Breaking down the 2024 Stanford Women’s Soccer schedule
Stanford women’s soccer begins their 2024 season this month, fresh off a run to College Cup final where they lost to Florida State and went 20-1-4 overall and 8-0-3 in the Pac-12. Stanford is ranked #2 in the Preseason United Soccer Coaches Poll. Below is a breakdown of their schedule.
Via Stanford Athletics: 2024 Stanford Women’s Soccer schedule
Before their first regular season match, Stanford will have an exhibition at San Jose State on Friday, August 9th at 6:30 PM PT. This match will give Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe an opportunity to give different players a run and experiment a bit with his rotation.
Following the exhibition at San Jose State, Stanford will begin their regular season on the road at San Francisco on Thursday, August 15th at 6:00 PM PT. San Francisco went 6-9-3 overall last season and 3-4-1 in the WCC. On The Farm last season, Stanford smoked San Francisco 4-0. They’ll look to have another commanding win to start their season.
Stanford will then have their home opener on Sunday, August 18th against UC Irvine at 1:00 PM PT. Irvine went 10-8-6 overall and 3-3-4 in the WCC last season. Stanford defeated them 2-1 on the road last season. Irvine pulled off a huge upset in the NCAA tournament, defeating No. 1 UCLA 1-0 in the first round. They ended up losing to Nebraska in the third round/round of 16. Had they defeated Nebraska, they would have faced Stanford in the quarterfinals.
Stanford will then fly south to face San Diego State on the road on Thursday, August 22nd at 7:00 PM PT. San Diego State is coming off a season in which they won the Mountain West regular season crown with a 14-3-3 overall record and 9-1-1 record in league play. Unfortunately for them, they failed to reach the NCAA tournament as they did not win their conference tournament.
Stanford will stay in Southern California as they face Cal State Fullerton on the road on Sunday, August 25th at 2:00 PM PT. The Titans won the Big West regular season title last season going 8-5-7 overall and 6-1-3 in conference play. They ended up falling to UC Irvine 1-0 in the conference tournament semifinals, unable to reach the NCAA tournament.
Stanford will then come home to face Washington State on Sunday, September 1st at 1:00 PM PT. The Cougars went 9-6-4 overall and 2-5-4 in the Pac-12 last season. Stanford defeated them 1-0 on the road last season.
Stanford will stay in the Bay Area for their next match as they head to Moraga to face Saint Mary’s on Thursday, September 5th at 5:00 PM PT. Saint Mary’s went 10-5-3 overall and 4-3-1 in the WCC last season. Stanford defeated them 3-1, rather convincingly.
Stanford will return home to face USC on Sunday, September 8th at 1:00 PM PT. USC went 11-5-3 overall and 6-2-3 in the Pac-12 last season. When they faced last season at USC, the result was a 0-0 draw. USC fell to BYU in the second round of the NCAA tournament by a final score of 1-0.
Stanford will then hit the road to face Santa Clara on the road on Sunday, September 15th at 1:00 PM PT. Santa Clara is coming off a season in which they went 14-5-2 overall and 6-2 in the WCC. Stanford defeated Santa Clara 1-0 at home last season. Santa Clara fell to Penn State 2-0 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Following the match against Santa Clara, Stanford will begin ACC play with a road match at Wake Forest on Thursday, September 19th at 4:00 PM PT. Wake Forest is coming off a season in which they went 10-3-5 overall and 4-2-4 in the ACC, failing to make the NCAA tournament.
Stanford will then face NC State on the road on Sunday, September 22nd at 10:00 AM PT. NC State failed to make the NCAA tournament last season, going 3-9-6 overall and 2-5-3 in the ACC. Not a strong season at all.
Stanford will then come home to face Miami (FL) on Thursday, September 26th at 7:00 PM PT for their first home ACC match. The Hurricanes were terrible last season, going 3-10-4 overall and 2-7-1 in the ACC. Amazingly, they were not the worst team in the conference as both Boston College and Syracuse found a way to go winless in league play.
Stanford will then welcome Pittsburgh to The Farm on Sunday, September 29th at 1:00 PM PT. Pitt is coming off a strong season in which they went 17-6-1 and 6-3-1 in the ACC. They made a run to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament before falling to the eventual national champion Florida State Seminoles 3-0.
Following that two-match homestand, Stanford will go back out on the road to face SMU on Saturday, October 5th at 5:00 PM PT. SMU went 11-6-1 overall and 5-3-1 in the American Athletic Conference, failing to make the NCAA tournament. Along with Stanford and Cal, SMU is entering their first season in the ACC.
Stanford will then return home for a two-match home stand against Duke on Thursday, October 10th at 7:00 PM PT and North Carolina on Sunday, October 13th at 1:00 PM PT. Duke is coming off a season in which they went 6-7-3 overall and 2-5-3 in the ACC, failing to make the NCAA tournament. Duke did face Stanford early last season on the road, losing by a final score of 4-0. As for North Carolina, they went 13-2-8 overall and 5-0-5 in the ACC, falling to BYU in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
Stanford will then hit the road to face Louisville on Thursday, October 17th at 4:00 PM PT and Notre Dame on Sunday, October 20th at 11:00 AM PT. Louisville is coming off a season in which they went 4-9-5 overall and 3-5-2 in the ACC, failing to make the NCAA tournament. As for Notre Dame, they went 12-4-4 overall and 7-1-2 in the ACC before falling to Memphis in the second round of the NCAA tournament by a final score of 3-2.
After that road trip to face the Cardinals and Irish, Stanford will close out their regular season with a home match against Cal on Thursday, October 31st 7:00 PM PT. It will be a rivalry match under the lights on Halloween. That’s pretty cool. Stanford defeated Cal 4-0 on The Farm last season. Cal is coming off a season in which they went 7-6-6 overall and 4-3-4 in the Pac-12. Like their men’s counterparts, Cal did not make the NCAA tournament.
Stanford women’s soccer has a strong schedule. Lots of former NCAA tournament teams in league play and challenging matches. Closing out the regular season on Halloween against Cal will be fun as will hosting Duke and North Carolina. The North Carolina match might be a bit chippy as I’m sure some Stanford players are aware of what North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance said about wanting Stanford and Cal to “die on the vine” before they found a home in the ACC. So that will be interesting.
The only part about this schedule that bugs me is that Stanford will not be facing Florida State. Given that they faced off in the national championship match last season, I’m surprised the ACC didn’t figure a way to have the two of them face off for this season. They could have totally done that, too as the schedule would have had to reshuffle a bit to accommodate Cal, Stanford, and SMU.
Aside from that, I really like this schedule. While not a league match, facing Santa Clara is always fun and then facing a couple of former Pac-12 foes in USC and Washington State is nice as well. It should be another fun and exciting season of soccer at Cagan.
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