"It's a knife when" you join the ACC, have to fly cross country for incredibly tough games, and are the only non-North Carolina team in the College Cup. It's a knife going from being elite in the Pac-12 to still being elite but in the ACC, where the conversation is mostly on a few non-elite teams since the top of the table is so strong. Stanford has a point to prove, and the Cardinal wants to make that point without simply remixing last season's College Cup experience.
Recaps: Tournament, Season, Wake Forest
Battled tested by the NCAA tournament is a fair assessment of how difficult it's been for Stanford to get back to this point. After an opening round 5-0 demolition of UC Santa Barbara, Stanford ran into difficulty defeating UConn. It was a come-from-behind 2-1 win that saw the Cardinal score two goals after the 85th minute to complete the comeback. To prove their grit, Stanford took Arkansas to double overtime and then penalties, where goalkeeper Haley Craig became a legend with two saves and a converted PK herself. The 2-0 win against Notre Dame in the quarterfinals might have been the easiest game since the opening round. The best part of the Cardinal's journey through the tournament is that they've won in every possible scenario, meaning they're ready for however the semifinal match goes.
On the whole, it was an impressive regular season for Stanford. It took eight games for Stanford to collect their first loss, and the Cardinal bounced back the next game. They had 10 shutouts in regular season play and are up to 12 in NCAA tournament play. There is the slight matter of the two-game skid to end the regular season. Notre Dame shut out the Cardinal, who ultimately had the last laugh by shutting out the Fighting Irish in the NCAA tournament. They followed that loss up with a 3-2 loss to California and missed out on the ACC tournament. But that two-game skid and missing the tournament means slightly fewer games played for Stanford ... maybe it evens out the cross-country travel.
The Cardinal have scored 35 goals and limited their opponents to 17, which seems significantly less when you look at the numbers that Duke and UNC put up. The Cardinal are fine scoring just one, but they'd prefer two goals. A stingy defense helps to make the fireworks from a dangerous but not necessarily prolific offense appear even more spectacular. The Cardinal tends to take about three times more shots than their opponents, and their level of intensity is reflected in both their corner kick and foul numbers. And, despite all the noise about Stanford having to travel, the Cardinal have an almost identical home and away record. They're 7-2-1 at home and 8-2-1 away. Consistent.
Stanford and Wake Forest have already met once this season (thank you, move to the ACC!) It ended in a 1-0 Wake Forest win, while Stanford was ranked No. 1 at the time. Granted, it was a different Cardinal team at the time, and mid-September might as well have been last year for how much things change. It was, however, the first loss of the season for Stanford and the first time the Cardinal had been shut out. The Demon Deacons also won the statistical battle, leading on shots, shots on goal, and corner kicks. Stanford did have a 3:1 advantage in committing fouls. What Stanford should take from the performance is that Wake Forest led in all categories but still only won by a goal. The margins are so, so thin.
Tactics and Storylines
The storyline is two-fold: making it back to the College Cup and making it back as an ACC team. The Cardinal are the only one of the four semi-finalists to make the return trip, punching their ticket through arguably the hardest quadrant on the bracket. This is a Stanford team that fell just short of winning it all last year, so they are well aware of what it takes to get to a final. Heartbreak isn't a competition, but its telling that Stanford has made it all the way back to the College Cup (and that all four programs in general have something to prove.) The Cardinal might be doing it as an ACC team instead of as the PAC-12, but the experience will be mostly the same, though this time they've played their opponents in the regular season as well.
Tactically, Stanford and Wake Forest are well matched. The Cardinal are the definition of bend but don't break and they'll patiently wait out an opposing teams attack before scoring against the run of play. And don't mistake the patience for being pushovers. Stanford plays with grit. That mental grit and physical presences has helped to push Stanford to this position where the Cardinal are rarely down and never out. As the stakes get higher and higher, Stanford plays better and better soccer. They haven't hit their ceiling yet, and they might not with (potentially) two games yet to play.
Deep-seated belief isn't enough to win a national title, but the Cardinal also have a brick wall in net that plays with the same edge the team does. Haley Craig and the defense can absorb pressure before out-letting wide where speedy attackers change the game's momentum in an instant. It's the movement from building to the back to building out wide that allows Stanford to generate chances. One-third of their shots are going to generate a corner kick, which in turn generates more chances.
The unique ability to spin the game is probably Stanford's greatest strength. Anyone who watched the Notre Dame game would say that the Fighting Irish were in control. But it felt like Stanford was just waiting, baiting Notre Dame into showcasing what they could do before the Cardinal's demolition crew got to work. It's a dance that so often the opposition thinks they're leading, until Stanford puts the ball in the back of the net.
Press Notes
Unique to Stanford:
"I think, probably, team spirit is the most important thing for me. I think this team, they really care about each other, they all have bonded together. A lot of our wins, like playing at Arkansas against a big crowd showed the character of this team and how together they are. Same with the game against Notre Dame and UConn, scoring in the last couple minutes to win that game."
"I think team spirit and determination are probably the most important things right now, for our squad. And couldn't be more proud of them and the character they're showing to get us back to this College Cup."
Travel/Road Warriors (Kip Coons, Press Box View)
"I think we are adapting to the new landscape of traveling across the country and being a part of the ACC. Full credit to my team, I think they've done an extraordinary job."
"We're trying to become road warriors! It's going to be an interesting college cup in that there are three local teams and we're the one team from across the other side of the country."
"Stanford has been great about facilitating really good travel for us and accommodating us and helping us."
Development Path (Anne Peterson, Associated Press):
"For me, I'm an advocate for opportunities for my student-athletes. If I can help them develop and get opportunities in the NWSL, it's fantastic, that's what I want. I want to see them playing hopefully for the USWNT in the future."
"I'm an advocate for education and I want them to get their degree. My hope is they take the time to get their degree and then go on to play, if they aspire to, play professional women's soccer. I do think the education is really important, it's something I will always stand true to. At Stanford it's very important. The student-athletes we attract at Stanford, they want both, they don't want to just be a soccer player, I do think they want the highest level of academics."
If Charli XCX wrote Brat about the struggles of being a mid-major pop star (and then re-released Brat to be about the struggles of making it to the top of that particular pyramid), there's an easy connection to Stanford. The Cardinal aren't a mid-major, they're soccer royalty. But the headlines this year seem to have forgotten last year's runner ups, reducing them to good, but not great, just another talented ACC team. Stanford left it all on the field last year and left empty handed. That cannot be a reality for them this year and the cohesion and identity the team has demonstrated as the stakes raise prove that. The success of Brat is partially because Charli XCX languished long enough in that twilight zone to write something to propel her out. Stanford, similarly, wants to make that kind of statement.
Comments