[OCcardinal]

We tie Washington 1-1 tonight at home.  Frustrating in that we took 31 shots to their 5, had 10 corners to their 1, and still just 1-1.  Montoya got our goal on an assist from Kitahata.  Washington scored first and we got the equalizer after 48, so it obviously could have been worse.  We are still unbeaten at 12-0-2.

3 of Stanford's shots in the Washington game went off the post (including Dom's PK). That's soccer sometimes. I'm not too worried about the outcome.

And I was at the game on Saturday vs Oregon. I'm not at all worried that Stanford only won 2-0. That looked like a training game to me. Stanford could have played kick ball and scored more against that team, but they stayed disciplined. Being able to build from the back and connect in traffic is going to be a lot more important skill from here on out. There are no easy games the rest of the way (except, perhaps the first round of the NCAA's if Stanford gets a #1 seed).

Here's a few things of note for those who may not follow this team that closely:

1) Elise Evans (sophomore) - treasure every moment you get to watch her play in a Stanford uniform. She is so fast, calm and skilled. It's not a coincidence that Stanford has allowed 1 goal or fewer in the past 28 matches over the past 2 seasons. (By comparison, Stanford had 5 games where they allowed 2 or more goals in Naomi Girma's senior season.)  

2) Ryan Campbell - Ryan was the goalkeeper for the best club team I've ever seen play (it featured Trinity Rodman, Reilyn Turner, and Simone Jackson). Rodman is a young star with the USWNT now, but Campbell's next 2 games will be the last college matches against her other 2 former teammates (Turner is UCLA's star forward and Jackson is USC's star forward). The Pac 12 title may come down to how those 3 former teammates play against each other. And, yes, I'm confident Campbell will be the GK playing for Stanford in those games. Campbell is the best goalkeeper Stanford has had since Jane Campbell (no relation).

3) Shae Harvey and Mia Bhuta (freshmen) - these 2 elite recruits have played so well this season I think they may have been underranked at #12 and #4 respectively. By immediately finding their way into the starting lineup, Stanford actually finds itself with the good problem of having too many elite midfielders (Aikey, Doms and the 2 frosh). Ratcliffe has experimented with a variety of solutions (playing a 3-4-3, moving Aikey to forward or moving Bhuta to outside back). I think I may like Bhuta on Defense in a traditional 4-3-3 best. Bhuta is a terrific defender and can still push up. Also Aikey's ability to hit from distance is unmatched on this roster, so I'd rather she stay at mid. A 3-4-3 may seem like a good compromise but I don't think Stanford has enough experience with it to really get an offensive benefit from the formation. We'll see what Ratcliffe chooses for these key games coming up. But he has a lot of options depending on what gets thrown at him.

4) Allie Montoya (sophomore) is back and healthy - Allie is the daughter of the new coach of the Bay FC NWSL team (Albertin Montoya). She's also a former club teammate of Jasmine Aikey's (they won the U17 ECNL national championship together). As others have mentioned Allie is back from her ACL tear and looks much like her old self. Losing Montoya last season was a big blow to our tournament hopes (as was Evans' nagging injury). I feel much more comfortable with Montoya and Andrea Kitahata both available heading into the NCAA tournament this year. That said, we are still seeing a little of the tendency that caused us to lose the BYU game last year. We had 33 shots in that game, including 10 on goal, but only scored 1 goal. I'd feel more comfortable heading in the tournament if Montoya can score 1 or 2 goals in the final 3 conference games to show her rhythm is fully back.

In any event, these next 3 games are key for our tournament prospects. While Stanford is undefeated and has some good wins, it does not have a very good overall strength of schedule. We could be punished pretty severely in seeding if these final 3 games don't go well. On the other hand, if we can pull off a sweep in LA a #1 seed would be pretty much assured. Stanford Women's Soccer's last in-conference trip to LA promises to be one of the most exciting and impactful in P12 history!

[OCcardinal]

We tie Washington 1-1 tonight at home.  Frustrating in that we took 31 shots to their 5, had 10 corners to their 1, and still just 1-1.  Montoya got our goal on an assist from Kitahata.  Washington scored first and we got the equalizer after 48, so it obviously could have been worse.  We are still unbeaten at 12-0-2.

3 of Stanford's shots in the Washington game went off the post (including Dom's PK). That's soccer sometimes. I'm not too worried about the outcome.

And I was at the game on Saturday vs Oregon. I'm not at all worried that Stanford only won 2-0. That looked like a training game to me. Stanford could have played kick ball and scored more against that team, but they stayed disciplined. Being able to build from the back and connect in traffic is going to be a lot more important skill from here on out. There are no easy games the rest of the way (except, perhaps the first round of the NCAA's if Stanford gets a #1 seed).

Here's a few things of note for those who may not follow this team that closely:

1) Elise Evans (sophomore) - treasure every moment you get to watch her play in a Stanford uniform. She is so fast, calm and skilled. It's not a coincidence that Stanford has allowed 1 goal or fewer in the past 28 matches over the past 2 seasons. (By comparison, Stanford had 5 games where they allowed 2 or more goals in Naomi Girma's senior season.)  

2) Ryan Campbell - Ryan was the goalkeeper for the best club team I've ever seen play (it featured Trinity Rodman, Reilyn Turner, and Simone Jackson). Rodman is a young star with the USWNT now, but Campbell's next 2 games will be the last college matches against her other 2 former teammates (Turner is UCLA's star forward and Jackson is USC's star forward). The Pac 12 title may come down to how those 3 former teammates play against each other. And, yes, I'm confident Campbell will be the GK playing for Stanford in those games. Campbell is the best goalkeeper Stanford has had since Jane Campbell (no relation).

3) Shae Harvey and Mia Bhuta (freshmen) - these 2 elite recruits have played so well this season I think they may have been underranked at #12 and #4 respectively. By immediately finding their way into the starting lineup, Stanford actually finds itself with the good problem of having too many elite midfielders (Aikey, Doms and the 2 frosh). Ratcliffe has experimented with a variety of solutions (playing a 3-4-3, moving Aikey to forward or moving Bhuta to outside back). I think I may like Bhuta on Defense in a traditional 4-3-3 best. Bhuta is a terrific defender and can still push up. Also Aikey's ability to hit from distance is unmatched on this roster, so I'd rather she stay at mid. A 3-4-3 may seem like a good compromise but I don't think Stanford has enough experience with it to really get an offensive benefit from the formation. We'll see what Ratcliffe chooses for these key games coming up. But he has a lot of options depending on what gets thrown at him.

4) Allie Montoya (sophomore) is back and healthy - Allie is the daughter of the new coach of the Bay FC NWSL team (Albertin Montoya). She's also a former club teammate of Jasmine Aikey's (they won the U17 ECNL national championship together). As others have mentioned Allie is back from her ACL tear and looks much like her old self. Losing Montoya last season was a big blow to our tournament hopes (as was Evans' nagging injury). I feel much more comfortable with Montoya and Andrea Kitahata both available heading into the NCAA tournament this year. That said, we are still seeing a little of the tendency that caused us to lose the BYU game last year. We had 33 shots in that game, including 10 on goal, but only scored 1 goal. I'd feel more comfortable heading in the tournament if Montoya can score 1 or 2 goals in the final 3 conference games to show her rhythm is fully back.

In any event, these next 3 games are key for our tournament prospects. While Stanford is undefeated and has some good wins, it does not have a very good overall strength of schedule. We could be punished pretty severely in seeding if these final 3 games don't go well. On the other hand, if we can pull off a sweep in LA a #1 seed would be pretty much assured. Stanford Women's Soccer's last in-conference trip to LA promises to be one of the most exciting and impactful in P12 history!