Two contrasting results: WSoc and Field Hockey - Printable Version

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Two contrasting results: WSoc and Field Hockey - Viking_Guy - 09-26-2014

Two contrasting results in women's sports today.

First, the women's soccer team gave up its first goal of the season in tying the Utes in Salt Lake City, 1-1 after the double overtime.  An early goal by Megan Turner on a quasi-cross that drifted in to the back post kept Stanford on top in the first half, but early in the second, Stanford gave up a ball in the midfield off a clearance from the backline, with the midfield not tracking back, that led to a quick run into the area against a disorganized backline.  The Utah player got it under Campbell before Jane could react.  Throughout the half, both teams had chances, although I think Stanford had the better of them, and probably should have had a PK when a Ute deflected a cross with her hand out of the path of Chi Ubogagu alone on the back post.  Will have to watch a replay this evening to make sure, but it definitely looked like her hand came away from her body and kept the ball from getting through; one of a number of "homegrown" calls by the official that had me a bit unhappy.

That unhappiness, however, was more than offset by the game I was concentrating on via Gametracker.

If you have the patience to read my posts, you may recall when I talked about the field hockey team, and how their win against Iowa might enable them to overcome the tremendous bias toward East Coast teams in perceptions of their quality.  That the Iowa win might buy them a chance to climb up the ranking and some forgiveness if they slipped up against a lower-ranked or (worst of all) conference opponent in their lightly-regarded conference

It was especially painful because of the loss to Albany two weeks ago.  Stanford, playing without star midfielder Maddie Secco (off with the Canadian national team) looked lost in the middle of the field, but the defense was holding up, and goalkeeper Dulcie Davies was her normal strong presence for the entire game.

Except for one spot.  With ten seconds left in the first half, Stanford turned the ball over in midfield.  No problem, right.  With the requirement that the ball be touched by an offensive player in the circle, no way to score in under 10 seconds.

That seemed to be what the midfield thought.  And they chased back, but not hard, as a driving Albany player went right up the middle of the field, and another forward cut into the circle, leaving Kelsey Harbin as the only defender in front of Davies.  She rushed out to the top of the circle to prevent the ball handler from just walking in and shooting.  The ball-handler who promptly popped the ball up in the air, and the forward, who no other midfielder or defender had thought to chase down, reached up and deflected the ball over Davies' shoulder.

With .8 seconds left in the half.  A 1-0 final result that I was concerned might put Stanford right back in the "yeah, but..." category come tournament time.

What happened last week bore out my concerns.  Stanford, ranked #8, beat two opponents, Central Michigan and conference foe da Bares from the school near a BART station.  Meanwhile, 5 teams ranked directly above them, Syracuse, Penn State, Maryland, Duke and Albany ALL lost.

And in this week's poll, Stanford was ranked #9.  Rodney Dangerfield's tagline was rolling around in my head.

That all changed today.  Stanford went into Storrs, Connecticut, and beat defending champion #2 ranked UConn on their homefield in regulation 3-1.  An early goal by the Huskies was offset by first a goal from Alex McCawley off an assist by Secco in the 25th minute, then a deadly last minute of the half goal by Katie Keyser, who had literally come onto the pitch seconds beforehand as a late sub in the first half.  An early second half goal by Clemence Couteau gave Stanford a two-goal cushion, and the Cardinal defense dug in, only surrendering one shot on goal in the last 25 minutes of the game.

Stanford has another game on this roadtrip, at Yale on Sunday.  But wow, today's result might actually make people rethink a bit the assumption that East Coast teams, the ACC in particular, can do no wrong in the game.  In the poll I mentioned above, Stanford went from #8 to #9 because two ACC teams beat a couple of good teams and jumped over Stanford from #10 and #11 to #3 and #6.  We'll see what happens next week.

More when I have a chance to look at the women's soccer replay,

VG

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Re: Two contrasting results: WSoc and Field Hockey - BobK - 09-26-2014

The goal we gave up in soccer was just awful.  Nothing to do with Campbell.  Sad. 

But wow on the women with sticks.  Just brobdingnagian.

Btw # 1 ucla women's soccer were tied by ASU   

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