[Viking_Guy]

Okay, this couldn't have started much better.

Less than 2 minutes in, Catarina Macario steps up to a free kick just outside the box on the right side, and buries it in the upper far corner, grazing the underside of the crossbar. 1-0.

Penn State put some good pressure on, earning some corner kicks and crosses, and getting one wonderful shot, in the space between the midfield and the defense that I'm always concerned about. Jahansouz tipped the ball over the bar, but it looked even.

Until another foul drawn by Pickett on the right side.  On the restart, no one pressured Andi Sullivan, and she brought the ball across the field right to left, only getting picked up about 10 yards outside the box.  Sullivan took another touch to the left to the top of the area, and just as a second defender arrived, took a left footed shot, and buried it in the far left corner. 2-0 Stanford, less than 11 minutes in.

Oh, and then Kyra Carusa got to the end line, turned the ball back into the middle, and Jaye Boissiere finished to the far post. 3-0 Stanford, 12 minutes into the game.

My goodness.

Other good news - Tegan McGrady back in at left back.

Will update.

Woo-hoo!

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Okay, this couldn't have started much better.

Less than 2 minutes in, Catarina Macario steps up to a free kick just outside the box on the right side, and buries it in the upper far corner, grazing the underside of the crossbar. 1-0.

Penn State put some good pressure on, earning some corner kicks and crosses, and getting one wonderful shot, in the space between the midfield and the defense that I'm always concerned about. Jahansouz tipped the ball over the bar, but it looked even.

Until another foul drawn by Pickett on the right side.  On the restart, no one pressured Andi Sullivan, and she brought the ball across the field right to left, only getting picked up about 10 yards outside the box.  Sullivan took another touch to the left to the top of the area, and just as a second defender arrived, took a left footed shot, and buried it in the far left corner. 2-0 Stanford, less than 11 minutes in.

Oh, and then Kyra Carusa got to the end line, turned the ball back into the middle, and Jaye Boissiere finished to the far post. 3-0 Stanford, 12 minutes into the game.

My goodness.

Other good news - Tegan McGrady back in at left back.

Will update.

Woo-hoo!

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Slowed down a little bit, but Carusa just finished another, off a wonderful through ball from Macario from the top of the box to the penalty spot.

4-0 , 25 minutes in.

Penn state just hit the crossbar, and has tested Jahansouz, so they're still playing positive ball, which is fun to watch. They have nothing to lose.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Slowed down a little bit, but Carusa just finished another, off a wonderful through ball from Macario from the top of the box to the penalty spot.

4-0 , 25 minutes in.

Penn state just hit the crossbar, and has tested Jahansouz, so they're still playing positive ball, which is fun to watch. They have nothing to lose.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Stanford bringing in the bench early and often, so the rhythm has fallen off a bit.  At this point, Stanford is picking out their spots, and their high pressure has generated more chances, but the finishing personnel aren't the same level of lethality as the starters.

Penn State, as I mentioned, is still working, and has generated some good chances. Of cours, in a win or go home game, they have to.

Half time, still 4-0.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Stanford bringing in the bench early and often, so the rhythm has fallen off a bit.  At this point, Stanford is picking out their spots, and their high pressure has generated more chances, but the finishing personnel aren't the same level of lethality as the starters.

Penn State, as I mentioned, is still working, and has generated some good chances. Of cours, in a win or go home game, they have to.

Half time, still 4-0.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

After about 15 minutes of the second half, Penn State gave up on trying to get back in it. At least that's what it felt like, as they abandoned high pressure and seemed content to let Stanford play around at the back, only picking them up at about 3/4 field.  A good normal posture, but not what you adopt if you are trying to come back from a 4-0 deficit.

In addition, Stanford was playing a lot of non-standard lineups - the starters were never back in together as a unit, especially on the front line.  As the second half wore on, Stanford went deeper and deeper into the bench, with players like Serafin and Harber playing significant minutes.

All in all, a fitting revenge for two years ago' round of 8 loss.

Game ball and career ball to Sullivan, on her last game at Cagan. Scoring the breakaway goal, just after Jahansouz made the save to keep it 1-0. Constant pressure disrupting PSU's midfield and keeping them from getting rolling. And a head up all game long to find her teammates. She's a special player.

A couple of randoms: as the announcers noted, Stanford trailed for less than 10 minutes THIS SEASON. Only at the end against Florida. That's dominant. Right now, the Gators trail South Carolina 1-0 in the second half, with the winner lined up against the Cardinal. Duke also beat Baylor 4=, and will play the winner of Princeton-UCLA, which is tomorrow.

And watch the replay of Macario's goal. Superb again. The color announcer wanted her to play for Brazil as a national teamer, and that would be great.  But I'd love to see her partnership with Sullivan continue.

Go Card!

VG

[Viking_Guy]

After about 15 minutes of the second half, Penn State gave up on trying to get back in it. At least that's what it felt like, as they abandoned high pressure and seemed content to let Stanford play around at the back, only picking them up at about 3/4 field.  A good normal posture, but not what you adopt if you are trying to come back from a 4-0 deficit.

In addition, Stanford was playing a lot of non-standard lineups - the starters were never back in together as a unit, especially on the front line.  As the second half wore on, Stanford went deeper and deeper into the bench, with players like Serafin and Harber playing significant minutes.

All in all, a fitting revenge for two years ago' round of 8 loss.

Game ball and career ball to Sullivan, on her last game at Cagan. Scoring the breakaway goal, just after Jahansouz made the save to keep it 1-0. Constant pressure disrupting PSU's midfield and keeping them from getting rolling. And a head up all game long to find her teammates. She's a special player.

A couple of randoms: as the announcers noted, Stanford trailed for less than 10 minutes THIS SEASON. Only at the end against Florida. That's dominant. Right now, the Gators trail South Carolina 1-0 in the second half, with the winner lined up against the Cardinal. Duke also beat Baylor 4=, and will play the winner of Princeton-UCLA, which is tomorrow.

And watch the replay of Macario's goal. Superb again. The color announcer wanted her to play for Brazil as a national teamer, and that would be great.  But I'd love to see her partnership with Sullivan continue.

Go Card!

VG

[81alum]

That was superb!  I am absolutely enthralled by Macario's free kicks.  What a weapon. 

So are we up against Duke next?

[81alum]

That was superb!  I am absolutely enthralled by Macario's free kicks.  What a weapon. 

So are we up against Duke next?

[Viking_Guy]

Nope, winner of Florida-South Carolina, with the Gamecocks ahead 2-0 in the 78th minute.  Live on ESPN3.

But a lot of pundits pick a Stanford-Duke final.

EDIT: South Carolina hung on to win 2-0.  Also, didn't realize that Baylor had gone down a player in the first half - they have a reputation of being a physical, borderline-dirty team, and today they had a sub come on and get two yellows within 20 minutes.  Duke was ahead 1-0 at the time, but it makes the 4-0 final much more understandable.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Nope, winner of Florida-South Carolina, with the Gamecocks ahead 2-0 in the 78th minute.  Live on ESPN3.

But a lot of pundits pick a Stanford-Duke final.

EDIT: South Carolina hung on to win 2-0.  Also, didn't realize that Baylor had gone down a player in the first half - they have a reputation of being a physical, borderline-dirty team, and today they had a sub come on and get two yellows within 20 minutes.  Duke was ahead 1-0 at the time, but it makes the 4-0 final much more understandable.

VG

[BostonCard]

Here are the goals...

https://twitter.com/pac12network/status/...3930196992

I’ve never seen a college soccer player as good on free kicks as Macario.

BC

[BostonCard]

Here are the goals...

https://twitter.com/pac12network/status/...3930196992

I’ve never seen a college soccer player as good on free kicks as Macario.

BC

[TheFarm07]

VG, any insight into what South Carolina will bring against us? Do we prefer this matchup than Florida, who handed us our only loss back in August? I know there's always the revenge factor at hand, but I'll take the team that matches up worse against us.

[TheFarm07]

VG, any insight into what South Carolina will bring against us? Do we prefer this matchup than Florida, who handed us our only loss back in August? I know there's always the revenge factor at hand, but I'll take the team that matches up worse against us.

[Viking_Guy]

SEC teams are hard to figure; the bulk of the league is VERY soft, and they have a deserved reputation for under-achieving their seeds in the NCAA tournament - they have figured out as well as the football side of the equation how to game the RPI and other ranking systems.  Other than Florida and Texas A&M, there's little to no soccer tradition in the conference.

That said, they're good.  They beat Notre Dame on the road 1-0 in the second OT, and got the same result at Florida.  OTOH, they lost to a mediocre Arkansas 1-0 in the first round of the SEC tournament.  Like a lot of SEC teams, they don't score a lot, having scored 35, but they've only given up 9.  Nice thing for us - they're not brobdingnagian, with no big target players to bully our smaller defenders, and they're also really young - their frontline scorers are a senior, a sophomore and two freshmen.

And as for their offense - well, I don't expect it to be pretty.  They have a reputation for (1) playing 9 players behind the ball a lot - in other words, what we saw from Auburn, only going forward on solo or 2 player counter-attacks, and (2) um, hitting the ground rather easily and drawing set pieces.  In other words, not the most pleasing soccer to watch.

McCaskill, their leading scorer, has 8 goals and 9 assists, and their other starting forward Bahr has 8 as well, but only 1 assist.  But all of their big scorers are 5'3" and 5'4" - quick, with a burst, but not likely to overpower us on set pieces. They scored on one today, but it was, well, a bit of a lucky bounce - ball headed down off a corner, bounces up and isn't cleared by a Florida defender on the post, who reacted late and only managed to head the ball into the top of her own net on a fairly easy clearance opportunity.  Their second goal appeared to wrongfoot a screened keeper - nowhere near the kind of clinical finishes we saw from the Cardinal today.

Highlights from their win today: https://youtu.be/I8dWk-BLjtw?list=PL-QWr...1emjZ7zaqB

VG

[Viking_Guy]

SEC teams are hard to figure; the bulk of the league is VERY soft, and they have a deserved reputation for under-achieving their seeds in the NCAA tournament - they have figured out as well as the football side of the equation how to game the RPI and other ranking systems.  Other than Florida and Texas A&M, there's little to no soccer tradition in the conference.

That said, they're good.  They beat Notre Dame on the road 1-0 in the second OT, and got the same result at Florida.  OTOH, they lost to a mediocre Arkansas 1-0 in the first round of the SEC tournament.  Like a lot of SEC teams, they don't score a lot, having scored 35, but they've only given up 9.  Nice thing for us - they're not brobdingnagian, with no big target players to bully our smaller defenders, and they're also really young - their frontline scorers are a senior, a sophomore and two freshmen.

And as for their offense - well, I don't expect it to be pretty.  They have a reputation for (1) playing 9 players behind the ball a lot - in other words, what we saw from Auburn, only going forward on solo or 2 player counter-attacks, and (2) um, hitting the ground rather easily and drawing set pieces.  In other words, not the most pleasing soccer to watch.

McCaskill, their leading scorer, has 8 goals and 9 assists, and their other starting forward Bahr has 8 as well, but only 1 assist.  But all of their big scorers are 5'3" and 5'4" - quick, with a burst, but not likely to overpower us on set pieces. They scored on one today, but it was, well, a bit of a lucky bounce - ball headed down off a corner, bounces up and isn't cleared by a Florida defender on the post, who reacted late and only managed to head the ball into the top of her own net on a fairly easy clearance opportunity.  Their second goal appeared to wrongfoot a screened keeper - nowhere near the kind of clinical finishes we saw from the Cardinal today.

Highlights from their win today: https://youtu.be/I8dWk-BLjtw?list=PL-QWr...1emjZ7zaqB

VG

[oldalum]

Haven't seen So. Carolina play this year. Their two forwards have scored 8 goals each; the rest of the team 18 total. Savannah McCaskill is an experienced, dangerous forward; strong and stocky but not lightning fast.

SEC regular season champion undefeated, but as VG says not a strong soccer conference (Texas A&M second, Florida was third). Three common opponents with us: they beat Florida twice (1-0 regular season and 2-0 NCAA), Wisconsin 1-0 in NCAAs (we beat them 5-0) and Santa Clara 2-1 in NCAAs (we beat S.C. 1-0). Their coach is very likable and soft-spoken. This is their first appearance in the college cup.

If we can get a couple of goals I think it will be all over; they are not going to score many against us, if at all.

[oldalum]

Haven't seen So. Carolina play this year. Their two forwards have scored 8 goals each; the rest of the team 18 total. Savannah McCaskill is an experienced, dangerous forward; strong and stocky but not lightning fast.

SEC regular season champion undefeated, but as VG says not a strong soccer conference (Texas A&M second, Florida was third). Three common opponents with us: they beat Florida twice (1-0 regular season and 2-0 NCAA), Wisconsin 1-0 in NCAAs (we beat them 5-0) and Santa Clara 2-1 in NCAAs (we beat S.C. 1-0). Their coach is very likable and soft-spoken. This is their first appearance in the college cup.

If we can get a couple of goals I think it will be all over; they are not going to score many against us, if at all.