Tenth ranked Stanford Cardinals (6-2-0) scored twice in the second half to defeat eleventh ranked Santa Clara Broncos (3-3-2) on Sunday afternoon on the last weekend of non-conference play in Bay Area NCAA women’s soccer.
A sold-out crowd watched the past two previous NCAA Women’s soccer champions duke it out.
Santa Clara started brightly against the home Cardinals with Izzy D’Aquila scoring two minutes into the game.
Nine minutes before the break Stanford tied up the game. Andrea Kitahata sprung Katie Duong through the Broncos defense and she nutmegged Kylie Foutch to even the score at one goal a piece.
Stanford had the better of the play in the second half and had their breakthrough goal from Amy Sayer in the 75th minute. Maya Doms iced the game nine minutes later with a blast from outside the box to claim an impressive victory.
“The team scored three excellent goals and played with grit and determination,” said Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe after the game. “This result is a great way to build momentum for the start of conference play.”
Last weekend Santa Clara was supposed to play Cal but the game was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns and Stanford defeated Loyola Marymount 3-0. Belle Briede scored twice, and Amy Sayer added one more. Their next game is on Thursday versus USF.
Stanford starts Pac-12 play versus Utah on Friday.
Cal split games against SoCal opponents
After having their game against Santa Clara called off, UC Berkeley (4-1-2) split a pair of games in Southern California.
Last Thursday Cal outshot UC Irvine 14-4 but was unable to score. The game went into overtime and the Anteaters’ Julia Gonzalez scored the winning goal in the 104th minute.
On Sunday Cal traveled to Long Beach and claimed a 2-0 victory. Karlie Lema and Ari Manrique scored in the second half. Cal stats league play on Saturday versus Colorado.
USF traveled to Texas for final non-confrence games
After defeating Portland state 3-0 at home, the University of San Francisco (3-3-2) traveled to Texas to take on SMU and Baylor.
On Thursday USF took on 24th seed Southern Methodist University. Jasmine Vilgrain scored for SMU early in the first half and despite ten shots from the visitors in the second half were able to claim the 1-0 victory.
USF tied Baylor on Sunday in a game shortened to 70 minutes because of extreme heat. USF’s Sydney Cooper opened up the scoring in the first half and Baylor’s Mackenzie Anthony tied the game in the second half.
“I thought we did a good job overall as a team, we battled as long as we can… It was extremely hot out there and once it gets past a certain index, we have a responsibility to call it,” explained USF coach Jim Millinder. “We tried to get it to 70 minutes so it counted as an official game, which was a good thing we did.”
Saint Mary’s finish off successful star of season
The Gaels (6-1-2) look ready for WCC conference play. They first defeated CSU Bakersfield 2-0, behind goals from Suzuna Shibukawa and Taylour Mendoza.
Last Thursday Shibukawa scored her fifth goal of the season, but Saint Mary’s lost to UC Davis 2-1.
Shibukawa struck again on Sunday to lead her team to a 3-0 victory over Nevada. The Gaels AnnaMarie DiGeronimo scored in the second minute and Carly Hittenmiller also netted a goal.
SJ State loses to Pacfic, Cal Poly
A young San Jose State (3-5-0) team defeated LMU 1-0, but then lost to Cal Poly 5-0 and Pacific 2-0.
The Spartans will face off against Air Force on Friday and Colorado College on Sunday.
