Stanford women’s soccer is about to begin their 2023 season, with their first match happening later this month. The Cardinal are defending Pac-12 champions after a season in which they went 17-2-3 and ranked #11 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25 poll. Below is a breakdown of their schedule.
GoStanford.com: 2023 Stanford Women's Soccer Schedule
The Cardinal will play a home exhibition on Friday, August 11th at 6:00 PM PT against Pacific before beginning their regular season.
The Cardinal will then begin regular season play in Southern California with road matches at San Diego on Thursday, August 17th and at UC Irvine on Sunday, August 20th. San Diego went 2-12-5 last season while UC Irvine went 11-6-7 overall. Irvine projects to be the more difficult opponent, though the Cardinal will be favored in both matches.
After their So Cal trip, the Cardinal will come back to play three home matches against San Francisco (Thursday, August 24th), Saint Mary’s (Sunday, August 27th), and Duke (Saturday, September 2nd). San Francisco went 8-5-6 last season, Saint Mary’s went 5-6-7, and Duke went 15-5-3. Duke obviously is the toughest opponent of the three, ranked #4 in the preseason Top 25. The Cardinal getting almost a week to prepare for Duke will be nice.
Following their match against Duke, Stanford will head back east for road matches at VCU (Thursday, September 7th) and Georgetown (Sunday, September 10th). VCU went 8-3-8 last season while Georgetown went 15-2-5 and is ranked #16 in the preseason Top 25. That should be a solid test for the Cardinal. A road sweep would definitely feel good.
After their road trip back East, the Cardinal will close out non-conference play with a home match against Santa Clara on Sunday, September 17th. The Broncos went 11-7-3 overall last season and are ranked #19 in the preseason Top 25.
Stanford’s first Pac-12 match will be on Friday, September 22nd at Washington State. The Cougars are coming off a season in which they went 8-7-4 overall, finishing in a three-way tie for 9th in the conference.
Stanford will then have a two-match homestand against Arizona and Arizona State. Up first will be Arizona State on Thursday, September 28th after which they’ll face Arizona on Sunday, October 1st. The Wildcats and Sun Devils finished tied for 5th place in the conference last season. Arizona State going 9-6-3 overall while Arizona went 8-7-3.
Stanford will then hit the road to the Rockies to face Colorado on Thursday, October 5th and Utah on Sunday, October 8th. Utah is the stronger of the two teams, finishing 8th in the Pac-12 last season with a 6-7-6 overall record while Colorado finished in a three-way tie for 9th place with an 8-7-5 overall record.
After their road trip to the Rockies, Stanford will come back home for a homestand against Washington on Saturday, October 14th, Oregon State on Thursday, October 19th, and Oregon on Sunday, October 22nd. Washington finished 7th in the Pac-12 last season with a 10-6-3 overall record. Oregon State finished last with a 5-10-4 overall record, winning only one match in conference play. Oregon finished in a three-way tie for 9th place with a 4-8-7 overall record.
The Cardinal will then hit the road again to face the So Cal schools. They’ll face USC on Thursday, October 26th and UCLA on Sunday, October 29th. UCLA finished second in the Pac-12 last season and won the national championship, so they’re a force to be reckoned with again. They are ranked #1 in the preseason Top 25. As for USC, they finished third in the Pac-12 last season and are ranked #22 in the preseason Top 25.
Finally, the Cardinal will close things out at home against Cal on Friday, November 3rd. Cal has a solid team, finishing 4th in the Pac-12 last season with a 10-5-6 overall record. That will be a legitimate test for Stanford to close out their regular season.
Overall, Stanford projects to have a strong season. They’re coming off a Pac-12 title and should be in the mix to win a national championship. They have a non-conference slate that should prepare them well for Pac-12 play.
Touching quickly on personnel, midfielder Jasmine Aikey and forward Lumi Kostmayer are both coming off excellent freshman seasons in which they led the team with 23 points (10 goals) each. Senior forward Samantha Williams had a strong season of her own with 20 points (7 goals).
In the net, senior goalkeeper Ryan Campbell will look to bring stout defense, finishing with a 16-2-3 record and 56 saves (83.6%). Junior goalkeeper Haley Craig picked up a win in the net last season in five matches played while freshman Alyssa Savig should provide additional depth as well.
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