Recap: Stanford Women’s Soccer ranked No. 1 after defeating Notre Dame to win ACC tourney
On Sunday, Stanford women’s soccer defeated Notre Dame 2-2 (5-4 PK) to win the ACC tournament in Cary, North Carolina. Stanford senior midfielder Jasmine Aikey and senior forward Allie Montoya both scored for the Cardinal while Notre Dame sophomore infielder Izzy Engle and junior midfielder/forward Charlie Codd both scored for the Irish. Stanford freshman goalkeeper Caroline Birkel was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal playing all 110 minutes with six saves and two goals allowed while Notre Dame sophomore Sonoma Kasica was the losing goalkeeper for the Irish playing all 110 minutes with three saves and two goals allowed.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Notre Dame- Sunday, November 9th
“Yeah, amazing accomplishment for the team to win the regular season and then win the ACC tournament as well,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. “Such a strong conference from the bottom to the top is truly a remarkable accomplishment. I couldn’t be more proud of the team. Every single one of them. The character they showed was truly remarkable, so well deserved.”
Within the first 22 minutes, seven fouls were called, making it a physical match at the start. Lizzie Boamah picked up a yellow card as well for Stanford at the 1:59 mark, less than two minutes into the match. At 22:58, Notre Dame would get a corner kick and then at 24:27, Stanford would get a corner kick. At 24:33, Notre Dame would get a yellow card as Laney Matriano picked it up.
Soon thereafter, Stanford scored at 28:22 as Montoya scored a goal off an assist from Aikey. That gave Stanford a 1-0 lead. Both teams would swap corner kicks once more while Lily Freer picked up a yellow card for Stanford. 1-0 would remain the score going into halftime.
“Yeah, it was a big boost to the team as you could see,” Ratcliffe said of Montoya’s return to the lineup. “Especially the second game of the weekend. Yeah, Allie is one of our star players, senior leader for this team, and she came in and scored an incredible goal and I think you could see the level of the team go up when she came on the field because everyone knows she’s incredible. So I couldn’t be more happy for Allie that she was able to come back from her injury and play a major role in this ACC championship game.”
Stanford quickly scored to open the second half at 46:24 as Aikey scored off an assist from Charlotte Kohler. Up 2-0, Stanford was looking good. Notre Dame needed to find a way to get back in the match.
“Yeah, I received at top of the box and I just thought, you know, I need to take my shots,” Aikey recalled of her goal. “I need to really just do what I can for the team and I’ve been doing pretty well with my left foot recently, so I just trusted in myself and bent it in. So not really, wasn’t really thinking much else.”
After four more fouls, three of which were called against Stanford, Notre Dame would get a corner kick at 58:31 and another corner kick at 64:58. At 68:08, Notre Dame got their first goal of the match as Engle found the back of the net off an assist from Ellie Hodsden. It was now a 2-1 match.
Stanford would then get a corner kick at 70:35 after which Notre Dame got a corner kick at 73:59. At 74:35, Notre Dame tied it up at 2-2 as Codd scored a goal off an assist from Matriano and Annabelle Chukwu. From there, neither team would score, sending the match into overtime after both teams swapped corner kicks. Notre Dame also got a team yellow card at the 89:07 mark, right before the second half ended.
The way overtime works in college soccer is two 10-minute halves and no golden goal, which means the entire 20 minutes is played even if somebody scores before the time is up. It allows a team to tie it up if they get down. Notre Dame had two shots in the first overtime period while Stanford had one. Abby Mills also got a yellow card for Notre Dame.
In the second overtime period, Montoya, Aikey, and Andrea Kitahata each had one shot for Stanford, but couldn’t get one to drop. Montoya and Aikey’s shots resulted in a save. As for Notre Dame, Chukwu fired a shot that was saved while Tessa Knapp had a shot go out left. 2-2 it remained tied after the second overtime. From there, the match went into a penalty shootout of which Stanford won 5-4. Charlotte Kohler made the game-winning penalty kick for the Cardinal.
“Yeah, the team showed amazing determination,” Ratcliffe said. “It’s hard when momentum changes likes that. We had momentum in the first half. Played very well and then the second half they scored their first goal. I think the momentum changed on us and it was hard and they really had to show their character and stay locked in and we turned it a bit in the overtime periods, I thought we had some real momentum and could have got the winner, then ultimately went to PKs and Caroline Birkel came up big, all of our penalty kick takers did an incredible job, so very happy to be the champions.”
For Stanford, this was a huge win. Winning the ACC tournament after winning the regular season ACC title sends a strong message to the conference and the rest of the nation. Notre Dame was the No. 1 team in the nation at the time while Stanford was No. 2. Now its flipped as Stanford has taken over the No. 1 spot.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously soccer is such a low scoring game, you really can’t predict what’s gonna happen, but I think this is really just affirming all the work that the team has put in, the staff has put in into the tactics we put forth,” Aikey said. “Like, our mentality and I think that was just a really great reward for us and it showed that we’re moving in the right direction and that we’re gonna carry that over into the NCAA tournament.”
Of course, at the end of the day what matters is winning the NCAA tournament and that’s what Stanford has up next. Their opening round match will be on Friday at home against Cal Poly at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN+. Stanford is a No. 1 seed and will get homefield advantage through the quarterfinals with the College Cup semifinals and final being played in Kansas City.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re tough and we can win it anywhere,” Aikey said. “Whether it’s on the West Coast or the East Coast, middle of the country, we’re ready and we’re prepared and we’re gonna come out and we’re gonna come out and we’re gonna give our all, and that’s really all you can ask for and we know in our locker room that we’re gonna give everything on the day and that’s what we did today.”
“Well, I think the main thing is that this should build our confidence that we have the ability, we have the mentality, we have the players to win a championship,” Ratcliffe said. “So I hope we can continue to stay together and work hard, continue to grow and compete for the big trophy now.
“So, that’s gonna be our objective, but yeah, I think this is gonna kind of bring everyone together as a group even more than they already are and I hope it’ll propel us forward and we can continue to get better. But we need to win each game, we’re gonna have to earn each victory as we get into the NCAA tournament and they know that. It’s an experienced team and they’re very, they have a really good mentality right now and a good, good leadership group that’s pushing forward in this team.”
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