Recap: No. 1 Stanford Women’s Soccer powers past Cal Poly in NCAA tourney opener
On Friday, November 14th, No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer defeated Cal Poly in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Cagan Stadium by a final score of 3-1. Jessie Halladay (0:49) scored the lone goal for Cal Poly while Shae Harvey (6:19), Joelle Jung (36:10), and Charlotte Kohler (45:47) scored for the Cardinal. Caroline Birkel was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal with three saves and one goal allowed while Shannon Porubski was the losing goalkeeper for the Mustangs with seven saves and three goals allowed.
BOX SCORE: Cal Poly at Stanford-November 14th
“Yeah, started slow and then had a good performance and you know, happy to get a result,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. “I think it was a team, a good team effort.”
Cal Poly came out strong as Jessie Halladay found the top left of the goal within the first minute of the match at 0:49. Madelyn Dougherty was credited with the assist. Up 1-0, the Mustangs had sent a message to the Cardinal.
Stanford would quickly respond with a corner kick at 1:14, which led to a shot by Shae Harvey, which was off target. Soon, Stanford would even things up at 6:19 as Harvey found the top left of the goal off her right foot. That tied things up 1-1.
Stanford would continue to apply the pressure, getting five more corner kicks at 13:19, 21:38, 25:29, 32:24, and then 33:28. After a foul against Stanford’s Allie Montoya, Cal Poly would get a free kick, which led to a shot by Lauren Collier that would be off target. Stanford soon thereafter would hit pay dirt again at 36:10 as Joelle Jung found the top right of the goal off her left foot thanks to an assist from Andrea Kitahata. It was now a 2-1 lead for the Cardinal.
“Yeah, so ‘Dre was penetrating and I opened wide and she played it to me and there was acres of space in front of me,” Jung said of her goal. “So I just took it and the goalie was a bit off her line, so I just hit it, smashed it in, and kind of went slow, but it was a floater and those are hard for the keeper.
“It was awesome. It was good for momentum. I feel like our team really needed that at that moment. Obviously Cal Poly, they’re playing for the end of their season. So that was just awesome.”
“Yeah, critical to change the momentum because they had a lot of momentum starting with their early goal,” Ratcliffe said of Jung’s goal. “And yeah, so I think that was it. Joel came in as a sub for us and she’s just come back from injury. So it’s great to have her back on the field. I thought she was really impactful when she played tonight.”
For the rest of the half, Stanford would get two more corner kicks while Cal Poly got a yellow card. 2-1 would be the score entering halftime.
Early on in the second half, Jasmine Aikey fired a shot to the bottom left of the goal that was saved by Porubski. However, Charlotte Kohler rebounded the shot for the Cardinal and found the bottom left of the goal off an assist from Aikey. Up 3-1 at the 45:47 mark, Stanford was eager to extend their lead even more.
“Yeah, once again, we needed that goal too to create a little separation,” Ratcliffe said of Kohler’s goal. “And yeah, we could have played a little bit better. I think we could have scored another goal or two because we created some good opportunities, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get it across the line, but credit to them, I thought they were very resilient and played exceptionally well and made it a hard game.”
“Charlotte’s amazing,” Jung said of Kohler. “She’s just like a spark of energy. She’s so good defensively, but also offensively and I think that’s like something incredible for our team. She’s really sneaky in there and her shots are amazing.”
Stanford would only get two more corner kicks the rest of the half, outshooting Cal Poly 11-7 in the half in total. They would not find another goal, but to their credit, their defense did not allow Cal Poly to get within one goal as they got the second half shutout. 3-1 would be the final score as Stanford came out on top with the win.
Overall, this is a good win for Stanford. The NCAA tournament is all about survive and advance. Style points no longer matter. It’s just about whether or not get the win. In that vein, this was a good win. They advanced. That’s all that matters.
At the same time, this match should serve as a wake up call. You can’t expect to win any match if you get down 1-0. Especially as quickly as Stanford did. They need to use this match as a learning opportunity to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“Well, I think Cal Poly scored on us early and hopefully that woke the team up a little bit,” Ratcliffe said. “That you have to compete and it’s single elimination. So I think you could see people rise up a little bit and then we were more, the tempo increased and we started going after them.
“No, you do need a wake up call. I think you get complacency sets in a little bit. I thought we were a little complacent in how we started for a playoff game. But yeah, I told the team that you have to learn from it. It’s a journey and you have to learn from each game and grow from each game and I think tonight we learn that you have to compete at a high level when it’s a single elimination game. I mean, they had a good team and they fought really hard and they were really united.”
Speaking of lighting a fire, earlier in the season, Stanford was not included in the NCAA committee’s initial top 16 reveal. Ever since, they’ve really gone on an impressive run. It sounds like that might have ended up being a blessing in disguise, serving as fuel for additional motivation.
“Obviously we talked about,” Jung said. “Disappointed. We obviously didn’t think that was true, but we didn’t need that to motivate us. We’re here to win and yeah, we’re gonna win it.”
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Alabama on Friday, November 21st. That is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN+. UCLA and BYU will play each other before at Cagan Stadium with a start time of 4:00 PM PT. There’s a chance that match causes Stanford’s match to start later. Something to be aware of. The winner of those two matches will play on Monday, November 24th.
“Keep growing as a group,” Ratcliffe said looking ahead. “I think we need to keep sharp, stay healthy, take care of your body, and we’ll keep training obviously at a high intensity and be ready for another competitive game.”
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: [email protected]
