On Friday December 6th at 2:00 PM PT on ESPNU, Stanford women’s soccer will face Wake Forest in the College Cup semifinal. For those that are more familiar with college basketball, think of this as the Final Four.
To get to this point, Stanford had to defeat UC Santa Barbara, UConn, Arkansas, and most recently Notre Dame. The win over Notre Dame was on Black Friday at home by a final score of 2-0. Stanford scored one goal in each half. Shae Harvey scored at 24:32 off an assist from Andrea Kitahata and then Kitahata scored one herself at 49:12 off an assist from Mia Bhuta. Stanford goalkeeper Haley Craig had four saves for the match, all in the first half. Stanford also had a team save in the first half as well.
“Hey this was our goal starting July 29th,” Kitahata said of getting back to the College Cup. “We knew that this was the day marked on the calendar and to finally see it come to fruition is so incredible and each one of these girls is such an amazing team. Really no surprises. I mean, it’s such an incredible group.”
BOX SCORE: Notre Dame at Stanford-Friday, November 29th
Notre Dame victory: What made the win over Notre Dame so impressive for Stanford was the way they staved off the Irish’ offensive attack and preserved the shut out. For the match, Notre Dame out shot them 17-13 and in the first half, Notre Dame out shot Stanford 12-4. Notre Dame also won the corner kick battle 6-1 with two corner kicks in the first half and four in the second half. Stanford’s lone corner kick came in the second half.
“Yeah, incredible battle,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said of the win over the Irish. “Very impressed with the team. We scored two incredible goals. One off a set play and one off a great cross. So couldn’t be more pleased with the result.”
Despite Notre Dame creating more chances and in many ways having the better offensive attack, Stanford still was able to pull out the win and get the goals that they needed. This win over the Irish is a testament to the Cardinal’s toughness and resiliency.
“I think we did a better job dealing with their transition,” Ratcliffe said of what they did better against Notre Dame the second time around. “Very quick transition. I thought we did a better job of dealing with that and obviously playing at home makes a big deal. When you’re on the road it can be challenging. But full credit to Notre Dame, they’re an incredible team and it was a very hard match for us.”
“Yeah, our team is peaking,” Kitahata added. “We had a really good season, but we had tests, really hard battles, and we came out the other side and I think we’re really starting to peak in postseason now, we’re a tournament team, and obviously being at our home makes it a lot easier, so having our home crowd, home fans, it’s an incredible feeling to be here.”
On Wake Forest: If Stanford is going to want to advance to the College Cup final, they’re going to have to show that same type of grit and determination to beat Wake Forest. Back in September, they fell to Wake Forest 1-0 on the road. It was Stanford’s first match of ACC play, so it’s been a while since these two teams saw each other.
“Yeah, the ACC is tough,” Kitahata said. “And you can see it in who made it far in the tournament. I think six out of the elite eight teams were ACC and Notre Dame is an amazing side. Took a loss to them earlier in the season and made it hungrier for us coming out to today. But, they’re an amazing side so they made the win all the more better.”
In that match, Wake Forest scored in the first half as Emily Colton found the back of the net at 29:58 off an assist from Caiya Hanks and Kristin Johnson. Wake Forest outshot Stanford 14-11 for the match and had a +4 advantage in corner kicks (6-2). As for saves, Stanford had five while Wake Forest had four. So, it was a pretty close match statistically as well. But given that Wake Forest had the edge in corners and shots, it’s not a surprise that they were able to pull it out.
Keys to defeating Wake Forest: If Stanford is going to want to get even with Wake Forest today, they’re going to have to make sure they’re at least playing them close to even in shots and corner kicks. The Notre Dame match on Black Friday was a reminder that you can win a match even without winning in those two statistical areas, but even so. You don’t want your opponents getting more shots and corner kicks than you.
Prediction: Soccer matches are really hard to predict. I’ll go out on a bit of a limb and pick Stanford to defeat Wake Forest by a final score of 2-1. It should be a fierce match.
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