11-26-2011, 01:42 AM
Well, that was more interesting than it needed to be.
First, some background. Oklahoma State was the last undefeated team other than Stanford. Going into the Big XII tourney final, they were 19-0-2, and had been ranked second for the last 4-5 weeks of the season. They should really have been a #1 seed, with the country's best defense, having only conceded 6 goals all season prior to the start of the NCAA tournament. But the RPI this year absolutely loved the ACC, and the seeding committee gave that conference 3 #1 seeds, and 7 of the top 16 seeds overall. So Stanford had to play a team it really shouldn't have seen until the final just in order to reach the College Cup.
Oklahoma State's best player is probably their goalie, Adrianna Franch. Super-athletic, soft hands and an absolute cannon of a foot; her drop-kick punts were regularly carrying 3/4 of the field (most women's keepers can manage 5 yds or so past the midfield stripe; she was 10 yards past that and directly at the center of Stanford's backline).
In the first half, she kept the Cowgirls in the match. Stanford absolutely dominated; I would estimate 70% of the possession and the ball in the OkSt half for nearly all of that. Stanford took the first 11 shots of the game over the first 40 minutes, and OkSt had only two real forays into the Stanford end, both ending when they couldn't even get a cross off against a composed Stanford backline.
Offensively, Stanford hit the crossbar on a set piece shot from Lindsay Taylor about 25 minutes in, but Franch was snagging everything; Cami Levin or Marjani Hing-Glover would get to the endline and send in a dangerous cross, only to see the keeper go horizontal off her line and snatch it out of the air. She made a couple of sprawling saves, but there weren't many truly dangerous shots on frame.
The Cowgirls' defense was keying on the center of the midfield, especially Teresa Noyola, who didn't have a very good match; she made several poor passes, didn't work hard back to collect the ball and had it stripped from her and gave up transition opportunities on a number of occasions, and in general looked discomforted by the OkSt defense's physical play (more on that in a moment). Also, Kendall Romine, while playing for the most part a solid central defense, had several bad passes trying to move the ball directly forward. OkSt was keying their pressure on Alina Garciamendez, her partner at center back, so Kendall had room to operate going forward and a larger than normal share of the distribution responsibilities. But she also played several loose balls that could've come back to haunt Stanford.
In contrast, Rachel Quon, Mariah Nogeuira and Cami Levin had really solid play, with Quon and Levin getting the ball forward on the wings and Nogueira taking charge in the holding midfield role, winning ball after ball in the air. And Taylor was getting some good solid shots on the goal; you got the feeling one of them would go in, but you were also reminded that goals against the run of play aren't uncommon, and the score was still 0-0 going into halftime.
Oklahoma State also kept falling further and further back, moving from a 4-3-3 into almost a 6-3-1, as two midfielders dropped very deep to defend Noyola. This left a lot of room for runs forward into the final third of the field, and also left room between the lines for Mariah Nogueira and Kirsty Zurmuhlen to operate. And 6 minutes into the second half, they did. Nogueira moved into the space about 30 yards out, and picked out Kirsty making an angled run in from the right side, hitting her about 15 yards out. Zurmuhlen settled and cut the ball back to her right, and as her defender lunged, punched the ball under her and into the far post of the net past a screened Franch.
After that, Stanford really let down, letting Oklahoma State dominate the next 10 minutes or so of clock time. Oklahoma State generated 3 corner kicks in the next seven minutes, got two solid shots in, and nearly scored when Nogueira misheaded a corner that popped toward the goal, only to be headed off the line by Quon. Kirsty Zurmuhlen also got banged up on the corner, and had to leave the field momentarily as the Cowgirls kept up the pressure. Stanford really missed her attacking style in midfield while she was out.
Withstanding that ten-minute surge, Stanford appeared to find its balance again, and was starting to possess the ball and move forward. Then one of those things that can change the course of a game happened. Cami Levin, moving forward on the right side of the field, slipped and fell just as she played the ball forward. Cowgirl Krista Lopez pounced on the ball and slotted it forward to Sarah Brown, who went straight up the middle past a caught-out-of-position Garciamendez against Kendall Romine. And Kendall never attacked the ball, backing off and backing off until Brown had a good look from about 22 yards out. Speaking as a goalie, at that point you want your defender to go after the ball; she had two other backs hustling back in support, and all Romine was really doing was screening Emily Oliver. When Brown shot, Oliver was a second slow to react, and got caught off her line by a high shot that dipped just under the crossbar and tied the score.
After that, it appeared Oklahoma State was willing to settle back and play for a tie, and Stanford again started methodically moving the ball forward. Both Levin and Lindsay Taylor had excellent shots from narrow angles go whistling past the far post, but this game was destined for overtime.
But not for a long overtime. First Noyola got a nice subtle touch on a cross, knocking the ball down for Marjani Hing-Glover about 9 yards out dead center in the goal mouth, but Hing-Glover blasted the ball high. But only a minute later, Teresa slotted a ball to the right end-line, where Quon was making a perfectly timed overlapping run. Getting behind the backline, Quon dribbled the endline into the box, and from about 10 yards off the near post pushed the ball back to Lindsay Taylor as Franch had to come near-post to defend against the shot. Taylor calmly slotted home the one-touch shot into the net, her 20th and most important of the season, and Stanford was going back to the College Cup.
Gameball for me to Nogueira, with strong secondary consideration to Quon and Zurmuhlen. Both Noyola and Ubogagu need to pick up the energy level a bit, but were solid. Romine has to clean up her distribution.
On the officiating: this guy took "let them play" to rather absurd levels; he called a grand total of 4 fouls in the entire match. Now Stanford has played very clean all season long, but there were some absolutely mystifying no-calls both ways. It was as if he was bound and determined not to make a call that could turn the match, but in doing so, things were getting a bit chippy by midway through the second half; one Oklahoma State rush was enabled by a forward grabbing Cami Levin as she worked backwards in cutting off a through ball and throwing her out of the way. He also refused to call a few rather obvious handballs, including one where the Cowgirl essentially knocked the ball forward into her path with her left forearm as it bounced up. All in all, not great.
But survive, prevail and advance. Now the Cardinal gets to take on the entire ACC. Well, all 3 ACC #1 seeds, which also won all of their games at home to reach the College Cup. Florida State on Friday in the semis, with a chance to play the winner of Wake Forest-Duke in the final on Sunday. All in Kennesaw, Georgia, about what - three hours driving time or so from each of those schools?
Wanting the College Cup out on the West Coast at some point for the first time since 2000; in the last decade, it's been in Texas 5 times and in North Carolina 5 times. Now it's going to be in Georgia for the next 3 years. How about Carson at the home of Chivas/LA Galaxy/US Training Center, or the new MLS stadiums in either Portland or Seattle, both of which have great soccer crowds? Heck, what about San Jose when the Earthquakes' new park gets built?
Looking forward to Friday,
VG
First, some background. Oklahoma State was the last undefeated team other than Stanford. Going into the Big XII tourney final, they were 19-0-2, and had been ranked second for the last 4-5 weeks of the season. They should really have been a #1 seed, with the country's best defense, having only conceded 6 goals all season prior to the start of the NCAA tournament. But the RPI this year absolutely loved the ACC, and the seeding committee gave that conference 3 #1 seeds, and 7 of the top 16 seeds overall. So Stanford had to play a team it really shouldn't have seen until the final just in order to reach the College Cup.
Oklahoma State's best player is probably their goalie, Adrianna Franch. Super-athletic, soft hands and an absolute cannon of a foot; her drop-kick punts were regularly carrying 3/4 of the field (most women's keepers can manage 5 yds or so past the midfield stripe; she was 10 yards past that and directly at the center of Stanford's backline).
In the first half, she kept the Cowgirls in the match. Stanford absolutely dominated; I would estimate 70% of the possession and the ball in the OkSt half for nearly all of that. Stanford took the first 11 shots of the game over the first 40 minutes, and OkSt had only two real forays into the Stanford end, both ending when they couldn't even get a cross off against a composed Stanford backline.
Offensively, Stanford hit the crossbar on a set piece shot from Lindsay Taylor about 25 minutes in, but Franch was snagging everything; Cami Levin or Marjani Hing-Glover would get to the endline and send in a dangerous cross, only to see the keeper go horizontal off her line and snatch it out of the air. She made a couple of sprawling saves, but there weren't many truly dangerous shots on frame.
The Cowgirls' defense was keying on the center of the midfield, especially Teresa Noyola, who didn't have a very good match; she made several poor passes, didn't work hard back to collect the ball and had it stripped from her and gave up transition opportunities on a number of occasions, and in general looked discomforted by the OkSt defense's physical play (more on that in a moment). Also, Kendall Romine, while playing for the most part a solid central defense, had several bad passes trying to move the ball directly forward. OkSt was keying their pressure on Alina Garciamendez, her partner at center back, so Kendall had room to operate going forward and a larger than normal share of the distribution responsibilities. But she also played several loose balls that could've come back to haunt Stanford.
In contrast, Rachel Quon, Mariah Nogeuira and Cami Levin had really solid play, with Quon and Levin getting the ball forward on the wings and Nogueira taking charge in the holding midfield role, winning ball after ball in the air. And Taylor was getting some good solid shots on the goal; you got the feeling one of them would go in, but you were also reminded that goals against the run of play aren't uncommon, and the score was still 0-0 going into halftime.
Oklahoma State also kept falling further and further back, moving from a 4-3-3 into almost a 6-3-1, as two midfielders dropped very deep to defend Noyola. This left a lot of room for runs forward into the final third of the field, and also left room between the lines for Mariah Nogueira and Kirsty Zurmuhlen to operate. And 6 minutes into the second half, they did. Nogueira moved into the space about 30 yards out, and picked out Kirsty making an angled run in from the right side, hitting her about 15 yards out. Zurmuhlen settled and cut the ball back to her right, and as her defender lunged, punched the ball under her and into the far post of the net past a screened Franch.
After that, Stanford really let down, letting Oklahoma State dominate the next 10 minutes or so of clock time. Oklahoma State generated 3 corner kicks in the next seven minutes, got two solid shots in, and nearly scored when Nogueira misheaded a corner that popped toward the goal, only to be headed off the line by Quon. Kirsty Zurmuhlen also got banged up on the corner, and had to leave the field momentarily as the Cowgirls kept up the pressure. Stanford really missed her attacking style in midfield while she was out.
Withstanding that ten-minute surge, Stanford appeared to find its balance again, and was starting to possess the ball and move forward. Then one of those things that can change the course of a game happened. Cami Levin, moving forward on the right side of the field, slipped and fell just as she played the ball forward. Cowgirl Krista Lopez pounced on the ball and slotted it forward to Sarah Brown, who went straight up the middle past a caught-out-of-position Garciamendez against Kendall Romine. And Kendall never attacked the ball, backing off and backing off until Brown had a good look from about 22 yards out. Speaking as a goalie, at that point you want your defender to go after the ball; she had two other backs hustling back in support, and all Romine was really doing was screening Emily Oliver. When Brown shot, Oliver was a second slow to react, and got caught off her line by a high shot that dipped just under the crossbar and tied the score.
After that, it appeared Oklahoma State was willing to settle back and play for a tie, and Stanford again started methodically moving the ball forward. Both Levin and Lindsay Taylor had excellent shots from narrow angles go whistling past the far post, but this game was destined for overtime.
But not for a long overtime. First Noyola got a nice subtle touch on a cross, knocking the ball down for Marjani Hing-Glover about 9 yards out dead center in the goal mouth, but Hing-Glover blasted the ball high. But only a minute later, Teresa slotted a ball to the right end-line, where Quon was making a perfectly timed overlapping run. Getting behind the backline, Quon dribbled the endline into the box, and from about 10 yards off the near post pushed the ball back to Lindsay Taylor as Franch had to come near-post to defend against the shot. Taylor calmly slotted home the one-touch shot into the net, her 20th and most important of the season, and Stanford was going back to the College Cup.
Gameball for me to Nogueira, with strong secondary consideration to Quon and Zurmuhlen. Both Noyola and Ubogagu need to pick up the energy level a bit, but were solid. Romine has to clean up her distribution.
On the officiating: this guy took "let them play" to rather absurd levels; he called a grand total of 4 fouls in the entire match. Now Stanford has played very clean all season long, but there were some absolutely mystifying no-calls both ways. It was as if he was bound and determined not to make a call that could turn the match, but in doing so, things were getting a bit chippy by midway through the second half; one Oklahoma State rush was enabled by a forward grabbing Cami Levin as she worked backwards in cutting off a through ball and throwing her out of the way. He also refused to call a few rather obvious handballs, including one where the Cowgirl essentially knocked the ball forward into her path with her left forearm as it bounced up. All in all, not great.
But survive, prevail and advance. Now the Cardinal gets to take on the entire ACC. Well, all 3 ACC #1 seeds, which also won all of their games at home to reach the College Cup. Florida State on Friday in the semis, with a chance to play the winner of Wake Forest-Duke in the final on Sunday. All in Kennesaw, Georgia, about what - three hours driving time or so from each of those schools?
Wanting the College Cup out on the West Coast at some point for the first time since 2000; in the last decade, it's been in Texas 5 times and in North Carolina 5 times. Now it's going to be in Georgia for the next 3 years. How about Carson at the home of Chivas/LA Galaxy/US Training Center, or the new MLS stadiums in either Portland or Seattle, both of which have great soccer crowds? Heck, what about San Jose when the Earthquakes' new park gets built?
Looking forward to Friday,
VG
