[Viking_Guy]

Boston College was one of the two blemishes on Stanford\'s 22-0-2 record, using a great effort by goalkeeper Jillian Mastroianni and a second-half equalizer to tie the Cardinal 1-1 back in September.  And for a while today, it looked like that could happen again.

Stanford absolutely dominated the opening 49 minutes of the game, holding BC stars Kristie Mewis and Vicky DiMartino in complete check (DiMartino finished without a single entry in her stat line - no shots, shots on goal, or fouls, let alone goals or assists).  BC didn\'t have register a shot in the first half, while Stanford had 7, including 3 from Christen Press.  Press, who was getting hit every time she had the ball, kept her composure, and had the best chance of the first half, dancing through the right side of the Eagles\' defense and leaving 2 defenders tackling air before hammering a low ball that Mastroianni, coming out hard off the post, got down on nicely to block away.

Other than that, it was a whole lot of Stanford possession, a whole lot of chasing by Boston College, and two other Cardinal shots on frame, but neither presenting much danger.

Starting the second half, a formation change for Stanford, dropping Levin into the attacking midfield role and moving Teresa Noyola out to the wing forward, paid immediate dividends.  Levin, running straight at the center of the defense, cut back to her right and got a good look from just outside the top of the box... and made the most of it.  Cami struck a leaning-slightly-back dipping ball that Mastroianni got a pinkie finger to, but couldn\'t keep out of the upper corner of the net.

And that brought up Stanford\'s problem.  They are nearly unbeatable when they play their normal attacking style, disrupting any form or formation and generally keeping their opponents back on their heels.  BUT, when they score, the Cardinal often sits back a bit, sort of an "all is right with the world, we\'re ahead, now we just have to let the natural flow of the game deliver more goals" attitude.  Both games that they tied this year, Stanford gave up goals after scoring to let early leads get away.

It happened again in this game.  Stanford laid back a bit more; Rachel Quon wasn\'t making dangerous runs forward from her right back slot; the midfield was letting BC get too much room and possession to start running at the defense, and the Eagles started to get some more quality possession.  Their first real dangerous chance came in the 59th minute, when BC snuck a fullback forward on a run up the rightside, but luckily her shot went right to goalkeeper Emily Oliver.

One other issue for Stanford: physical midfields give us problems.  One reason Noyola moved up front was she was not doing well against BC\'s bigger central midfield.  Mariah Nogueira, Stanford\'s big holding midfielder, got knocked out of the game momentarily on a challenge that should\'ve been called a foul but was let go by the referee, who definitely was of the "let them play" variety.  BC\'s midfielder tried to jump in front of a Nogueira kick, was late, kicked Mariah\'s shin and then plowed into her with an elbow into the side of her head. Women\'s soccer - definitely a contact sport.

The scariest moment of the match came with about 15 minutes left.  BC had sustained the pressure for a good 20 minutes, and a ball was flighted into to Mewis back to goal 1v1 with Stanford left back freshman Annie Case.  Mewis overpowered Case in the air to get a flick toward the far post.  Oliver sprawled left to parry the ball down, but it hit the ground and struck her trailing right arm to ricochet away from her back to the far post.  BC defender Hannah Cerrone, coming forward completely unmarked, charged in at the ball, and, with Oliver diving at her to "get big" and block as much of the lower goal as possible, Cerrone tried to strike it high.  And managed to put it over the bar from I would say inside 3 yards out.

That seemed to wake up Stanford a bit, and they began to reassert themselves in the midfield and up front.  But it took a serious miscue by BC\'s defense to ice the game away.  Mastroianni collected a backpass and tried to play the ball forward into the path of a defender to try to spring her forward.  But no one warned that Eagle that Lindsay Taylor was streaking in, and she cut inside the defender, broke in alone, and squared herself up to go far post before tucking the ball neatly under Mastroianni at the near post.  And it was pretty much over.

Stanford matches up with Notre Dame, who dominated a punchless but strong defense Ohio State team, but needed a 83rd minute goal from a freshman defender to win 1-0.  The Buckeyes hit the woodwork with 2 minutes left as they pressed for the tie, but that was really their only dangerous chance of the game.

I really want Stanford to bring this one home - they deserve it.  But they can\'t afford a 20-minute lapse like they had tonight in the final.

Again, Sunday morning, noon ET/9 AM PT (and why so early?)

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Boston College was one of the two blemishes on Stanford\'s 22-0-2 record, using a great effort by goalkeeper Jillian Mastroianni and a second-half equalizer to tie the Cardinal 1-1 back in September.  And for a while today, it looked like that could happen again.

Stanford absolutely dominated the opening 49 minutes of the game, holding BC stars Kristie Mewis and Vicky DiMartino in complete check (DiMartino finished without a single entry in her stat line - no shots, shots on goal, or fouls, let alone goals or assists).  BC didn\'t have register a shot in the first half, while Stanford had 7, including 3 from Christen Press.  Press, who was getting hit every time she had the ball, kept her composure, and had the best chance of the first half, dancing through the right side of the Eagles\' defense and leaving 2 defenders tackling air before hammering a low ball that Mastroianni, coming out hard off the post, got down on nicely to block away.

Other than that, it was a whole lot of Stanford possession, a whole lot of chasing by Boston College, and two other Cardinal shots on frame, but neither presenting much danger.

Starting the second half, a formation change for Stanford, dropping Levin into the attacking midfield role and moving Teresa Noyola out to the wing forward, paid immediate dividends.  Levin, running straight at the center of the defense, cut back to her right and got a good look from just outside the top of the box... and made the most of it.  Cami struck a leaning-slightly-back dipping ball that Mastroianni got a pinkie finger to, but couldn\'t keep out of the upper corner of the net.

And that brought up Stanford\'s problem.  They are nearly unbeatable when they play their normal attacking style, disrupting any form or formation and generally keeping their opponents back on their heels.  BUT, when they score, the Cardinal often sits back a bit, sort of an "all is right with the world, we\'re ahead, now we just have to let the natural flow of the game deliver more goals" attitude.  Both games that they tied this year, Stanford gave up goals after scoring to let early leads get away.

It happened again in this game.  Stanford laid back a bit more; Rachel Quon wasn\'t making dangerous runs forward from her right back slot; the midfield was letting BC get too much room and possession to start running at the defense, and the Eagles started to get some more quality possession.  Their first real dangerous chance came in the 59th minute, when BC snuck a fullback forward on a run up the rightside, but luckily her shot went right to goalkeeper Emily Oliver.

One other issue for Stanford: physical midfields give us problems.  One reason Noyola moved up front was she was not doing well against BC\'s bigger central midfield.  Mariah Nogueira, Stanford\'s big holding midfielder, got knocked out of the game momentarily on a challenge that should\'ve been called a foul but was let go by the referee, who definitely was of the "let them play" variety.  BC\'s midfielder tried to jump in front of a Nogueira kick, was late, kicked Mariah\'s shin and then plowed into her with an elbow into the side of her head. Women\'s soccer - definitely a contact sport.

The scariest moment of the match came with about 15 minutes left.  BC had sustained the pressure for a good 20 minutes, and a ball was flighted into to Mewis back to goal 1v1 with Stanford left back freshman Annie Case.  Mewis overpowered Case in the air to get a flick toward the far post.  Oliver sprawled left to parry the ball down, but it hit the ground and struck her trailing right arm to ricochet away from her back to the far post.  BC defender Hannah Cerrone, coming forward completely unmarked, charged in at the ball, and, with Oliver diving at her to "get big" and block as much of the lower goal as possible, Cerrone tried to strike it high.  And managed to put it over the bar from I would say inside 3 yards out.

That seemed to wake up Stanford a bit, and they began to reassert themselves in the midfield and up front.  But it took a serious miscue by BC\'s defense to ice the game away.  Mastroianni collected a backpass and tried to play the ball forward into the path of a defender to try to spring her forward.  But no one warned that Eagle that Lindsay Taylor was streaking in, and she cut inside the defender, broke in alone, and squared herself up to go far post before tucking the ball neatly under Mastroianni at the near post.  And it was pretty much over.

Stanford matches up with Notre Dame, who dominated a punchless but strong defense Ohio State team, but needed a 83rd minute goal from a freshman defender to win 1-0.  The Buckeyes hit the woodwork with 2 minutes left as they pressed for the tie, but that was really their only dangerous chance of the game.

I really want Stanford to bring this one home - they deserve it.  But they can\'t afford a 20-minute lapse like they had tonight in the final.

Again, Sunday morning, noon ET/9 AM PT (and why so early?)

VG