On Monday, December 4th, (2) Stanford women’s soccer fell to (1) Florida State in the College Cup Final by a final score of 5-1. Stanford was coming off an amazing 2-0 victory over BYU in the semifinals but wasn’t able to keep the magic going against a Florida State team that proved to just be the better team.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Florida State-Monday, December 4th
VIDEO: Stanford Postgame Press Conference | Florida State
“So, a tough end to a fantastic season,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. “I thought the team had an amazing year. Today was obviously disappointing. A tough end, but full credit to Florida State. They’re a very good team, their mentality was strong, and they took their chances when they got chances. So, full credit to them, but take nothing away from our team. We had an amazing year and really proud of all the players.”
The match started off tight as neither team scored for the first 25 minutes. Stanford got an early corner kick at 3:52 but wasn’t able to score off of that chance. Florida State had corner kicks at 6:49, 7:14, and 11:55, but likewise was not able to score off those chances, either.
It continued to be a back and forth scoreless affair until Jordynn Dudley of Florida State drew a penalty kick opportunity at 28:27. Dudley drained the penalty kick, getting it past Stanford goalkeeper Ryan Campbell. The Seminoles now had a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute after, Florida State scored again as Jody Brown scored at the 28:53 mark off an assist from Onyi Echegini and Taylor Huff. It was now a 2-0 lead for the Seminoles. Florida State would fire a couple more shots and also get a corner kick at 39:48 before halftime, but it remained 2-0 at halftime.
Early on in the second half, Maya Doms scored for the Cardinal at 51:01 off an assist from Andrea Kitahata and Jasmine Aikey. It was now 2-1 and suddenly a match. At least for a short while.
“Someone played Jazz the ball and she took a really good touch around a defender,” Doms recalled of her goal. “She saw that she was coming out, she played it to Dre and I saw someone coming this way so I cut to the right and found the corner.”
I need to emphasize short while because at 52:28 and 55:42, Florida State had corner kicks, immediately putting pressure on Stanford. At 57:45, Beata Olsson found the back of the net for the Seminoles off an assist from Amelia Van Zanten and Jordynn Dudley. Then, Brown scored her second goal of the match at 60:59 off an assist from Olsson. It was now 4-1 Florida State lead as they had all the control.
“We got caught in transition a bit,” Campbell said. “They were so fast; they were ready to go. All credit to them. They just came out quick and capitalized on every opportunity. We got caught a little bit in transition, but still proud of the effort we had all year and I think we just have to hold our heads high.”
Florida State would tack on one more goal at 83:57 as Echegini found the back of the net off an assist from Olsson. 5-1 would end up being the final score as neither team scored after that.
For Florida State, they showed why they were the best team in the nation all season long. All they needed was a little spark and as soon as they got some daylight, they were off to the races. They came in with the top offense in the nation while Stanford came in with the best defense. On this day at least, offense trumped defense. Hats off to them for an amazing season.
As for Stanford, they should hold their heads high. This was their only loss of the season and they got back to the College Cup for the first time since 2019. They got all the way to the national championship match and ended up going down to the best team in the nation. No shame in that.
“I’m so proud of this team for not giving up the whole time,” Doms said. “I don’t think it showed that we gave up, but even though we got scored on so many times, we never gave up and we have no shame and yeah, I’m just proud because after they scored every goal, we were just like it doesn’t matter how this game ends, we gave it our all and yeah, credit to Florida State for winning the national championship.”
Given the pieces they have coming back next year and the incoming talent they have, the Cardinal should be well positioned to make another deep run in the tournament and perhaps go all the way. It’ll be fun to see how they do next season and what kind of adjustments Ratcliffe makes to what should be a national title contending team.
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook & X (Twitter): @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, & X (Twitter): @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
