10-04-2013, 11:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-04-2013, 11:33 PM by Viking_Guy.)
For the first time in a couple of years, Stanford got thoroughly outplayed for large stretches of a game on Cagan Field. The Wildcats came out fast, pressed hard, and generated chances against a Cardinal side playing on the back foot for large stretches of the first half. If not for a couple of nice saves from Jane Campbell, Stanford would've been down early.
My vote for culprit? An experimental starting lineup from Ratcliffe. He brought Chi Ubogagu back into the midfield, and started Ryan Walker-Hartshorn with Uhl and Verloo up top. The problem was that with both Chi and Lo LaBonta, Stanford switched their normal balance of two holding and one attacking to two attacking and one holding, and UofA found acres of space in front of the Stanford backline. Neither LaBonta nor Ubogagu is an intimidating defensive presence, and Alex Doll found herself alone a lot in front of the backline, which led to the Wildcats having time on the ball to pick out their service into and behind the defense. In the first 15 minutes or so, Stanford got outshot 9-1.
To his credit, I think he recognized that, and the first sub was Amack for Uhl, moving Chi back up top, which settled down the team immensely. But Arizona had a good pressure gameplan, recognizing that Stanford, under duress, almost always looks to pass the ball back. Several times in the first half, Liedle and Romine sent back "hospital balls," weak back passes that don't get clear of the pressing offensive player, and essentially put them through 1 v 1 against the defender to whom they were trying to pass back.
More troublingly, Stanford simply looked lethargic. Ratcliffe mentioned at halftime that they had trained hard this week, and they looked heavy legged throughout.
A lot of subbing, looking for someone to put pressure up top, finally resulted in the first goal for Stanford, really against the run of play. Sydney Payne broke down the right sideline and absolutely hammered a cross in to the edge of the crease. Freshman Megan Turner cut inside her defender and met the ball squarely (making me think all over again about the concussion risks in soccer), blasting a header past a helpless Arizona keeper from about 6 yards out.
Second half
In the second half, Stanford seemed to be much more settled, and on the ball, with Amack in the game from the get go. But they couldn't convert better possession and pressure into shots on frame. They were getting VERY little from the midfield, and Arizona was draped all over Verloo and Uhl anytime the ball came forward, challenging someone else to beat them. Chi set up a beautiful chance for Doll, who missed a wide open far post from about 12 yards in the middle of the half.
Then came one of the mistakes that could have ended Stanford's great streaks of undefeated play at home, in conference and when scoring. Senior right back Natalie Griffen, normally a steady veteran presence, was under pressure heading back with the ball at her feet toward her own penalty area. Instead of simply clearing the ball away, she completely flubbed a back pass attempt, so poorly that I couldn't tell if she was trying to pass the ball across to Bauer or back to Campbell. What she did was touch the ball directly into the path of the forward who was pressuring her. That Wildcat, Alex Doller, was through alone on Campbell, and though Jane made a good play and took away a lot of the goal, Doller hit the inside of the far post, and the rebound directly into the center of the line fell at the feet of the Wildcats' Emily Lai, who poked it home.
Simply put, it was one of the worst brain cramps I've seen by a Stanford defender in years. Up 1-0 in the last 15 minutes of the game, you can't hit that ball. The scary thing was that it was about the fifth or sixth time it happened during the game, by every player through the defense and defensive midfield; it was if the Cardinal players couldn't believe someone was actually putting them under pressure, and there was leisure to simply touch the ball backwards lightly rather than hit it back with some pace. As a keeper, it was hard to watch.
OT
What was strange was that Arizona really seemed to back off in the overtime, as if they were content to play for the tie. Stanford started to knock the ball around again, and had most of the good chances and possession early. But still... tied, at home, against a team they should've beaten comfortably. One wrong touch, one deflection or moment of genius from an unexpected source, and not losing a conference game since 2008... not losing a home game since 2007... Not losing a game in which they've scored since 2006... all would go by the wayside.
But the moment of inspiration went the other way. Taylor Uhl, who had been marked out of the game pretty thoroughly, the first player pulled in the first half, more effective but pulled early in the second, and a very late reinsertion in the second half, was doing the classic striker "lurk" in the opponent's end toward the close of the first overtime period. Liedle, who really had an up and down game, hit a great first time ball which Uhl took down with her chest to the left, then curled onto it and placed a left-footed strike around her defender and perfectly inside the far post with 8 seconds left in the period. Game over.
Whew.
Hard to give a game ball. Everyone had moments of brain cramp, but other runs of great play. I think I'd split it between Campbell (who kept Stanford in it early when mad scrambles in the box were definitely against the norm of Cardinal play) and Uhl, who as I mentioned earlier simply has a nose for goal.
Not so good marks for the defense, each of whom made some really poor decisions on back passes tonight, and the midfield (with the exception of Amack), who looked discombobulated by the Wildcat defense, and didn't take advantage of the space that the Wildcats left with their high pressure and dropping defense. At times, there were acres of space if Stanford had just changed the point of attack from one side of the field to the other. Instead, they kept trying to hit balls in small spaces in the same lane up the left side of the field.
And hopefully, we won't see the two attacking minded midfielders against a pressure team lineup again any time soon. Like, against UCLA next week...
VG
My vote for culprit? An experimental starting lineup from Ratcliffe. He brought Chi Ubogagu back into the midfield, and started Ryan Walker-Hartshorn with Uhl and Verloo up top. The problem was that with both Chi and Lo LaBonta, Stanford switched their normal balance of two holding and one attacking to two attacking and one holding, and UofA found acres of space in front of the Stanford backline. Neither LaBonta nor Ubogagu is an intimidating defensive presence, and Alex Doll found herself alone a lot in front of the backline, which led to the Wildcats having time on the ball to pick out their service into and behind the defense. In the first 15 minutes or so, Stanford got outshot 9-1.
To his credit, I think he recognized that, and the first sub was Amack for Uhl, moving Chi back up top, which settled down the team immensely. But Arizona had a good pressure gameplan, recognizing that Stanford, under duress, almost always looks to pass the ball back. Several times in the first half, Liedle and Romine sent back "hospital balls," weak back passes that don't get clear of the pressing offensive player, and essentially put them through 1 v 1 against the defender to whom they were trying to pass back.
More troublingly, Stanford simply looked lethargic. Ratcliffe mentioned at halftime that they had trained hard this week, and they looked heavy legged throughout.
A lot of subbing, looking for someone to put pressure up top, finally resulted in the first goal for Stanford, really against the run of play. Sydney Payne broke down the right sideline and absolutely hammered a cross in to the edge of the crease. Freshman Megan Turner cut inside her defender and met the ball squarely (making me think all over again about the concussion risks in soccer), blasting a header past a helpless Arizona keeper from about 6 yards out.
Second half
In the second half, Stanford seemed to be much more settled, and on the ball, with Amack in the game from the get go. But they couldn't convert better possession and pressure into shots on frame. They were getting VERY little from the midfield, and Arizona was draped all over Verloo and Uhl anytime the ball came forward, challenging someone else to beat them. Chi set up a beautiful chance for Doll, who missed a wide open far post from about 12 yards in the middle of the half.
Then came one of the mistakes that could have ended Stanford's great streaks of undefeated play at home, in conference and when scoring. Senior right back Natalie Griffen, normally a steady veteran presence, was under pressure heading back with the ball at her feet toward her own penalty area. Instead of simply clearing the ball away, she completely flubbed a back pass attempt, so poorly that I couldn't tell if she was trying to pass the ball across to Bauer or back to Campbell. What she did was touch the ball directly into the path of the forward who was pressuring her. That Wildcat, Alex Doller, was through alone on Campbell, and though Jane made a good play and took away a lot of the goal, Doller hit the inside of the far post, and the rebound directly into the center of the line fell at the feet of the Wildcats' Emily Lai, who poked it home.
Simply put, it was one of the worst brain cramps I've seen by a Stanford defender in years. Up 1-0 in the last 15 minutes of the game, you can't hit that ball. The scary thing was that it was about the fifth or sixth time it happened during the game, by every player through the defense and defensive midfield; it was if the Cardinal players couldn't believe someone was actually putting them under pressure, and there was leisure to simply touch the ball backwards lightly rather than hit it back with some pace. As a keeper, it was hard to watch.
OT
What was strange was that Arizona really seemed to back off in the overtime, as if they were content to play for the tie. Stanford started to knock the ball around again, and had most of the good chances and possession early. But still... tied, at home, against a team they should've beaten comfortably. One wrong touch, one deflection or moment of genius from an unexpected source, and not losing a conference game since 2008... not losing a home game since 2007... Not losing a game in which they've scored since 2006... all would go by the wayside.
But the moment of inspiration went the other way. Taylor Uhl, who had been marked out of the game pretty thoroughly, the first player pulled in the first half, more effective but pulled early in the second, and a very late reinsertion in the second half, was doing the classic striker "lurk" in the opponent's end toward the close of the first overtime period. Liedle, who really had an up and down game, hit a great first time ball which Uhl took down with her chest to the left, then curled onto it and placed a left-footed strike around her defender and perfectly inside the far post with 8 seconds left in the period. Game over.
Whew.
Hard to give a game ball. Everyone had moments of brain cramp, but other runs of great play. I think I'd split it between Campbell (who kept Stanford in it early when mad scrambles in the box were definitely against the norm of Cardinal play) and Uhl, who as I mentioned earlier simply has a nose for goal.
Not so good marks for the defense, each of whom made some really poor decisions on back passes tonight, and the midfield (with the exception of Amack), who looked discombobulated by the Wildcat defense, and didn't take advantage of the space that the Wildcats left with their high pressure and dropping defense. At times, there were acres of space if Stanford had just changed the point of attack from one side of the field to the other. Instead, they kept trying to hit balls in small spaces in the same lane up the left side of the field.
And hopefully, we won't see the two attacking minded midfielders against a pressure team lineup again any time soon. Like, against UCLA next week...
VG
