[Viking_Guy]

The saves I thought I saw were two of the last three in that highlight montage (the last one is the final miss high).

The PK save was great, but the one before it, with little time left in OT, and a rocket of a shot ticketed for the upper corner through a screening crowd in the box, was just spectacular.  You could tell that by the Gaels player going full "surrender cobra" after Thomas parried it away.  And those sorts of saves are what make things like the PK miss happen.  As a goalkeeper, if you get the shooter thinking they have to hit a near-perfect shot to beat you, you've won 80% of the battle.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

The saves I thought I saw were two of the last three in that highlight montage (the last one is the final miss high).

The PK save was great, but the one before it, with little time left in OT, and a rocket of a shot ticketed for the upper corner through a screening crowd in the box, was just spectacular.  You could tell that by the Gaels player going full "surrender cobra" after Thomas parried it away.  And those sorts of saves are what make things like the PK miss happen.  As a goalkeeper, if you get the shooter thinking they have to hit a near-perfect shot to beat you, you've won 80% of the battle.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

One other thing worth mentioning:

Stanford's post-season shutout streak is now over 14 matches long (closing in on 16 if you count them as 90 minutes each) - 1,414 minutes, 20 seconds. The last goal they allowed in the tournament was during the 2-1 OT victory over #1-seed Wake Forest on December 5.

2015.

[Viking_Guy]

One other thing worth mentioning:

Stanford's post-season shutout streak is now over 14 matches long (closing in on 16 if you count them as 90 minutes each) - 1,414 minutes, 20 seconds. The last goal they allowed in the tournament was during the 2-1 OT victory over #1-seed Wake Forest on December 5.

2015.

[DenverCard]

We'll see what happens against the Zips, and in Gunn we should trust.  Having lost seven starters, making the NCAA quarters is remarkable.

VG

It is truly remarkable that this team is still playing.  It seems to be held together with bubble gum and chicken wire.  Andrew Thomas and Tanner Beason are the personification of those two materials, as they routinely perform at a very high level.  The remainder of the team has players who provide maximum effort, generally steady play, and an occasional great game.  But in terms of my subjective assessment of the course of play across the season, Stanford has appeared to be merely equal or actually inferior to their opponent in over half their games.  They were dominated early by Georgetown (albeit on the road in terribly humid conditions), UOP was their equal, were fortunate to gain a tie in their second game against OSU (after losing the first), run ragged by UCLA in the second match-up (which Stanford won 1-0), and on par with Washington in both games (wins by Stanford).  In their first NCAA tourney game, I thought UC Irvine had more good chances to score. In the last game, St. Mary's dominated them. 

In many games, if you took the best 11 players from the combined roster of both teams, fewer than half would be Stanford's.

To be sure, they've played a pretty tough schedule, both in and out of conference, but to be one of the remaining eight teams in the tournament kind of blows my mind.

This perspective of mine makes the team all the more fun to cheer for, even as the games are not as satisfying as last year or the year they won their first NCAA championship.  And because they have stretches when the elevate their play, I keep hoping that their best games of the year are yet to come.

[DenverCard]

We'll see what happens against the Zips, and in Gunn we should trust.  Having lost seven starters, making the NCAA quarters is remarkable.

VG

It is truly remarkable that this team is still playing.  It seems to be held together with bubble gum and chicken wire.  Andrew Thomas and Tanner Beason are the personification of those two materials, as they routinely perform at a very high level.  The remainder of the team has players who provide maximum effort, generally steady play, and an occasional great game.  But in terms of my subjective assessment of the course of play across the season, Stanford has appeared to be merely equal or actually inferior to their opponent in over half their games.  They were dominated early by Georgetown (albeit on the road in terribly humid conditions), UOP was their equal, were fortunate to gain a tie in their second game against OSU (after losing the first), run ragged by UCLA in the second match-up (which Stanford won 1-0), and on par with Washington in both games (wins by Stanford).  In their first NCAA tourney game, I thought UC Irvine had more good chances to score. In the last game, St. Mary's dominated them. 

In many games, if you took the best 11 players from the combined roster of both teams, fewer than half would be Stanford's.

To be sure, they've played a pretty tough schedule, both in and out of conference, but to be one of the remaining eight teams in the tournament kind of blows my mind.

This perspective of mine makes the team all the more fun to cheer for, even as the games are not as satisfying as last year or the year they won their first NCAA championship.  And because they have stretches when the elevate their play, I keep hoping that their best games of the year are yet to come.