It was a rough day for the No. 7 Cardinal (13-4-1, 6-4-1 Pac-12) in Pullman, Wash., on Sunday as the women’s soccer team lost 1-0 to Washington State (13-3-3, 6-3-1), closing out their regular season road schedule in front of a crowd of 936.
The loss, which took place on the Cougars’ Senior Day, snapped Stanford’s 42-game road winning streak and eliminated any chance of winning the Pac-12. The Cardinal has been the Pac-12 champion for the past four years.
The game remained tied at zero through the first 58 minutes, when WSU junior Jocelyn Jeffers scored on a shot from the edge of the box that went just inside the right post.
Coming off a Friday night upset victory over No. 21 Cal, this is the first time since 2004 that WSU has beaten two nationally ranked teams in a row. It is also the first time that Stanford has fallen to the Cougars since 2003.
“It was a tough game,” said head coach Paul Ratcliffe after the game. “I give a lot of credit to Washington State. They fought really hard and scored a nice goal.”
With the loss, Stanford fell to third in the Pac-12, while Washington State took sole possession of second place. No. 2 UCLA, ranked first in the Pac-12, clinched the conference title Sunday with a 2-0 victory against Oregon.
The match against WSU was Stanford’s second road match in a row and followed a Thursday victory against University of Washington. WSU’s Lower Soccer Field has given the Cardinal trouble recently, resulting in close wins in overtime and the 86th minute in the Cardinal’s past two matches there. Sunday, despite outshooting the Cougars 13-12, Stanford could not convert.
Ratcliffe, however, doesn’t think the end of the team’s championship reign will have much affect on the women’s mindset going forward.
“I think we’re disappointed — we obviously always want to win the championship — but it’s not easy, it’s difficult to do, and we had a great run,” Ratcliffe said. “We’ve still got to keep getting better as a team, and hopefully we’ll have good luck in the playoffs.”
For now, Stanford will have to look ahead to its final regular season match against Cal on Wednesday, which will be Senior Night for the Card.
“I think we’ve got to play for the seniors — it’s their last regular season home game,” Radcliffe added. “So we’ve got to play for the seniors, and hopefully we can get them off with a victory.”
The match against Cal on Wednesday begins at 7:30 p.m. at Cagan Stadium.
Contact Fiona Noonan at fnoonan ‘at’ stanford.edu.