10-27-2017, 06:42 PM
CTC--
DVRed it, and watched after having to sit through that travesty of a football game, hoping for a more satisfying game.
Sort of.
Stanford dominated the opening run of both the game and the second half, but really faltered later on - the last 25 minutes of the first half, and especially the last 15 of the game. The ball of the crossbar was iffy - I couldn't detect any "green" between the ball and the line on the slowest replay I saw. Stanford also had a header by Carusa bicycled off the line, but not as close.
Toward the tail end of the initial period of Cardinal on the front foot in the first half, Stanford drew a corner. Boissiere served it into the box, and Alana Cook headed down a ball that had pinballed a bit, squirting it through right to the odds-defying feet of DiBiasi, who always seems to be in the right spot; she had a headed goal off a Macario shot deflecting off the post on the bounce and right back into Jordan's run. She poked it home at the near post, and Stanford led 1-0 in the 29th minute.
The Bruins really amped up the pressure for the remainder of the first half, especially in the midfield. Stanford found no joy in the middle of the park against the Bruins' talented (and slightly bigger) midfielders, and Stanford was forced up the sidelines for a large portion of the latter 2/3rds of the match.
After half, Stanford had another run of good play for the opening 15 minutes, then 15 minutes of free-for-all, then 15 minutes where it really felt like the Cardinal was playing with desperation - lots of long clearances into touch, lots of trying route one over the top of the defense. The problem is, with the exception of Macario, Stanford is not overly fast - Xiao is quick, and Kiki Pickett is lightning fast, but both of them can be easily bodied off the ball, and Kiki has a tendency to try to use her speed to sprint by defenders, or over-dribbles into them. But up front, teams don't have to be overly conscientious about covering the ball in behind the defense (to be fair, also because Stanford is normally not a direct-playing team).
UCLA's Hallie Mace is going to be a problem - tall, fast striker who got behind Stanford's defense all of 11 seconds into the match and scuffed a good look. She was the one who hammered the crossbar and down that could've gone either way.
Beyond the goal/no goal call, the officiating was eh. There was a yellow card on Madison Haley for a slide where she slid between the other player and the ball to hook it away, got to the ball first, and the Bruin tripped over the leg that was on the ground in contact with the ball. All in all, the central ref seemed to buy more to the ground calls from the Bruins, and yet, I saw one two-handed shove of Andi Sullivan off the ball late when she was approaching the top of the UCLA area that wasn't deemed a foul. 17 fouls on Stanford to only 8 on the Bruins. Hmm.
So no, it wasn't a redemptive watching experience following the Coronary in Corvallis.
Player of the match, no doubt - Jahansouz in goal. Several times the Bruins got in behind the defense after the initial foray. In the 70th minute, a UCLA corner went to a completely unmarked Gabi Matulich at the far corner of the six-yard box, and she hammered a header just under the bar. Jahansouz tipped it over. She also stopped another ball when a Bruin got in behind and tried a redirect one-touch, and several times had to fearlessly dive for a loose ball in the box or to tip one away.
All in all, it felt a little more deserved than the win against OSU, but also almost as fortunate a result.
$C is going to be a tussle - they are fast and physical, and Stanford really doesn't like playing against teams that pressure them and prevent them from knocking the ball around, which is definitely what the Toejams do and what UCLA did for portions of their game. But it will be the game for the Pac-12 championship, I think. 3:00 pm Sunday on the network.
VG
DVRed it, and watched after having to sit through that travesty of a football game, hoping for a more satisfying game.
Sort of.
Stanford dominated the opening run of both the game and the second half, but really faltered later on - the last 25 minutes of the first half, and especially the last 15 of the game. The ball of the crossbar was iffy - I couldn't detect any "green" between the ball and the line on the slowest replay I saw. Stanford also had a header by Carusa bicycled off the line, but not as close.
Toward the tail end of the initial period of Cardinal on the front foot in the first half, Stanford drew a corner. Boissiere served it into the box, and Alana Cook headed down a ball that had pinballed a bit, squirting it through right to the odds-defying feet of DiBiasi, who always seems to be in the right spot; she had a headed goal off a Macario shot deflecting off the post on the bounce and right back into Jordan's run. She poked it home at the near post, and Stanford led 1-0 in the 29th minute.
The Bruins really amped up the pressure for the remainder of the first half, especially in the midfield. Stanford found no joy in the middle of the park against the Bruins' talented (and slightly bigger) midfielders, and Stanford was forced up the sidelines for a large portion of the latter 2/3rds of the match.
After half, Stanford had another run of good play for the opening 15 minutes, then 15 minutes of free-for-all, then 15 minutes where it really felt like the Cardinal was playing with desperation - lots of long clearances into touch, lots of trying route one over the top of the defense. The problem is, with the exception of Macario, Stanford is not overly fast - Xiao is quick, and Kiki Pickett is lightning fast, but both of them can be easily bodied off the ball, and Kiki has a tendency to try to use her speed to sprint by defenders, or over-dribbles into them. But up front, teams don't have to be overly conscientious about covering the ball in behind the defense (to be fair, also because Stanford is normally not a direct-playing team).
UCLA's Hallie Mace is going to be a problem - tall, fast striker who got behind Stanford's defense all of 11 seconds into the match and scuffed a good look. She was the one who hammered the crossbar and down that could've gone either way.
Beyond the goal/no goal call, the officiating was eh. There was a yellow card on Madison Haley for a slide where she slid between the other player and the ball to hook it away, got to the ball first, and the Bruin tripped over the leg that was on the ground in contact with the ball. All in all, the central ref seemed to buy more to the ground calls from the Bruins, and yet, I saw one two-handed shove of Andi Sullivan off the ball late when she was approaching the top of the UCLA area that wasn't deemed a foul. 17 fouls on Stanford to only 8 on the Bruins. Hmm.
So no, it wasn't a redemptive watching experience following the Coronary in Corvallis.
Player of the match, no doubt - Jahansouz in goal. Several times the Bruins got in behind the defense after the initial foray. In the 70th minute, a UCLA corner went to a completely unmarked Gabi Matulich at the far corner of the six-yard box, and she hammered a header just under the bar. Jahansouz tipped it over. She also stopped another ball when a Bruin got in behind and tried a redirect one-touch, and several times had to fearlessly dive for a loose ball in the box or to tip one away.
All in all, it felt a little more deserved than the win against OSU, but also almost as fortunate a result.
$C is going to be a tussle - they are fast and physical, and Stanford really doesn't like playing against teams that pressure them and prevent them from knocking the ball around, which is definitely what the Toejams do and what UCLA did for portions of their game. But it will be the game for the Pac-12 championship, I think. 3:00 pm Sunday on the network.
VG