On Sunday afternoon, No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer won 7-0 (14-0-1), knocking the No. 15 Colorado Buffaloes from its undefeated season and continuing its own 37-game unbeaten streak. Now, the remaining unbeaten teams in the nation are just Stanford and Georgetown.
The sold-out stadium gathered for Stanford’s last home game of the season to honor its senior players, including Averie Collins, Alana Cook, Jordan DiBiasi, Tegan McGrady and Michelle Xiao. Shortly after the ceremony, it was just in the second minute that sophomore Civana Kuhlman shot a header off of freshman’s Abby Greubel’s well-placed corner kick.
The rest of the half was mostly in Colorado’s part of the field, with Stanford putting on unrelenting offensive pressure. Eventually a foul in the box by Colorado gave way to a penalty kick for Stanford. Jordan DiBiasi, one of the seniors honored earlier, took the kick, neatly placing the goal into the lower left corner for Stanford’s second goal.
In the 29th minute, junior Beattie Goad maneuvered her way into the box and passed it onto sophomore forward Catarina Macario for a quick turn and finish into the net. Just five minutes later, sophomore Madison Haley led a one-two with fellow sophomore Kiki Pickett finishing the play. To finish the first half, junior Jaye Boissiere shot an unassisted long shot outside of the box, which deflected off the post and made it closely into the net. Stanford finished its half at 5-0.
In the 51st minute, Greubel, who assisted the first goal, made a clean shot of her own into the lower corner, assisted by DiBiasi. To finish off the game, Macario curled a shot into the far post, assisted by Haley and Greubel.
The scoring-heavy game was not without the efforts of the defensive end: Goalkeeper Alison Jahansouz brilliantly saved all shots that came her way, and defender Tegan McGrady was all over the incoming Colorado offense.
These efforts are the result of hard work: ”We’ve been working on our finishing and it really showed today,” said women’s soccer director Paul Ratcliffe. “It starts at the back for us, and our attacks feed off of our strength defensively. I’m proud of the way this team has improved as the season has gone along, and we’re looking forward to making another deep run.”
Stanford’s four remaining games in the season are all on the road, with the next on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Washington. All games will air on Pac-12 networks, and statistics can be found on GoStanford.com.
Contact Lilia Chang at lilia.chang ‘at’ stanford.edu.