Cal Women’s Soccer edged 1-0 by No.1 Stanford; NCAA field to be announced on Monday

QUICK RECAP:

Great effort by Cal senior goalkeeper Emily Boyd and the Cal defense was not enough as the Bears were still edged 1-0 by No.1 Stanford. Stanford dominated possessions and scoring chances all game long.

Boyd set a new career high by stopping 14 shots. She also needed her defenders on several occasions as well as the wooden frame of the goal. Stanford took 39 shots with 16 being on goal. The Bears were only able to get 4 shots with 3 on goal.

Unfortunately, Stanford broke through just before the half as their super freshman Catarina Macario found the far post.

Stanford looked very very good in this match and will be a serious national title contender. The Women’s College Cup will take place from Orlando, FL this year.

Golden Bears just did not have any offensive rhythm to build up to many chances. Going into the postseason, the Bears have now been shutout 1-0 in three straight matches. Of course, Bears’ opponents in all three of these matches in USC, UCLA, and Stanford are all ranked in the top 6 (USC and UCLA dropped a bit after losing to Stanford).

Bears will find out their NCAA tournament bracket when that is announce on Monday, November 6th. First round matches will take place next weekend.

GOAL ON YOU BEARS!

First of all, I am not sure why the Soccer rivalry between Cal and Stanford does not have a “Big” nickname. For the men, it’s a home-and-home with the name of “Bay Area Derby”. For the women, I don’t know why “Big Kick” is not the name for the annual match between the two programs.

Anyhow, with the Stanford Cardinal sweeping the LA schools last week (1-0 over UCLA, 3-1 over USC) to secure at least a tie for the Pac-12 title (but the automatic bid to the postseason), it is the Golden Bears who have more at stake tonight from The Farm. After a pair of 1-0 losses to USC and UCLA, the Bears want to go into the postseason on a high note. More importantly, the Bears would love to be one of the top 16 seeds. A win over the top ranked Stanford (in both human poll and RPI) may be enough for the No.22 Bears (23rd in RPI) to move into the top 16. Besides, plenty of bragging rights are always at stake between the two rivals. Bears are 1-2-1 in the last 4 meetings against the Cardinal. Surprisingly, the win and the draw came from the home of Stanford, Cagan Stadium AKA the site of tonight’s match.

Both the Bears and the Cardinal have great defenses. Cal’s D is led by senior goalkeeper Emily Boyd, whose 36 shutouts in her career is 3rd all time in Pac-12 history. Boyd has 10 clean sheets on the year, just 1 behind the Cal single season record of 11 set by her in each of the past two seasons. Stanford on the other hand has not conceded a goal at Cagan all year. With the graduation of Jane Campbell (now with the Houston Dash in NWSL when not trying to crack USWNT), Stanford have given equal time to Alison Jahansouz and Lauren Rood, each of whom has 7 shutouts.

Stanford has the top offense in the country with 3.83 goals per game and 24.8 shots per game. Freshman Catarina Macario leads them with 13 goals and 10 assists, which is borderline unbelievable counts. Junior Kyra Carusa has 12 goals. Part time USWNT teamer senior Andi Sullivan has only scored 1 goals and 6 assists for the loaded Cardinal squad. The Cal offense have scored 25 goals on the year, compared to the 69 for Stanford. Golden Bears are lead by sophomore Abi Kim in the forward spot. Kim has 7 goals on the year. Junior Miranda Nild has 6 goals. Freshman Luca Deza lead the team with 4 assists to go with 2 goals (good for 3rd).

Yes, Stanford will be a very tough test for the Bears, but given the rivalry game nature of this match, you cannot assume that the Bears won’t find a way to get this big W. Rachel Mercik’s OT golden goal from 2013 is in the video below.

Time for the Golden Bears to run their unbeaten streak at Cagan to 3 matches tonight.

No.22 California Golden Bears (13-4-1, 6-3-1 in Pac-12) at No.1 Stanford Cardinal (17-1, 10-0 in Pac-12)

Where: Cagan Stadium (Stanford, CA)

When: 7 pm PT

TV: Pac-12 Networks

GO BEARS!