11-07-2014, 07:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-07-2014, 07:55 PM by Viking_Guy.)
Field Hockey
In the semifinal of the last NorPac tourney, Stanford did their best to keep UC Davis in the game. Despite outshooting them 13-0 over the first 40 minutes, it took a spectacular shot by Lauren Becker to give the Cardinal any lead at all. Becker came through on the right of the goal, and in the middle of a scrum of players, dove to try to save the ball as it rolled toward the endline just to the right of the goal. As she dove, she reverse-sticked the ball low and hard from an impossible angle - quite literally less than a foot from the endline and a good 4-5 feet wide of the goal. It snuck around the near post inside the keeper and hit the far sidewall of the goal about 6 inches inside the post.
It was deserved, and in line with the run of play. Stanford's defense strangled the Aggies for 60 minutes.
Unfortunately, field hockey games are 70 minutes long.
UC Davis upped their intensity, and the Cardinal didn't match. After no shots in the first 62 minutes of the game, the Aggies started to find space against the left side of Stanford's defense, generating a couple of crosses through the box. The first resulted in a penalty corner, but even then Davis didn't get a shot off.
It remained for Stanford to hand them one.
There may be a time to pass the ball around the back deep in your own end. Stanford is actually quite good at it, and reverses the field through Kelsey Harbin at the center back comfortably.
But that time is not leading 1-0 with about 5 minutes left in a tournament elimination game. In this case, it looked like Shannon Herrold on the left had a brain lock, and, under pressure and with the Aggies pressing, passed the ball back to Harbin almost in the mouth of her own goal. Harbin beat the first forward in on her, but couldn't avoid the second, and gave up another penalty corner. And this time, they paid.
Davis' first shot was saved by Dulcie Davies. The ensuing rebound shot was not. 1-1, against a team the Cardinal were outshooting 14-2.
And that wasn't all. In the last 5 minutes, UC Davis got 2-3 quality chances that had Davies at a full dive and praying the ball would miss the far post. It did, and with just about 30 seconds left, Stanford pressed forward and drew a penalty corner of their own.
One explanation - in field hockey, even if the clock runs out, a team taking a penalty corner is allowed to complete the play - the period won't end until the defensive team successfully clears the ball.
In this case, Stanford let the clock run out, then sent the ball to the blocker up top. All match long, Stanford had been having trouble settling the ball and getting a solid set up for a shot. This instance was no different, but Millie Stefanowicz blocked the ball across to Alex McCawley on the left, whose shot deflected up into the air. And settled into the back of the net. It actually looked like UC Davis' keeper, who had a great game, may have touched it with her stick, but not sure if it would have gone wide without the contact. She was absolutely despondent as the game ended on that play.
But first things first. Their NorPac nemesis, Liberty, rallied for an undeserved 1-0 halftime deficit to absolute destroy C.al 5-1, scoring a goal 15 seconds into the second half and never slowing down. Game is tomorrow at 1:30 pm, and online stream is available:
http://pacifictigers.com/sports/w-fieldh...ament_Page
And then they wait, until 7 pm Sunday night, to find out their fate. Stanford is ranked #4, RPI is #5, but today's game, no matter the outcome, will probably hurt their RPI, as UC Davis is #64. Liberty is #31, so probably won't be a big help.
There have been upsets: #1 North Carolina lost in the ACC semis to #6 Syracuse 3-2. Hopefully the Orange will drop the final to #9 Wake Forest tomorrow; otherwise, they could very well leapfrog the Cardinal no matter tomorrow's NorPac outcome. But those results also mean #7 Duke and #8 Boston College lost early, so hopefully they won't be under consideration for a top seed.
The other games of interest are Sunday's B1G final between #2 Maryland and #12 Northwestern (Go Wildcats, as a Stanford victory), and #4 UConn in a relatively easy Big East final v #14 Temple on Sunday. The good news of that is that the Terrapins beat #3 Penn State in the semis.
In any case, doesn't really matter. Win tomorrow, and then enjoy the anticipation.
Go Card!
VG
P.S. Go men's soccer! They really need a big win. They've got a great record, but need a quality result against a top side.
P.P.S. Thanks for updating people while I was being verbose, BC!
In the semifinal of the last NorPac tourney, Stanford did their best to keep UC Davis in the game. Despite outshooting them 13-0 over the first 40 minutes, it took a spectacular shot by Lauren Becker to give the Cardinal any lead at all. Becker came through on the right of the goal, and in the middle of a scrum of players, dove to try to save the ball as it rolled toward the endline just to the right of the goal. As she dove, she reverse-sticked the ball low and hard from an impossible angle - quite literally less than a foot from the endline and a good 4-5 feet wide of the goal. It snuck around the near post inside the keeper and hit the far sidewall of the goal about 6 inches inside the post.
It was deserved, and in line with the run of play. Stanford's defense strangled the Aggies for 60 minutes.
Unfortunately, field hockey games are 70 minutes long.
UC Davis upped their intensity, and the Cardinal didn't match. After no shots in the first 62 minutes of the game, the Aggies started to find space against the left side of Stanford's defense, generating a couple of crosses through the box. The first resulted in a penalty corner, but even then Davis didn't get a shot off.
It remained for Stanford to hand them one.
There may be a time to pass the ball around the back deep in your own end. Stanford is actually quite good at it, and reverses the field through Kelsey Harbin at the center back comfortably.
But that time is not leading 1-0 with about 5 minutes left in a tournament elimination game. In this case, it looked like Shannon Herrold on the left had a brain lock, and, under pressure and with the Aggies pressing, passed the ball back to Harbin almost in the mouth of her own goal. Harbin beat the first forward in on her, but couldn't avoid the second, and gave up another penalty corner. And this time, they paid.
Davis' first shot was saved by Dulcie Davies. The ensuing rebound shot was not. 1-1, against a team the Cardinal were outshooting 14-2.
And that wasn't all. In the last 5 minutes, UC Davis got 2-3 quality chances that had Davies at a full dive and praying the ball would miss the far post. It did, and with just about 30 seconds left, Stanford pressed forward and drew a penalty corner of their own.
One explanation - in field hockey, even if the clock runs out, a team taking a penalty corner is allowed to complete the play - the period won't end until the defensive team successfully clears the ball.
In this case, Stanford let the clock run out, then sent the ball to the blocker up top. All match long, Stanford had been having trouble settling the ball and getting a solid set up for a shot. This instance was no different, but Millie Stefanowicz blocked the ball across to Alex McCawley on the left, whose shot deflected up into the air. And settled into the back of the net. It actually looked like UC Davis' keeper, who had a great game, may have touched it with her stick, but not sure if it would have gone wide without the contact. She was absolutely despondent as the game ended on that play.
But first things first. Their NorPac nemesis, Liberty, rallied for an undeserved 1-0 halftime deficit to absolute destroy C.al 5-1, scoring a goal 15 seconds into the second half and never slowing down. Game is tomorrow at 1:30 pm, and online stream is available:
http://pacifictigers.com/sports/w-fieldh...ament_Page
And then they wait, until 7 pm Sunday night, to find out their fate. Stanford is ranked #4, RPI is #5, but today's game, no matter the outcome, will probably hurt their RPI, as UC Davis is #64. Liberty is #31, so probably won't be a big help.
There have been upsets: #1 North Carolina lost in the ACC semis to #6 Syracuse 3-2. Hopefully the Orange will drop the final to #9 Wake Forest tomorrow; otherwise, they could very well leapfrog the Cardinal no matter tomorrow's NorPac outcome. But those results also mean #7 Duke and #8 Boston College lost early, so hopefully they won't be under consideration for a top seed.
The other games of interest are Sunday's B1G final between #2 Maryland and #12 Northwestern (Go Wildcats, as a Stanford victory), and #4 UConn in a relatively easy Big East final v #14 Temple on Sunday. The good news of that is that the Terrapins beat #3 Penn State in the semis.
In any case, doesn't really matter. Win tomorrow, and then enjoy the anticipation.
Go Card!
VG
P.S. Go men's soccer! They really need a big win. They've got a great record, but need a quality result against a top side.
P.P.S. Thanks for updating people while I was being verbose, BC!