Women’s soccer 2025 -- ACC Champs, National runners up - Printable Version
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RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - OCcardinal - 08-15-2025
Thoughts on last nights game:
- Great to see 7 goals. First time Stanford has scored at least 7 goals since the CSUN game in 2021.
- I think Stanford’s inability to truly rout teams like this lately is why the program is still perceived as “down” since Cat and Sophia left, even though they have been to the last 2 College Cups (largely on the strength of their defense).
- I liked how Stanford was able to pick apart USF's defense and finish even though USF played 5 back and there wasn’t much space on the wings. That said, Stanford is super deep in the midfield so I don’t know why USF chose to focus on the back line. It looked like an offense/defense drill. Santa Clara is going to be a very different game on Sunday. They will be pressing like crazy everywhere on the field. If Stanford has as much as a 2 goal victory in that game I will be very happy
- THREE frosh goals! 2 by Brooke Holden and 1 by Y-Lan Nguyen. Brooke’s goals were assisted by fellow freshmen Ava Harrison and Milly Bray. Pretty much a dream scenario. I searched back to 2000 and could not find a single Stanford season opener where frosh scored 3 or more goals. It could very well be the first time this has ever happened.
- I was particularly impressed by Brooke’s first goal. On a USF goal kick, Ava (Nya’s baby sister) swooped in and stole the ball from the defender just outside the box and tapped it forward to Brooke, who had made a great run anticipating that possibility. Brooke easily dribbled around the defender and calmly knocked it in. Hard to believe those were two frosh in their first college game. I mentioned earlier how Aikey didn’t need to dribble past the defenders to score. Brooke looks like a true 10, who can get past that back line and create opportunities that way. She was also very active. Exactly the type of player who you know will make the most of her minutes as a sub.
- Two goals by Aikey. A great sign. Both on terrific runs (one with her left, the other with her right). She looks better than she has since sophomore year. (Per a recent article, she was nursing injuries last year even before her season-ending one.) A healthy Aikey is a scary thought for opposing defenses. I predict at least 10 goals from her by the end of the regular season (maybe even by the end of September).
- Speaking of looking better, Montoya looked very fast. Part of that may be USF’s slow defense, but I honestly think she looks faster than at any point before her ACL injury freshman year. She was outrunning defenders, which was a rare sight the last two seasons. And I loved seeing Kitahata connect with her on a cross for the goal just minutes into the game.
- And what an introduction to Y-Lan! Incredible ball control and an incredible shot from outside the box into the lower corner of the net minutes after entering the game. She made me miss Aikey less at the midfield. She can be that long distance scoring threat that forces the defense to be honest.
- Also, it was great to see to see Elise Evans get two assists. Her first one was a thing of beauty as she saw an opening in middle and just took off down the field before sliding it off to Aikey. Stanford’s going to be totally unpredictable this season. The threat can come from anywhere.
- And I also have to talk about sophomore Jaden Thomas’ incredible goal. It was a volley/flip/chip thingy over the keeper. Really impressive. I’m so glad she’s recovered from her injury. More strength up top for this season and beyond. And as mentioned, Boahmah played up top (as she did late last season). Didn't do much that showed up on the stat sheet, but was active and strong.
- Speaking of injuries, very distressing not to have either Emri or Klinger. Hope they are both healing quick and will be back soon. I don’t know that they ever said what Emri’s injury was. If she’s still out after 10-1/2 months, I assume it’s an ACL injury. Her injury is likely the reason we saw Bhuta at right back. Seems a bit panicy by Ratcliff (just as when he played Aikey at CB last season). I was initially relieved when I saw Bhuta return to defensive mid, but then she returned to right back. Our flow and possession looked SO much better with Bhuta at defensive mid.
- Lastly, our two young goalkeepers acquitted themselves well under limited pressure. Glad to see frosh Caroline Birkel get the start. That suggests she is as good as her reputation. Redshirt frosh Kaiya Jota did well in the second half against a little more pressure. Both looked like good options, but Birkel is the likely starter for any big games. (I felt bad for USF’s goalkeeper. On one sequence she had 3 saves in a row, including 2 kicksaves, but the Stanford attack was so relentless she still gave up 7 goals.)
- Finally, someone asked what the budget disparity was in the Texas women's soccor upset: Texas' budget is $3.26 million. Northwestern State is about $670K.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BACardinal - 08-15-2025
Here is the full game
https://youtu.be/iT8WbDnKQYw?si=qiRzRHudR4CWGzuo
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BostonCard - 08-15-2025
Some highlights:
Montoya’s goal at 5 min:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956177721048096926?s=61
Evans to Aikey for goal #2:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956184085841502576?s=61
The first of the freshmen goals by Nguyen from distance:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956186259925385285?s=61
Aikey’s brace:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956196357963997479?s=61
Jayden Thomas:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956199238746169396?s=61
Holden’s first, making the Doms pay for some sloppy play:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956202239569355125?s=61
Holden’s second, capping off a productive night offensively for Stanford:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956203693965242465?s=61
BC
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - old spanish trail - 08-16-2025
(08-15-2025, 11:25 PM)BostonCard Wrote: Some highlights:
Montoya’s goal at 5 min:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956177721048096926?s=61
Evans to Aikey for goal #2:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956184085841502576?s=61
The first of the freshmen goals by Nguyen from distance:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956186259925385285?s=61
Aikey’s brace:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956196357963997479?s=61
Jayden Thomas:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956199238746169396?s=61
Holden’s first, making the Doms pay for some sloppy play:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956202239569355125?s=61
Holden’s second, capping off a productive night offensively for Stanford:
https://x.com/stanfordwsoccer/status/1956203693965242465?s=61
BC
Thanks alot, BC.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Spiny_Norman - 08-17-2025
Stanford leads Santa Clara 3-0 in the first half. Santa Clara has yet to get off a shot.
It's on ACC Network+ (streaming). Or you can follow the stats here.
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=597246
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Hieronymus - 08-17-2025
(08-17-2025, 01:41 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote: Stanford leads Santa Clara 3-0 in the first half. Santa Clara has yet to get off a shot.
It's on ACC Network+ (streaming). Or you can follow the stats here.
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=597246
And it probably should be 5 or 6 - 0. Total beat down so far.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Hieronymus - 08-17-2025
Got a quick 4th early in the second half and then it got a little sloppy. Gave up a blah late goal. Final 5-1. Kooky last 90 seconds, as Bray scored an even later 5th.
Overall though Santa Clara was completely dominated. They couldn’t possess or win the ball in midfield all game and mostly just tried long balls from the back; and then didn’t win any of the second balls out of it. They settled down some as the second half went on, but it never was good on their end. SC might be over ranked at least for now, but that was still an impressive win.
Line up:
Kitihata. Aikey. Montoya
Kohler. Jung
Harvey
Boamah. Evans. Murdock. Freer.
Birkel
No Bhuta, Emri or Klinger today. Or Wolf. Not great.
Observations
- as OCcardinal noted, it looks like somebody slapped a rocket pack to Montoya this year. Really interesting for a senior to suddenly be so much more athletic on the field. She already has more goals - 2 - vs. the 1 she had all of last year.
- Freer moved to CB in the second half which would seem more natural for a DM. With Emri out right now, finding more CB cover makes sense; and I am not sold on Freya. Freer was the only player to go a full 90 minutes. She is clearly going to be important this season.
- I expect we are going to see much more experimentation in lineups this year. PR has a lot of interesting pieces, and the Frosh already look better than I hoped. PR has tinkered a bit the last 2 years, but I think it’s going to be a whole other level this season. He is very intentionally trying some players at multiple positions when last year that was mostly forced by injuries.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BostonCard - 08-17-2025
Montoya's Goal (again, Stanford capitalizing on an opponents defensive mistake)
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957175884303253512
Nguyen's goal to make it 3-0 (the second goal was a penalty)
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957181832958714153
Jung puts us up 4-0. Nice build-up but just a brutal defensive breakdown.
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957189815218119120
BC
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Hieronymus - 08-17-2025
(08-17-2025, 03:54 PM)BostonCard Wrote: Montoya's Goal (again, Stanford capitalizing on an opponents defensive mistake)
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957175884303253512
Nguyen's goal to make it 3-0 (the second goal was a penalty)
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957181832958714153
Jung puts us up 4-0. Nice build-up but just a brutal defensive breakdown.
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957189815218119120
BC
Goal 3 was Nguyen to I think Boamah with Evans on the final touch. And I think the goalie saves Evans first try and the goal is off the rebound; so likely no assists.
Goal 4 was representative of the game - with 5 SC mids you would think one of them would be paying attention to Harvey or whoever was at DM. And you would have been wrong all game.
Edit: for clarification on goal #4 - I was commenting on the lead up to the goal where an unmarked Harvey receives the ball in the Stanford half and is able to carry it 30 yds right down the middle with no resistance. Then 3 SC players converge on Harvey late and the defense blows up with the quick layoff from Aikey leaving a 2 on 1 on the Stanford right. The actual goal was then to Aikey > Jung > Montoya and back to Jung. Despite 5 midfielders, the SC defense was like Swiss cheese in the midfield most of the game, and their 10 should have been providing some resistance on defense before the 25-30 yd mark.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BostonCard - 08-17-2025
Yeah, it was a really nice touch pass by Aikey to set up the fourth goal, and a nice give and go between Harvey and Montoya (I think I read a #3) but how do you get TWO Stanford players behind the defense and leave Harvey with a point blank shot? Still, lots of things could have gone wrong in that sequence for the offense, so good to see us capitalize.
My bad on the Evans goal. You are correct; Y-lan took the corner, and after a bit of a scrum, Evans finally knocked it in.
By the way, Bray's goal was really pretty despite coming in the garbageest of garbage times (43 seconds of what was then a 4-1 game).
https://x.com/StanfordWSoccer/status/1957217023974678998
BC
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Sakibomb25 - 08-17-2025
I think some of what could explain Montoya’s recent resurgence could be the fact that she could be fully healthy. Remember, she tore her ACL midway through her freshman year… so basically her sophomore year was a wash. And some people take awhile to get back to their former selves… so it’s not surprising to see that Montoya is killing it this year. I just hope she stays healthy moving forward.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - OCcardinal - 08-18-2025
(08-17-2025, 03:04 PM)Hieronymus Wrote: - as OCcardinal noted, it looks like somebody slapped a rocket pack to Montoya this year. Really interesting for a senior to suddenly be so much more athletic on the field. She already has more goals - 2 - vs. the 1 she had all of last year.It's one thing to look fast against USF, quite another to look fast against Santa Clara. This is a really encouraging sign for Montoya and the team.
Separately, I'm worried about Bhuta's absence yesterday. She's on the MAC Hermann watch list. That's not a player we want out long. I missed the beginning of the broadcast so I don't know if they said anything. Nevertheless, I was shocked at how good our midfield looked despite her absence. Thank goodness we are such a deep team.
I criticized USF for choosing to play five on the back line, but Santa Clara just played five midfielders and we still dominated (28 shots to 2, with our bench players getting big minutes). Are we just unstoppable? I'm really looking forward to the LA trip to find out more.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Hieronymus - 08-18-2025
(08-18-2025, 09:06 AM)OCcardinal Wrote:(08-17-2025, 03:04 PM)Hieronymus Wrote: - as OCcardinal noted, it looks like somebody slapped a rocket pack to Montoya this year. Really interesting for a senior to suddenly be so much more athletic on the field. She already has more goals - 2 - vs. the 1 she had all of last year.It's one thing to look fast against USF, quite another to look fast against Santa Clara. This is a really encouraging sign for Montoya and the team.
Separately, I'm worried about Bhuta's absence yesterday. She's on the MAC Hermann watch list. That's not a player we want out long. I missed the beginning of the broadcast so I don't know if they said anything. Nevertheless, I was shocked at how good our midfield looked despite her absence. Thank goodness we are such a deep team.
I criticized USF for choosing to play five on the back line, but Santa Clara just played five midfielders and we still dominated (28 shots to 2, with our bench players getting big minutes). Are we just unstoppable? I'm really looking forward to the LA trip to find out more.
No mention that I heard of any of the missing players on the broadcast.
I think we are really good, but SC wasn’t very good either. LA is the clear next major test.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BostonCard - 08-18-2025
(08-18-2025, 09:06 AM)OCcardinal Wrote: I criticized USF for choosing to play five on the back line, but Santa Clara just played five midfielders and we still dominated (28 shots to 2, with our bench players getting big minutes). Are we just unstoppable? I'm really looking forward to the LA trip to find out more.
Let’s see how we fare against top teams first. UCLA and SC are top-10 teams, and the top-4 ranked teams in the country are our ACC rivals (though UNC will drop from the number 1 slot).
BC
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BobK - 08-18-2025
Top Drawer has there rankings out
https://x.com/chrislapuma/status/1957494822732026196?s=46
Stanford # 1
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - OCcardinal - 08-18-2025
Coach Smith at Santa Clara gave a post-game interview where he seems to jump back and forth between thinking Stanford really is that good or fretting that his team might be that bad: https://x.com/SCUWomensSoccer/status/1957209037445161076 He notes they lost 12 players from last year's squad. Lots of praise for Stanford's quality in the interview.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - Sakibomb25 - 08-18-2025
(08-18-2025, 04:50 PM)OCcardinal Wrote: Coach Smith at Santa Clara gave a post-game interview where he seems to jump back and forth between thinking Stanford really is that good or fretting that his team might be that bad: https://x.com/SCUWomensSoccer/status/1957209037445161076 He notes they lost 12 players from last year's squad. Lots of praise for Stanford's quality in the interview.
I mean I think both can be true - you can be really good and your opponent is really bad. It’s true we haven’t been tested… but our offense seems to be clicking and in previous years, we haven’t scored this many goals, even against inferior opponents.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - BostonCard - 08-18-2025
I liked this quote from the Top Drawer guy
Quote:I know I'm a total Stanford homer, but I've been posting about how special this particular team was going to be for a while.
Full rankings here: https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/women
Top 3 and 6 of the top 9 are ACC teams.
BC
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - M T - 08-18-2025
We’ll have to see how Stanford holds up to the travel.
RE: Women’s soccer 2025 - oldalum - 08-18-2025
(08-18-2025, 04:50 PM)OCcardinal Wrote: Coach Smith at Santa Clara . . . notes they lost 12 players from last year's squad. Lots of praise for Stanford's quality in the interview.But he also claimed twice that we returned "everyone" from last year, which is why his squad could not compete with us this early in the year. He conveniently forgot about the departures of Haley Craig (one of our 3 best players last year), Avani Brandt, Nya Harrison, Kellie Pagador, Samantha Williams, and Lumi Kostmayer, as well as the absences of Mia Bhuta (one of our 3 best players last year), Ella Emrie, and Klinger (?). Seems like 8 or 9 to me, but what do I know?