Recap: Stanford Women’s Soccer falls to Florida State in College Cup Final
On Monday, Stanford women’s soccer fell to Florida State in the College Cup Final in Kansas City by a final score of 1-0. Florida State forward Wrianna Hudson scored the lone goal of the match at the 86:59 mark, giving Stanford only three minutes to answer, which they were unable to do. Florida State goalkeeper Kate Ockene had nine saves en route to getting the clean sheet while Stanford goalkeeper Caroline Birkel had two saves while giving up the one goal.
Florida State wins their fifth national championship in program history while Stanford is still searching for their fourth. Stanford came into the match ranked No. 1 in the nation while Florida State was ranked No. 6. After the match, the United Soccer Coaches Poll ranked Florida State No. 1 and Stanford No. 2.
BOX SCORE: Florida State vs. Stanford-Monday, December 8th
“Just a tough end to an incredible season,” Stanford head coach Paul Racliffe said after the match. “I thought the team was fantastic all year, the way they came together, the way they played, and yeah, it was an amazing year and just so disappointing to end with a tough loss like this.”
Known for getting off to a quick start and scoring goals early, Stanford was hoping to strike early again in this match, firing their first shot at the 19th second as Stanford striker Jasmine Aikey had a shot saved by Ockene. Eleanor Klinger would fire a shot for Stanford that was saved by Ockene at 5:23 and then Andrea Kitahata followed suit at 6:29.
Stanford maintained an 11-4 advantage in shots and a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks at halftime, forcing Ockene to come up with seven saves. The fact that it was still scoreless at halftime gave Florida State some hope. They had done a great job of withstanding the early onslaught of shots and chances that Stanford was creating for themselves. The lone yellow card of the half was called on Stanford defender Sophie Murdock at 33:45.
In the second half, Stanford started to slow down as they outshot Florida State 7-4 while both teams were tied 2-2 in saves. As for corner kicks, Florida State held a 3-2 advantage in that department. While Stanford clearly dominated the first half, the second half was much more even, opening the door for Florida State to pull out the win. Stanford is so used to being far ahead early in matches that when it’s tight late in matches, they’re in unfamiliar waters. That can make things hard and Florida State ultimately would capitalize on that unfamiliarity.
Right before Florida State scored, Jordynn Dudley along with the entire Florida State team got a yellow card at 84:32. At 86:12, Florida State got a corner kick and then right after at 86:59, Hudson found the back of the net for the Seminoles thanks to an assist from Taylor Suarez and Janet Okeke.
With so little time left, Stanford was unable to even things up to force overtime. 1-0 Florida State pulled it out to win the national championship while Stanford fell short in the College Cup for the third straight year.
For Stanford, this is obviously a stinging loss. To reach the College Cup three years in a row and come up short each time just hurts. Especially when you had so many seniors like Jasmine Aikey, Allie Montoya, Elise Evans, and Andrea Kitahata who have given it their all to the program. Kitahata actually in her fifth year as a redshirt senior. When you return that kind of production after having made back-to-back College Cup appearances, the expectation is that the third time will be the charm.
At the same time, Stanford still has to feel proud of their achievement of reaching three straight College Cup appearances and reaching the final twice (2023 & 2025) during that run. It’s been an amazing run.
“Yeah, I’m, first just want to say, I’m so grateful for all the girls that I’ve gotten to play with here,” Kitahata said, looking back on her time at Stanford. “They’ve made me a better player in person and that’s a big reason why I’ve decided to stay for as long as I have and being able to make it to three college cups. Unfortunate that we haven’t been able to finish the deal, but I think that’s something to be very proud of and especially this season, something to be very proud of. Making it all the way here and collecting two trophies along the way. So I’m just, I’m really grateful for my time here and you know, stayed for these girls and I’m so grateful for them.”
“Yeah, I would say the same,” Aikey echoed. “All the players on the team, the coaches know that this season or the past few seasons haven’t been easy for me, but they’ve always been there for me, supporting me, kicking me in the butt when I need it, and I’m just so grateful to have such amazing people around me and I’ll always be grateful that I’ve been a Stanford women’s soccer player.”
Looking ahead to next year, the Cardinal will have some important shoes to fill due to all the seniors that are moving on. At the same time, they have a ton of talented players coming in as freshmen and also returning. They’re always well stocked at talent and with their goalkeeper Caroline Birkel only being a freshman, the future is very bright for the program.
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