[Viking_Guy]

Stanford's men's soccer team qualified for next week's College Cup in Kansas City by beating the Demon Deacons 2-1 in overtime.

First, an aside.  When our women's volleyball team lost so readily last night, I was not in a good frame of mind for the weekend.  I thought we might have a lost weekend as Cardinal fans, given Stanford's playing on the road in Winston-Salem and what I thought would be a fired up Toejam squad in the CCG.

FIRST HALF

That fear gave way to being a bit perturbed by the announcers on the ESPN3 stream of the soccer game.  The stream itself was great, almost HD quality if a bit choppy at points, but the announcers must have been from some form of ACC-affiliated source, because every other sentence was about how great the ACC was, and how the 3 of the top 8 seeds were from one ACC division (Wake, Clemson and Syracuse).  Throughout the game, other than Hermann Award nominees Jordan Morris and Brandon Vincent, they didn't have much to say about the Cardinal, even mispronouncing Foster Langsdorf's name as Langsford.  Instead, it was mostly about how creative the Demon Deacons were, how much they got back from players returning from injury, and the wonderful atmosphere at the game (no doubt helped by the absence of Wake Forest from any late-season American football game of consequence in recent years.)

But Stanford definitely started on the front foot, creating a few chances going forward and containing Wake's all-everything freshman Jack Harrison, who actually switched sides of the pitch midway through the first half because he couldn't get anything going against Vincent on the right.  How little impact Harrison had was clear when Brandon Vincent got on the end of a nice ball through to the endline by Corey Baird and hooked a wicked left-footed ball across the face of goal, where Jordan Morris completely obliterated a defender on the far post, outleaping him and burying a 7-8 yard header with power that left Wake's keeper no chance.  Jordan so dominated that play it looked like the defender wasn't even there.

The Cardinal almost doubled up shortly thereafter, when Morris got free down the same channel as Vincent had and hit one of his patented outside of the right foot crosses curling back to about the penalty spot, finding a wide-open Langsdorf who hammered the ball and beat the keeper but hit the crossbar and went over.

Wake did get one good chance, a header out of the scramble of a free kick booted off the line by Vincent, but for the most part Stanford possessed well and pressed forward, with Ty Thompson playing a much more attacking role in this game, at the top of the diamond in midfield rather than holding as he had for the most part this year.

SECOND HALF

Stanford kept the pressure on in the first 15 minutes of the second half,  forcing five saves by Wake's Alec Ferrell, but never netting that second goal to open the margin.  Felt a bit like the football team's travails in the red zone in the first half, which I was watching at the same time.

But starting at about minute 60, the Demon Deacons definitely rallied, and Stanford really seemed to take a much more defensive shape, rarely pressing the Wake backline and conceding possession much more easily than is their normal style.  I didn't like it, as it gave too much of the momentum to Wake, and it finally cost the Cardinal in the 69th minute, as out of a corner kick, a Deacon dribbled into the left edge of the box, took a hit, started stumbling, then took another from Ty Thompson and went down.  It was a good call, but I think if he hadn't already been going down, the referee wouldn't have called it.  Ian Harkes, the son of John, buried the PK.

As an aside, the officiating was solid - a lot of waving people to their feet who might have embellished a bit (although Bashti did draw one questionable free kick late in the first half - I'm worried he's going to start getting a reputation.)  But it definitely leaned a bit in the home side's direction - marginal contact one way a free kick for Wake, the other a wave-off for Stanford.

All the momentum was in Wake's direction.  How much so?  Stanford had NO shots in the last 30 minutes of regulation.  Not no shots on goal, no shots period.  And Wake was in the Stanford end for probably 20 of those minutes.

The Cardinal hung on by their fingernails, and Wake actually may have shot themselves in the foot a bit, at the end of regulation.  Wake took their own sweet time lining up a corner kick with about 2:00 left, and having it headed away for another corner.  Again taking their time, and having it cleared away again, they took one last corner with 20 seconds left, but only got a long distance shot that ended the period.

Overtime, Stanford definitely was the better side.  The break gave them a second wind, and they kept the pressure on, resulting in a Brandon Vincent foray down the left side that drew a penalty kick as he was clipped just as he set foot in the area.  The referee initially signalled outside the box, but consulted with his assistant and awarded the spot kick.  The senior Vincent, with 4 of his 5 goals this season from the spot and a deadly dead-ball striker, stepped up - and sent it off the crossbar into the North Carolina night.  This was at about the time Stanford's football team was squandering first and goals.

Corey Baird grabbed Vincent, told him to keep his head up, and Stanford surged forward again.  Ty Thompson, just passing the center line in the middle of the field, drew a foul as he threatened to break into the heart of the defense about 40 yards from goal.  Corey Baird stepped up and hit a low-arching line drive toward the pack at the penalty spot.  It had enough arc that Ferrell stepped forward a step or two, thinking he might be able to come get it.

And that cost him.  The one whose name they got wrong all game, Foster Langsdorf, held off his man, and with three-quarters of his back to goal nodded the ball up in the air from about 8-9 yards out dead center.  The keeper backpedaled furiously, but the ball arced perfectly over his outstretched gloves and just under the crossbar to settle in the back of the net and send the Cardinal on.

And then the announcers couldn't identify him again, as he took off his jersey, exposing the Nike harness a lot of soccer teams are wearing that to be frank really looks like a sports bra; I think it holds the tracking hardware that keeps track of distance run, etc.  With his jersey off, they had no idea who he was.

The game winner, that's who.

I'm going to give my game ball to Slater Meehan - he took on Thompson's dirty work role with gusto today, and allowed Ty to roam more freely forward.  That is the player (beyond a dead-eye striker) that I think the women's team is really missing - the defensive destroyer midfielder to lurk alongside Sullivan's deep-lying playmaker.

A couple of notes.  Stanford was the only team in the College Cup to win on the road.  All others, #2 Clemson, #4 Akron, and #6 Syracuse, never left home, as #3 seed Georgetown was upset by Boston College in the round of 16. 

Also, Morris now has ten goals and three assists in his last 12 games.  Don't know when the Hermann voting ends, but he may have locked it up at his point.

Finally, don't know if anyone noticed, but the two teams in the women's College Cup final?  Penn State and Duke, 2 of the 3 teams to beat Stanford this year.

Go Card!

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Stanford's men's soccer team qualified for next week's College Cup in Kansas City by beating the Demon Deacons 2-1 in overtime.

First, an aside.  When our women's volleyball team lost so readily last night, I was not in a good frame of mind for the weekend.  I thought we might have a lost weekend as Cardinal fans, given Stanford's playing on the road in Winston-Salem and what I thought would be a fired up Toejam squad in the CCG.

FIRST HALF

That fear gave way to being a bit perturbed by the announcers on the ESPN3 stream of the soccer game.  The stream itself was great, almost HD quality if a bit choppy at points, but the announcers must have been from some form of ACC-affiliated source, because every other sentence was about how great the ACC was, and how the 3 of the top 8 seeds were from one ACC division (Wake, Clemson and Syracuse).  Throughout the game, other than Hermann Award nominees Jordan Morris and Brandon Vincent, they didn't have much to say about the Cardinal, even mispronouncing Foster Langsdorf's name as Langsford.  Instead, it was mostly about how creative the Demon Deacons were, how much they got back from players returning from injury, and the wonderful atmosphere at the game (no doubt helped by the absence of Wake Forest from any late-season American football game of consequence in recent years.)

But Stanford definitely started on the front foot, creating a few chances going forward and containing Wake's all-everything freshman Jack Harrison, who actually switched sides of the pitch midway through the first half because he couldn't get anything going against Vincent on the right.  How little impact Harrison had was clear when Brandon Vincent got on the end of a nice ball through to the endline by Corey Baird and hooked a wicked left-footed ball across the face of goal, where Jordan Morris completely obliterated a defender on the far post, outleaping him and burying a 7-8 yard header with power that left Wake's keeper no chance.  Jordan so dominated that play it looked like the defender wasn't even there.

The Cardinal almost doubled up shortly thereafter, when Morris got free down the same channel as Vincent had and hit one of his patented outside of the right foot crosses curling back to about the penalty spot, finding a wide-open Langsdorf who hammered the ball and beat the keeper but hit the crossbar and went over.

Wake did get one good chance, a header out of the scramble of a free kick booted off the line by Vincent, but for the most part Stanford possessed well and pressed forward, with Ty Thompson playing a much more attacking role in this game, at the top of the diamond in midfield rather than holding as he had for the most part this year.

SECOND HALF

Stanford kept the pressure on in the first 15 minutes of the second half,  forcing five saves by Wake's Alec Ferrell, but never netting that second goal to open the margin.  Felt a bit like the football team's travails in the red zone in the first half, which I was watching at the same time.

But starting at about minute 60, the Demon Deacons definitely rallied, and Stanford really seemed to take a much more defensive shape, rarely pressing the Wake backline and conceding possession much more easily than is their normal style.  I didn't like it, as it gave too much of the momentum to Wake, and it finally cost the Cardinal in the 69th minute, as out of a corner kick, a Deacon dribbled into the left edge of the box, took a hit, started stumbling, then took another from Ty Thompson and went down.  It was a good call, but I think if he hadn't already been going down, the referee wouldn't have called it.  Ian Harkes, the son of John, buried the PK.

As an aside, the officiating was solid - a lot of waving people to their feet who might have embellished a bit (although Bashti did draw one questionable free kick late in the first half - I'm worried he's going to start getting a reputation.)  But it definitely leaned a bit in the home side's direction - marginal contact one way a free kick for Wake, the other a wave-off for Stanford.

All the momentum was in Wake's direction.  How much so?  Stanford had NO shots in the last 30 minutes of regulation.  Not no shots on goal, no shots period.  And Wake was in the Stanford end for probably 20 of those minutes.

The Cardinal hung on by their fingernails, and Wake actually may have shot themselves in the foot a bit, at the end of regulation.  Wake took their own sweet time lining up a corner kick with about 2:00 left, and having it headed away for another corner.  Again taking their time, and having it cleared away again, they took one last corner with 20 seconds left, but only got a long distance shot that ended the period.

Overtime, Stanford definitely was the better side.  The break gave them a second wind, and they kept the pressure on, resulting in a Brandon Vincent foray down the left side that drew a penalty kick as he was clipped just as he set foot in the area.  The referee initially signalled outside the box, but consulted with his assistant and awarded the spot kick.  The senior Vincent, with 4 of his 5 goals this season from the spot and a deadly dead-ball striker, stepped up - and sent it off the crossbar into the North Carolina night.  This was at about the time Stanford's football team was squandering first and goals.

Corey Baird grabbed Vincent, told him to keep his head up, and Stanford surged forward again.  Ty Thompson, just passing the center line in the middle of the field, drew a foul as he threatened to break into the heart of the defense about 40 yards from goal.  Corey Baird stepped up and hit a low-arching line drive toward the pack at the penalty spot.  It had enough arc that Ferrell stepped forward a step or two, thinking he might be able to come get it.

And that cost him.  The one whose name they got wrong all game, Foster Langsdorf, held off his man, and with three-quarters of his back to goal nodded the ball up in the air from about 8-9 yards out dead center.  The keeper backpedaled furiously, but the ball arced perfectly over his outstretched gloves and just under the crossbar to settle in the back of the net and send the Cardinal on.

And then the announcers couldn't identify him again, as he took off his jersey, exposing the Nike harness a lot of soccer teams are wearing that to be frank really looks like a sports bra; I think it holds the tracking hardware that keeps track of distance run, etc.  With his jersey off, they had no idea who he was.

The game winner, that's who.

I'm going to give my game ball to Slater Meehan - he took on Thompson's dirty work role with gusto today, and allowed Ty to roam more freely forward.  That is the player (beyond a dead-eye striker) that I think the women's team is really missing - the defensive destroyer midfielder to lurk alongside Sullivan's deep-lying playmaker.

A couple of notes.  Stanford was the only team in the College Cup to win on the road.  All others, #2 Clemson, #4 Akron, and #6 Syracuse, never left home, as #3 seed Georgetown was upset by Boston College in the round of 16. 

Also, Morris now has ten goals and three assists in his last 12 games.  Don't know when the Hermann voting ends, but he may have locked it up at his point.

Finally, don't know if anyone noticed, but the two teams in the women's College Cup final?  Penn State and Duke, 2 of the 3 teams to beat Stanford this year.

Go Card!

VG