The match ended in a 1-1 draw. Check the comment section below for my live comments of the match.
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No.20 California Golden Bears (13-5-2, 6-4-0) at No.3 Stanford Cardinal (16-2-0, 10-0-0)
When: 6 pm PT
Where: Cagan Stadium, Stanford, CA
TV: Pac-12 Bay Area
Announcing Team: J.B. Long and Krista Blunk
In case you missed it (else where on the CGB front page), check out my Q&A with Pac-12 Networks' J.B. Long who has covered plenty of Pac-12 Women's Soccer and shared his insights with us.
Plenty of pride and NCAA tournament seeding are at stake tonight between the California Golden Bears and those Stanford Cardinal. The Bears will look to spoil Stanford's perfect Pac-12 record and their Senior Night.
Despite the better record, it is fair to say that the Golden Bears and their South Bay neighbor are fairly even in talent. The Golden Bears have the likely Pac-12 Player of the Year in Arielle Ship. Besides Ship (who has been named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week twice), seniors Celeste Boureille and Samantha Witteman have also both won the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honor. Defensively, the solid backline of the Bears consisting of two former Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honoree in Sandra Ley and Indigo Gibson, as well as USWNT U-20 team member Annia Mejia. Cal sophomore goalie Emily Boyd has been named Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week twice this year and has 11 clean sheets so far on the year, tied for the program lead.
DYK: Arielle Ship leads the Pac-12 in goals (14), points (34) & game-winning goals (6) and is second in assists (6)! pic.twitter.com/4aW7rPi9HI
— Cal Women's Soccer (@CalWomensSoccer) November 4, 2015
Bears typically run a 4-3-3 formation but have also done 4-4-2 on a few occasions to start the match. Bears have won 7 of their last 9 matches.
Stanford, of course, are also very good, a program that has been buoyed by two straight year of insanely good classes. You can read J.B. Long's answers to see just how highly regarded he thinks of that team. Stanford are playing for a chance to host all NCAA matches before the College Cup, so I don't expect them to rest their players before the NCAA tournament.
Stanford have lost to Penn State and Santa Clara (on September 20th). They can use a nice reminder of what it's like to lose a match.
On Monday, November 9th, the Bears and the Cardinal will find out their NCAA path to the College Cup (the NCAA Soccer's Final Four) when the Division 1 Women's Soccer Selection Show is streamed online at 1:30 PM PT.
Bears have a fine 7-1-0 record at home (which means their road/neutral site record is 6-4-2), so home matches will be welcomed. The outcome of this match will surely affect Monday's bracket.
GO BEARS!