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Two bad losses - Printable Version

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Two bad losses - Viking_Guy - 08-26-2012

Women's soccer lost to unranked and 1-2 West Virginia 1-0 on a goal in the 83rd minute.  The Gametracker never came up, so I was watching the women's field hockey game when the recap story came up on gostanford.  Outshot the Mountaineers 17-7, but only forced 1 save out of their keeper.  My worries about the offense continue; Verloo didn't play today due to a "minor nick," and she's our biggest threat up top until Ubogagu comes back.  According to the recap, the Cardinal didn't convert on a couple of early chances, and in soccer that can be deadly.  Sounds like a corner late didn't get cleared well, and the rebound was put home.

First loss since the final in 2010.  First loss in the regular season since 2008.  Don't know how long it's been since Stanford lost to an unranked team.  Yuck.

Almost as bad was the missed opportunity in the field hockey game.  Stanford played the first half a little starry-eyed against top-ranked Maryland, and spent much of the period back on their heels.  But their freshman goalkeeper from London, Dulcie Davies, made a couple of nice saves, only getting beaten when one of her defenders turned the ball over and a Terrapin rocketed a backhand into the far corner.

The second half was a different kettle of fish.  The Cardinal turned up the pressure, and some great play by Alex McCawley got Stanford a lead, first with a nice shot after she stepped through and blasted a ball far upper corner, then setting up a tip-in out front.  Her dribbling displays really got the crowd into the game, especially one run of tight control through 2 defenders on the right sideline.

In the last 6 minutes, Maryland pulled their goalie, and really put a tiring Stanford defense under pressure.  One of the Terps dribbled from the left corner through 2 Stanford players and put in a bouncing ball that Davies could only deflect, and it came off a stick of an unmarked attacker and in, with under 4 minutes left.

The first overtime for the most part passed unremarkably; in field hockey, they've gone to a 7 v 7 sudden death overtime, versus the 10-player sides of normal play.  So both teams built up the field slowly against packed in defenses.  Stanford actually had the better run of play, outshooting the Terps 4-1 in the period.

The second overtime was strange.  Maryland pressed forward, but one of their stars was called for elbowing, her second major penalty of the game, and was shown a yellow card, a 10 minute ejection.  This left the Terrapins short-handed for the duration of the game, but actually seemed to disarrange Stanford more.  The Cardinal got players forward, but didn't seem to generate good movement against the defense, and when they turned the ball over, seemed to be out of gas.  The short-handed visitors actually got more shots off than Stanford, and with about a minute left, Stanford turned the ball over at the top of the Terrapins' defense.  A run-out by a Maryland player wended its way through 3 obviously gassed Stanford defenders (in general, a player with the ball on her stick shouldn't be able to outrun players trying to recover), and led to a penalty corner.  Still shouldn't have been a problem, and Maryland looked like they were trying to run out the clock before taking the chance.  With 30 seconds left, they hit the ball to a player at the top of the circle and the defenders ran out.  A shot came in right and a defender lunged and tipped the ball, but instead of clearing it deflected it up right into the middle of the crease.  Where it fell right onto the stick of the player who had taken the penalty corner, who after her initiation of the play had snuck in behind the defense on the right, leaving her right on the doorstep.  Davies dove and stopped the initial shot with her stick, but it left the ball sitting where the Terp could just push the ball in.

Double ugh.

Positives: playing with the top team in the country even and even slightly better for portions of the game.  Davies looks like, if you'll pardon the pun, a real keeper.  And McCawley showed some great stickwork.

But they did get outhustled late, and ran out of gas.  I wasn't certain of the rules, but it seemed like they really could've used more fresh legs if other subs were allowable.

Hope that WVB can redeem this day against the Bows tonight.

VG


Re: Two bad losses - 81alum - 08-26-2012

I enjoyed watching that field hockey game--the first field hockey game I've ever seen.  However, it seemed quite heartbreaking--allowing Maryland to tie it so close to the end of regulation and then being unable to capitalize with the extra player.  It just seemed in the second overtime that they were more tired than Maryland.

Bad news about soccer.  I think you were right last week when you suggested that our second half against Santa Clara may have given us a false sense of security.  The first half against Santa Clara seems to be closer to the real personality of the team, until they figure out some consistency in the offensive third of the field. 

Re: Two bad losses - Viking_Guy - 08-26-2012

One other note: if you're interested, there should be a really interesting match in the U-20 Women's World Cup tonight: U.S. v. Germany at midnight PT (the show starts at 11:30) on ESPN2.

US stands second in its group, but needs a win or draw against the Germans to ensure going through.

VG

Edit: Women's vball is streaming the game v Hawai'i right now (split the first two games):
https://secure.oceanic.com/Streaming/jsp/content/ShowFree.html



Re: Two bad losses - Canalejas - 08-26-2012

Volleyball lost, too.  I guess it really wasn't our day.

Re: Two bad losses - Cardinal96 - 08-27-2012

Not going to lie.  I read the title and was immediately worried that two Stanford football players were injured in the preseason.  I breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear this was talking about womens' soccer and field hockey.  Maybe that makes me a bad person.

Re: Two bad losses - yvonne - 08-27-2012

I like it when the women's teams win.

Re: Two bad losses - FarmBoy - 08-27-2012

Quote:Maybe that makes me a bad person.

I don't think so, and not just because I had the same reaction (thinking this was lost football personnel .) Losing a game, unless it's the playoffs or is going to determine playoff eligibility, it less important than players sustaining injuries. I love the women's volleyball team, but I'll trade them losing an early season match to Hawaii (on the island against a top-10 team) to losing, say, our starting LT for the season the week before the first game.

Re: Two bad losses - Cardinal96 - 08-28-2012

(08-27-2012, 08:36 AM)Yvonne link Wrote:I like it when the women's teams win.

I do too.  But what makes me come to this site and makes me want to follow Stanford athletics is football.