Recap: #3 Stanford WSOC blows by #16 South Carolina in NCAA tourney
On Friday, #3 Stanford women’s soccer defeated #16 South Carolina 3-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Stanford redshirt sophomore forward Andrea Kitahata scored two goals for the Cardinal at 17:10 and 62:49 while fifth-year midfielder Maya Doms scored at 65:55. Senior Ryan Campbell was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal, giving up zero goals. Stanford advances to face #18 Mississippi State in the Round of 16.
BOX SCORE: South Carolina at Stanford-Friday, November 17th
“Great night, good team win,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. “Scored three nice goals, really proud of the group overall. But very good performance tonight.”
Both teams traded fouls early as Stanford as called for a foul at 3:35 while South Carolina was called for a foul at 10:48. Soon, South Carolina would pick up a yellow card at 13:13. Shortly after that, Stanford got three straight corner kicks at 13:58, 14:59, and 16:29. Stanford’s aggression paid off with a goal at 17:10 courtesy of Kitahata, who found the bottom left goal off her right foot. Jasmine Aikey and Maya Doms got credited with the assist. 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“It was a great ball in,” Kitahata said of her first goal. “Just lucky to get a little tap on it. All I had to do was redirect it so really all credit to the assist and the team just really came out tonight so it was awesome.”
Stanford would get corner kicks at 18:23, 32:22, and 41:47 while also firing shots at 22:36 and 40:45 that were saved by South Carolina goalkeeper Heather Hinz. Stanford was hoping to tack on a second goal before halftime, but instead it remained 1-0 at halftime.
In the second half, it took Stanford a bit of time to find their groove, but once they did, they put the Gamecocks away for good. Stanford’s first corner kick of the second half came at 56:02 and their second came at 62:10. Off that second corner kick, Kitahata scored her second goal of the night at 62:49 as she found the bottom right of the goal off her left foot. It was now a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“Second goal, I mean same thing, Elise was fighting in the box and I was screaming at her to just get something on it,” Kitahata said. “And it ended up just popping out. Right in the perfect spot and I was able to put it away. So just really awesome to get two goals tonight. But really a testament to the team’s mentality.”
That second goal lit a fire in the Cardinal as they soon added their third and final goal of the night at 65:55 as Doms found the bottom left of the goal off her right foot courtesy of an assist from Andrea Kitahata and Maryn Wolf. 3-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“The whole second half we just had a ton of momentum,” Doms said. “And I think Dre’s goal sparked that momentum and then we just kept going after them after that and I just saw the opportunity to hit it one time and hit the side netting. It was pretty sick…It’s super special [to score a goal in the NCAA tournament]. I think that’s maybe my first or second goal in the NCAA tournament. Just because my freshman year, I think I maybe scored one and then the past few years we lost pretty early in the cup playoffs. So, a pretty special moment. Hoping to do it again.”
“Whenever you score a goal, confidence levels go up,” Ratcliffe said. “And we talk about when you score can you score again and put pressure again, so I think they did a good job of capitalizing. When they get momentum, they really capitalize again. So, it’s just confidence levels being very high.”
In the end, 3-0 would be the final score as Stanford came out victorious. Stanford had three more corner kicks at 69:19, 80:29, and 87:51, but couldn’t find the net for a fourth time. Fortunately, style points don’t matter at this point and a win is a win. On a rainy night, that’s all that matters.
“Yeah, I was telling the team what a great night to play soccer,” Ratcliffe said of the weather. “A little bit of rain, the pitch is fast, great atmosphere, looked like a lot of fans here. So I thought it was a really fun night at Cagan and I love playing in this kind of weather. I thought it was exciting for the team.”
On great teams, there’s a different hero every night and for Stanford it was Kitahata. She was fantastic in this one. She scored two goals plus got an assist. She couldn’t have asked for a better night.
“Yeah, Andrea’s been good all year,” Ratcliffe said of Kitahata. “She’s having a fantastic season. So happy that she was able to get a brace [two goals] tonight. And she’s been working hard in training and I’m not surprised to see her get a couple goals because she’s been training really well.”
While this win feels good for Stanford, it’s a quick turnaround from Friday to Sunday. It’s all about recovering and getting as ready as possible for the next match. It’s what makes tournament time so exciting and challenging at the same time.
“Recovery is key right now,” Ratcliffe said. “And then we need to make sure we use the full squad. Everyone’s available, ready to go. It’ll be a team effort on Sunday. We gotta be ready for another good test.”
“Yeah, I mean we’re celebrating tonight, we’re taking it in,” Kitahata added. “Because it was a good win against a tough opponent. But, we’re really getting back after it tomorrow. We got training and eyes set on Mississippi State on Sunday. Lot of recovery tomorrow. So, really just prepping to move forward because we haven’t achieved our goals yet even though it was an awesome win. But, we’re pushing forward towards the college cup and that natty.”
Stanford’s match against Mississippi State will be on Sunday at 1:00 PM PT on ESPN+ and KZSU radio.
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