After an early-season draw at Maryland, little has gone wrong for the No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer team, which has recorded 16 straight wins, posted a cumulative score of 49-6 and won a third consecutive conference title since that scoreless tie back in late August. But despite being in prime position for yet another run deep into the NCAA Tournament, the Cardinal (18-0-1, 10-0-0 Pac-12) still has one more item on its agenda this weekend: the annual rivalry matchup with No. 23 California.

The Bears (12-5-2, 5-3-2) would love to play spoiler on Senior Night at Cagan Stadium and hand the senior class of midfielder Teresa Noyola, forward Lindsay Taylor, defender Camille Levin and midfielder Kristy Zurmuhlen just their second regular-season loss in four years on the Farm. Cal can also move up from fifth to fourth in the Pac-12 standings with a win and a Washington State loss to close the season.

To best the Bears, Stanford can’t be content with what it’s already accomplished this season, a trap the Cardinal seemed to be falling into at Oregon last Sunday after clinching the Pac-12 just two days beforehand. But after expressing disappointment in the energy level after a 2-0 win over the Ducks, head coach Paul Ratcliffe has noticed a marked improvement this week.

“Practice has been excellent,” Ratcliffe said. “The team’s training hard and they’re doing well.”

On paper, the squad shouldn’t have much trouble beating Cal if the Cardinal is at its best. Stanford’s top five scorers — Taylor (16 goals), Noyola (8), freshman forward Chioma Ubogagu (8), junior forward Marjani Hing-Glover (6) and sophomore forward Sydney Payne (5) — have netted more goals combined than Cal (41) this season, and Cardinal goalkeepers have allowed half as many tallies as the Bears have.
Of course, the rivalry factor can always make a difference, but Stanford is approaching this showdown as business as usual.

“It’s always fun getting up for a rivalry game,” Hing-Glover said. “It’s great when you can have good competition and stuff, but I don’t think we’re going to do anything differently. It’ll be another great game in front of a great crowd, and we’re looking forward to it.”

After facing Cal, the Cardinal will have about a week to prepare for its first postseason match, likely at home — barring a loss to the Bears and a sudden drop in the rankings, Stanford should be able to secure home-field advantage through the first four rounds of the tournament for the fourth straight year. (The Cardinal also played exclusively at home in the 2007 postseason before falling in the third round to Connecticut.)
Stanford may not lose very often, but being confronted with the reality of sudden death in the tournament doesn’t change Ratcliffe’s mindset.

“For me, it’s always about performance,” he said. “I want to play to the best of our ability and enjoy it, so I hope they go out there excited for the games and get after it.”

For now, though, the squad still has its sights set on Cal and looks to receive continued contributions from a senior contingent that has scored eight goals over the last four games.

“It’s kind of a bittersweet day because it’s the last regular-season game for the seniors,” Ratcliffe said. “So I hope we send them off with a great memory, beating our rival.”

Both teams will close out the regular season at 7 p.m. at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium in front of what has already been announced as sellout, the fourth packed house for the Cardinal this year.