It’s been less than a week since the Stanford women’s soccer team set a record for the longest conference win streak in Pac-12 history, but the milestones keep on coming.
The No. 1 Cardinal (11-0-1, 3-0 Pac-12) can earn head coach Paul Ratcliffe his 200th career win tonight against USC before Stanford faces No. 2 UCLA in its toughest test of the season, where a win would make Stanford the only team to beat the Bruins three years in a row in the program’s 18-year history. To top it all off, the Cardinal looks to extend its 52-game regular-season unbeaten streak and its perfect stretch of 41 consecutive home victories, not to mention the 23 straight conference wins it has compiled over the last two and a half seasons.
“You know, honestly, I don’t even think about the streaks,” Ratcliffe said. “I’m thinking game-to-game and how I can make the team play to the best of its abilities and try to win each game. That’s how far ahead I think.”
In a tightly matched Pac-12, Stanford simply can’t afford to get ahead of itself, as the squad nearly learned the hard way last weekend. After destroying Arizona 7-0 to start conference play, the Pac-12 favorite Cardinal was almost upended — not once but twice — against a pair of middle-of-the-pack Washington schools. In each case, Stanford failed to score before the 85th minute and needed a late tally to come away with a win.
Midfielder Teresa Noyola, a recent nominee for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award who got the Cardinal its win over Washington with her header goal in sudden-death overtime, believes that the team needs to improve its execution after last weekend’s close calls.
“We definitely had chances in those games,” she said. “I think it’s just a matter of getting the timing right with our runs, penetrating more into dangerous areas and being even more efficient with our attack.”
Stanford will need all the offense it can get against a UCLA team that ranks second in the conference (behind only the Cardinal) in every major defensive statistical category. The squads have nearly identical goals-against averages, .326 for the Cardinal and .356 for the Bruins; both teams rank in the top 20 nationally in that regard, as well as for shutout and save percentages.
Behind it all are two young goaltenders — sophomore Emily Oliver for Stanford and freshman Katelyn Rowland for UCLA — who have each allowed three or fewer goals in over 750 minutes of playing time. Oliver does have a year as a starter under her belt, though much like her Stanford counterpart, Rowland racked up extensive experience as a member of U.S. National Teams as a teenager.
The Cardinal has scored nearly twice as many goals as the Bruins have, but for a Stanford group which — apart from the blowout against Arizona — hasn’t won by more than two tallies in over a month, facing a dominant goaltender will be all the more difficult. Those challenges are only exacerbated by the continued absence of junior forward Courtney Verloo, who is still out with a left meniscus tear suffered before the season. While Ratcliffe admitted that Verloo’s recovery got off to a slow start, he is still hoping that she can return to game action this season.
Given these obstacles, the Cardinal can’t afford to overlook its opponent tonight. USC may not sport Stanford’s elite record, but the Trojans have been competitive in six straight games — many times, against tough opponents — only to lose each by a single goal. If the offensive struggles continue, the storylines could look much the same tonight as they did last weekend.
“It’s tough; we’re playing hard opponents, and the hardest part of the game is scoring goals,” Ratcliffe said. “So we’re going to have to be a little bit sharper…hopefully we’ll get some early goals against both USC and UCLA, and that will really help our confidence.”
Stanford hopes to get Ratcliffe to 200 wins tonight at 7 p.m. against USC before the powerhouse Bruins roll into town for a 1 p.m. Sunday matchup that could be a significant challenge to the Cardinal’s impressive home, conference and regular-season win streaks.