU’s third Big 12 championship in four years.

Florida & Arkansas Entertain For SEC Bragging Rights:

This match-up was my favorite of the day, mostly because I enjoy seeing Arkansas continue to prove people wrong. Another reason is that Florida has one of the best forwards in college in senior Savannah Jordan, and she’s got some serious wheels. Jordan and Razorback defender, Qyara Winston, tangled in a few tackles early on, and that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the night. This game brought serious energy, tough challenges, and chippy plays—all the makings for a highly entertaining game.

    Jordan grabbed the opening goal for Florida in the 19th minute by backing down her defender in the six yard box and turning on a dime to score her 15th goal of the year. It also moves her into second place all-time in scoring for the Gators with 80 goals, only 16 behind USWNT and Florida legend Abby Wambach.

    Arkansas continued to hang and pressure the Gators’ backline, and finally capitalized on a mistake. Florida gave a weak and dangerous back pass to keeper Kaylan Marckese, who then had a deflected clearance that fell to Razorback, Sparky Fischer. Marckese took her time getting into position, and Fischer took advantage of that to send a laser into the upper left corner for the equalizer. It was a beautiful goal to keep hope alive for Arkansas.

    This game, like so many others, went into overtime. But both teams were energized and had chances to end it. Both defenses stepped up big time to neutralized those chances. That is, until the final minute, when Gator, Brooke Sharp, headed home a lofty back-post cross by Dougherty Howard. It was a great team goal. This was quite a match, as Arkansas was very tough and gave it all without a doubt. Florida earned their 12th SEC title and first since the 2012 season.

NCAA DI Tournament Selection:

On Monday, the fate of 64 teams looking to get into the NCAA DI tournament was official. The 31 conference winners received automatic bids, along with Stanford (PAC-12), Harvard (IVY), and Pepperdine (West Coast), who each won the regular season in their respective conferences.

    Plenty of the usual powerhouses are included: North Carolina, Virginia, Florida State, Notre Dame, Duke, West Virginia, and UCLA. Teams who are back after a long absence are NC State (1996), Bucknell (2005), UNLV (2006), SMU (2006), and Charlotte (2008). Every year, new teams emerge onto the national stage. This year, four are making their debuts: Alabama State, Kent State, Eastern Washington, and Northern Kentucky.

    Two teams that I had on the bubble were Texas A&M (11-8-1) and Texas Tech 9-8-2). They both managed to make the tournament, even with less than impressive records and wins. The Aggies’ biggest win was 2-1 against Auburn. Other than that, they didn’t stack up against top-20 opponents all year. They struggled in conference play, finishing with five wins, five losses, and a draw. Certainly a team I wouldn’t have picked, but it’s a new season, and anything could happen. As for Texas Tech, they finished conference at an abysmal two wins and six losses. The biggest win on the year for them was at Oklahoma, a narrow 1-0 victory.

    The first round will take place November 11, 12 and 13.

Around the World of WoSo: ACC Title Shared, Manchester City’s Dream Season Ends, Stanford Still Rolling and Another USWNT Roster Announced

Posted on by RJ Allen

Clemson and Notre Dame Share ACC Title:

Clemson defeated Duke over the weekend to take a share of the ACC Title. Sophomore Sam Staab scored the lone goal in the fifth minute of play to finish out the regular season. This is the first conference title for the Tigers since 2000, and second in program history.

Notre Dame ended the regular season by beating Miami 2-0 with goals from senior duo Kaleigh Olmsted and Sandra Yu. The fighting Irish were dominating at home this season, only giving up one goal in 11 games.

Four Teams Remain in ACC Tournament:

The ACC tournament is underway, and it’s already onto the semifinals, with Notre Dame, North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State the remaining competitors. FSU beat Duke 3-2 on penalties while Clemson beat Miami 5-4 on penalties to advance. UNC shocked Virginia 3-0 and Notre Dame beat NC State on an 88th minute goal by junior Kaitlin Klawunder. The Semifinals are on Friday at in Charleston, S.C. as UNC and Notre Dame go at 5:30pm while FSU and Clemson are set for kickoff at 8pm.

Ribeiro leads UConn to AAC Title:

Senior Stephanie Ribeiro netted her 18th and 19th goals on the year as she led Connecticut to a 2-1 victory over East Carolina over the weekend. She also leads the nation in points (49), goals (19) and game winners with 11. This was Ribeiro’s fifth consecutive game with a goal and fifth multi-goal game of the season.

With the win, the #19 ranked Huskies finish the season at 16-2-1. With an impressive 10 wins at home, they have serious home field advantage. They earned their fourth consecutive AAC tournament berth and have the right to host.

Sullivan and Stanford Continue to Impress:

The second ranked Cardinals are on a six game win streak, with California being its latest victim. In those Stanford have tallied 13 goals and conceded three in the process. Junior Andi Sullivan has been a key reason for the Cardinal success, scoring nine goals and grabbing six assists in just 15 games. Sullivan has been showcasing her on penalty abilities, converting four out of four en route to beating Arizona, and Arizona State. Stanford now has 16 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw and currently are first in the PAC-12 standings with nine wins in conference play.

Manchester City’s Fairytale Season Comes to End:

The Ladies of Manchester City have had one memorable season, going unbeaten and earning two trophies along the way. They have the FAWSL leading scorer in Jane Ross, who has been outstanding and consistent all season long. She ends the year with 13 goals and helped the Blues clinch its first title in program history.

This remarkable season came to an end Sunday as City played to a 1-1 draw with Birmingham City LFC to officially be crowned champions. They end with an incredible 16 wins, three draws and no losses. Manchester had no problems sharing the ball, as nine different players getting on the score sheet this season.

USWNT Name Roster for November Friendlies:

Coach Jill Ellis has once again named a 24 player roster for November camp for two games against Romania. The first will be held in San Jose on the 10th, while the second will be in Carson on the 13th. Romania are currently ranked 36th in the world and this will be the first ever meeting between these countries.

Just like the two October games, Ellis has brought in a steady group of veterans and leaving a handful off the roster as well. Among those back after a deserving break include defensive vets Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Krieger. As for the midfield, Megan Rapinoe and Morgan Brian are called in and Alex Morgan has returned after time off. More familiar faces include goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, defenders Kelley O’Hara and Captain Becky Sauerbrunn. The midfield has the Portland Thorn trio of Tobin Heath, Allie Long and Lindsey Horan.

Orlando Pride midfielder Kristen Edmonds gets her first call-up and Western New York Flash defender Jaelene Hinkle is back after a lengthy absence. Portland Thorn goalkeeper as also been called in, replacing Stanford star Jane Campbell. Speaking of Stanford, Andi Sullivan has earned her second call up, making her the only collegiate player on the roster. Chicago Red Star Casey Short has also been called up to camp.

It will be interesting to see if Ellis continues to experiment with a 3-5-2 or if she will put Long (who is used as a midfielder for Portland) at center back once again. Plenty of options for the personnel Ellis have brought in who have shown they can play diverse. Dunn, O’Hara and Christen Press all have the ability to be moved around.

Players will report to camp in the next week and these will be the final two matches in the calendar year for the USWNT.

Around the World of WoSo: NWSL Champions Crowned, Stanford Falls; New Blood for USWNT

Posted on by RJ Allen

Flash Stun Spirit in NWSL Final:

Let’s be real. This game was messy, foul driven, and ended in penalty kicks. Not exactly the dream final between Western New York and Washington that I was hoping for. But the last 45 minutes of action, between the 30 minutes of extra time and then PKs, was highly entertaining.

In the first half we saw two great goals. Washington struck first in the ninth minute when Crystal Dunn found WNY keeper Sabrina D’Angelo in no man’s land and slotted it home for the early lead. WNY were not fazed at all. Less than five minutes later Samantha Mewis fired a shot from distance to grab the equalizer. After those first minutes of excitement, the game turned into a choppy bit of play, with plenty of fouls for each team and no more goals in regulation.

In extra time, Dunn was at it again. Somehow finding herself wide open inside the eighteen, she fired a rocket courtesy of her left foot into the near post. The flash struggled to string passes together for the next 20 minutes, but then a miracle happened. In the 124th minute, Jessica McDonald sent in a hopeful cross than found the head of Lynn Williams, beating two Spirit players and keeper Kelsey Wys to the ball, and it dropped in the back of the net. An incredible moment that gave me instant flashbacks to the 2011 Women’s World Cup semifinal between USA and Brazil, when Megan Rapinoe found Abby Wambach’s head in the box to level the score in the 122nd minute, pulling of the seemingly impossible.

This moment wasn’t quite as momentous, but it had the same feeling of improbability and was fun to watch unfold. One minute later (literally), the whistle blows. I’d have to imagine it’s a cringing reminder that the Spirit had the championship in their hands. In penalty kicks, WNY keeper D’Angelo made three saves on Ali Krieger, Diana Matheson, and Tori Huster to secure the title for the Flash. An incredible outcome that I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted. In front of 8,255 fans—many of whom were supporting Washington—WNY managed to shock everyone. Quite a determined performance to take the NWSL world by surprise.

Anson Dorrance Reaches Milestone at UNC:

North Carolina has been a powerhouse from the second the program began in 1979. That was the first year of Dorrance’s tenure as well, and he’s never slowed down in his 37 years in charge.  A few days ago, he secured his 800th victory. What’s more amazing is that he did it in his 900th game. In his career, he has accumulated 800 wins, 65 losses, and 35 draws. All staggering numbers anyway you look at it.

Dorrance has coached so many players who went on to have fantastic careers at the U.S. senior national team level. To name a few: Mia Hamm, Cindy Parlow, April Heinrichs, Kristine Lilly, Carla Overbeck, Heather O’Reilly.  This past weekend, his 15th ranked Tar Heels defeated Wake 2-1 to make this historic night an unforgettable one. They improve to 8-2-3 on the season while winning their fourth consecutive game. They face Notre Dame on Friday and look to continue their winning ways.

U.S. U-17 Eliminated from WWC:

In the final group game, the United States faced Japan and lost 3-2. They struggled defensively against the technical and quick Japanese players. At one point in the second half, the USA gave up 2 goals in a span of three minutes. They absolutely collapsed and couldn’t recover from it. One bright spot was 17-year-old captain Ashley Sanchez, who scored both goals for the Americans. She now has 18 goals in 18 appearances for the Youth National Team.

Considering they lost to the defending champions, some could look the other way, but I think this was a glaring failure that leaves me with questions about how the youth systems are operating. I had high expectations for this group. Another exit by a U.S. women’s team in a major tournament. In my opinion, the world has definitely caught up to us, if there was any real doubt about that.

2016 NCAA College Cup Finds New Home:

Over a month ago, the decision to remove all NCAA championships from North Carolina due to the state’s anti-LGBTQA laws was officially announced. This week, we have a new home of many NCAA DI tournaments, more specifically the DI Women’s Soccer final will now be played in San Jose, California at Avaya Stadium, which is the home of MLS side San Jose Earthquakes (holds 18,000). While tradition will be missed for those in NC, this was a much needed change. I fully support this relocation and look forward to seeing what kind of atmosphere fans will bring to San Jose in December.

USC Upsets #1 Stanford:

Coming into this game, Stanford had showcased an impressive amount of quality wins, including Minnesota, Santa Clara, and UCLA. But USC outhustled them in this one, were more aggressive, and simply shut out the number one team in the nation. Maybe Stanford needed to lose this one? You know, to bring them back to earth and figure out what weaknesses they can improve on. They fall to 11-1-1 on the year.

The Trojans came in as the number seven team and riding a ten-game win streak. They put three goals past Stanford. (It should be noted that starting goalkeeper Jane Campbell was out due to suspension for the Cardinals.) Nonetheless, I still had Stanford at least drawing this one. This was another strong win for USC, who have also defeated North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia. The Trojans are now 10-3-1 on the season. They travel to Tempe to square off against Arizona State on Saturday.

Ellis Names USWNT Roster for October Camp:

Jill Ellis has named 24 players to a roster for October camps ahead of two upcoming friendlies against Switzerland. The first will be October 19th at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, while the second is October 23rd at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

Notable players not included are Ali Krieger, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Julie Johnston, and Meghan Klingenberg. I don’t want fans to worry. This is just a reminder that we are moving towards new blood for the new cycle, and that means there will be some rotation in the rosters. And that’s a good thing.

It seems the NWSL play is making a real impact. Ellis has called 11 new players in. A variety of familiar names—but only at the club level. Kealia Ohai, Lynn Williams, Danielle Colaprico, Shea Groom, Casey Short, Arin Gilliland, Abby Dahlkemper, and Merritt Mathias are all representatives of the league. Three YNT and/or Collegiate players were chosen as well: BYU standout Ashley Hatch and the Stanford duo of Jane Campbell and Andi Sullivan.

This is the perfect time to bring in new players—a test of the waters really. See what the program has to work with in preparation for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. I know I’m looking forward to these matches and learning who will not only standout but bring something new to the table. Let’s get our fans and federation excited again for the possibilities this team has.