[Hieronymus]

1732925645[/url]']
Great win for the Card!!!

Having watched Stanford lose at Notre Dame a few weeks ago, the game in which Jasmine Aikey was injured, I gave them no chance to win today's game, notwithstanding the fact that it was at home.  I thought they lacked sufficient athleticism, a feeling that was exacerbated in seeing that most of the starters on ND seemed 5'10" or more.  But Stanford was aggressive and poised throughout and they scored two nice header goals.  Most of Stanford's players simply looked better than the baseline that I had established for them in my mind.

Earlier this year someone on this site suggested Stanford a top-20ish team and I thought that was spot-on.  And here they are heading to the College Cup.  Fantastic!

---

P.S. I retract everything I wrote about Paul Ratcliffe in a prior post.

Best game maybe since Emri got hurt. Definitely their best since Aikey went down.

I will give them a lot of credit for adapting to the injuries, and playing good soccer to counter better athletes. That is unusual in college soccer - usually better athletes and depth win out. As examples, that was the best Klinger has looked at CF and Harvey has steadily improved at RM. Finishing chances goes a long way as well.

The bench is really thin right now, and key players are logging a lot of minutes. Fortunately, the schedule has been a bit stretched out making depth less critical.

I misjudged a bit too. I knew the ACC was really good this year, but I didn’t realize it was this good. It skewed my perceptions on the team’s chances, though again some lights have come on as the tournament has progressed as well.

[Hieronymus]

1732925645[/url]']
Great win for the Card!!!

Having watched Stanford lose at Notre Dame a few weeks ago, the game in which Jasmine Aikey was injured, I gave them no chance to win today's game, notwithstanding the fact that it was at home.  I thought they lacked sufficient athleticism, a feeling that was exacerbated in seeing that most of the starters on ND seemed 5'10" or more.  But Stanford was aggressive and poised throughout and they scored two nice header goals.  Most of Stanford's players simply looked better than the baseline that I had established for them in my mind.

Earlier this year someone on this site suggested Stanford a top-20ish team and I thought that was spot-on.  And here they are heading to the College Cup.  Fantastic!

---

P.S. I retract everything I wrote about Paul Ratcliffe in a prior post.

Best game maybe since Emri got hurt. Definitely their best since Aikey went down.

I will give them a lot of credit for adapting to the injuries, and playing good soccer to counter better athletes. That is unusual in college soccer - usually better athletes and depth win out. As examples, that was the best Klinger has looked at CF and Harvey has steadily improved at RM. Finishing chances goes a long way as well.

The bench is really thin right now, and key players are logging a lot of minutes. Fortunately, the schedule has been a bit stretched out making depth less critical.

I misjudged a bit too. I knew the ACC was really good this year, but I didn’t realize it was this good. It skewed my perceptions on the team’s chances, though again some lights have come on as the tournament has progressed as well.