[Viking_Guy]

And it really wasn\'t that close.

Stanford closed out their regular-season road slate with a thorough whuppin of da Bares on a wet field in Berkeley this afternoon.  Outshot them something like 23-5, and Stanford was never really threatened (only one of the shots forced a relatively difficult save, and none of them were from a good spot).

The story of the game, as with the season as a whole, is the continuing golden senior year for Christen Press.  With two goals today, she\'s at 21 on the season, leading the NCAA and within 5 of the single-season mark at Stanford set by Kelley O\'Hara last year.  Combine that with a defense that\'s only given up 4 goals in the last 13 games since switching to Emily Oliver at keeper, and the Cardinal have been rolling.

Today, Kal got an early shot, and sent it high.  Stanford had the next 8 en route to outshooting UCB 11-2 in the first half. But Kal\'s keeper came up big several times early on, and the Bares were definitely in a deep defensive set, with only a single forward.

The breakthrough came 19 minutes in, off a series of corner kicks by the Cardinal.  A ball came loose out of the typical corner kick scramble to Teresa Noyola at the top of the box, who drove a ball low into the area that ended up deflected up in a gentle arc by Lindsay Taylor over the Berkeley goalie, who was in full dive on the initial shot and had no chance to stop the ball from settling gently into the back of the net.

But five minutes later, Press showed her quality, receiving a deep throw at the top of the box on the left side, turning and hitting a curling rocket to the back post, hitting the side netting just inside the woodwork beyond the outstretched glove of the keeper.

Kal stabilized after that, but never really showed any true threat (absent forward Alex Morgan, who\'s with the US WNT at qualifying in Mexico.  Though I don\'t think it would\'ve mattered much).  A couple of counterattacking chances, but always with a defender between the attack and Oliver, and only one clear shot late.

Then Press showed her speed.  With Kal pushing forward late trying to get on the board, Press received the ball near midfield against a very flat Berkeley defense and one v one against a center back.  She pushed the ball through, and inside of 15 yards overcame a 3 yard disadvantage, got herself in behind the defense and calmly slotted the ball home at the near post.

I was worried the game might get a little chippy, but I think the uncertain footing kept everyone from going in too hard, wary of overcommiting and being unable to recover.

In any case, Press now has 21 goals and 7 assists, with her nearest competition, Marky Boyce of Charleston Southern, stuck on 19 with 5. Press now has 60 career goals, an ongoing career mark, and 40 assists, one short of the only career scoring mark left unclaimed.

Stanford closes out the season versus Oregon and the biggest surprise in the Pac-10, the OSU Beavers, who at 13-1-1 have ridden some solid defense to an undefeated conference season thus far pending a home game vs. Arizona tomorrow and their season-ending Bay Area trip next weekend.

One thing I am predicting: if both Stanford and Portland are #1 seeds, as seems likely (as #1 and #2 in the RPI and in most polls), all of the West Coast teams are going to be segregated into the same side of the bracket (they\'ll arrange it so that the Pilots are lined up to play Stanford in the semis, I am willing to wager).  Especially with the Final Four in Cary, North Carolina AGAIN (and when will it come out to the National Team training center in Los Angeles?  The weather would probably be quite a bit nicer than either NC or the sleet extravaganza in College Station last season).

Anyhow, a very nice day, especially catching up on the other football game when I made it home.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

And it really wasn\'t that close.

Stanford closed out their regular-season road slate with a thorough whuppin of da Bares on a wet field in Berkeley this afternoon.  Outshot them something like 23-5, and Stanford was never really threatened (only one of the shots forced a relatively difficult save, and none of them were from a good spot).

The story of the game, as with the season as a whole, is the continuing golden senior year for Christen Press.  With two goals today, she\'s at 21 on the season, leading the NCAA and within 5 of the single-season mark at Stanford set by Kelley O\'Hara last year.  Combine that with a defense that\'s only given up 4 goals in the last 13 games since switching to Emily Oliver at keeper, and the Cardinal have been rolling.

Today, Kal got an early shot, and sent it high.  Stanford had the next 8 en route to outshooting UCB 11-2 in the first half. But Kal\'s keeper came up big several times early on, and the Bares were definitely in a deep defensive set, with only a single forward.

The breakthrough came 19 minutes in, off a series of corner kicks by the Cardinal.  A ball came loose out of the typical corner kick scramble to Teresa Noyola at the top of the box, who drove a ball low into the area that ended up deflected up in a gentle arc by Lindsay Taylor over the Berkeley goalie, who was in full dive on the initial shot and had no chance to stop the ball from settling gently into the back of the net.

But five minutes later, Press showed her quality, receiving a deep throw at the top of the box on the left side, turning and hitting a curling rocket to the back post, hitting the side netting just inside the woodwork beyond the outstretched glove of the keeper.

Kal stabilized after that, but never really showed any true threat (absent forward Alex Morgan, who\'s with the US WNT at qualifying in Mexico.  Though I don\'t think it would\'ve mattered much).  A couple of counterattacking chances, but always with a defender between the attack and Oliver, and only one clear shot late.

Then Press showed her speed.  With Kal pushing forward late trying to get on the board, Press received the ball near midfield against a very flat Berkeley defense and one v one against a center back.  She pushed the ball through, and inside of 15 yards overcame a 3 yard disadvantage, got herself in behind the defense and calmly slotted the ball home at the near post.

I was worried the game might get a little chippy, but I think the uncertain footing kept everyone from going in too hard, wary of overcommiting and being unable to recover.

In any case, Press now has 21 goals and 7 assists, with her nearest competition, Marky Boyce of Charleston Southern, stuck on 19 with 5. Press now has 60 career goals, an ongoing career mark, and 40 assists, one short of the only career scoring mark left unclaimed.

Stanford closes out the season versus Oregon and the biggest surprise in the Pac-10, the OSU Beavers, who at 13-1-1 have ridden some solid defense to an undefeated conference season thus far pending a home game vs. Arizona tomorrow and their season-ending Bay Area trip next weekend.

One thing I am predicting: if both Stanford and Portland are #1 seeds, as seems likely (as #1 and #2 in the RPI and in most polls), all of the West Coast teams are going to be segregated into the same side of the bracket (they\'ll arrange it so that the Pilots are lined up to play Stanford in the semis, I am willing to wager).  Especially with the Final Four in Cary, North Carolina AGAIN (and when will it come out to the National Team training center in Los Angeles?  The weather would probably be quite a bit nicer than either NC or the sleet extravaganza in College Station last season).

Anyhow, a very nice day, especially catching up on the other football game when I made it home.

VG