USC’s home field advantage did not keep No. 3 Stanford women’s soccer (11-1-2) from dominating the match on Sunday against the Trojans, winning 1-0. With the way the contest played out, USC would have needed more than a Trojan horse to defeat the Cardinal on McAlister Field in Los Angeles.
The Women of Troy have recently reformed their coaching staff, which is now under head coach Keidane McAlpone, who coached at Washington State last year. While they have had some notable results, including wins versus Notre Dame and Utah—the two teams that Stanford has tied—that was not enough to best the mighty Cardinal, who have been strengthening communication and building on team dynamics. It was the Card’s 11th shutout of the season against the Pac-12’s highest scoring team.
The close score was not at all indicative of the game, as the teams were clearly unevenly matched. Although the Cardinal only scored once, Stanford’s offense dominated the match by creating multiple opportunities to score with 20 attempted shots. The Cardinal defense held the Trojans to without a shot until the 66th minute. USC’s goalkeeper Caroline Stanley had to scramble to make six saves, whereas the Trojans only had two shots on goal, both of which could not make it past Stanford’s sophomore goalkeeper Jane Campbell, who defended the net seemingly without effort.
The game began with the Cardinal going strong and showing absolutely no mercy. Within the first ten minutes of the first quarter, Stanford already had two shots on goals by freshman midfielder Andi Sullivan and senior forward Chioma Ubogagu. Although both were blocked, Stanford was just getting started, looking to score at least one point in the first half.
The single goal of the game was scored in the first half. In the 24th minute, senior midfielder Hannah Farr scored her first goal of the season, and first career goal, assisted by Ubogagu. After the goal, the Card continued to dominate possession of the ball. The pressure from the offensive attacks forced the Trojans to make multiple last-minute substitutions, but by then there was no time left for the Trojans to make up lost ground.
Check out this goal by @PrittaTwitta : http://t.co/DRaUaccZei
— Stanford Soccer (@StanfordWSoccer) October 13, 2014
The victory over the Trojans confirms that the Cardinal are continuing their strong play and learning from the mistakes of their 2-1 loss to No. 1 UCLA that occurred on Thursday.
The Cardinal will come home and host Colorado at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 16th.
Contact Elizabeth Trinh at entrinh ‘at’ stanford.edu.