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Women's Soccer Game of the Week preview: Oregon State at Stanford

by Kevin Danna
Oct 8, 2015
StanfordPhoto.com / Oregon State Athletics

Who: Oregon State at No. 6 Stanford

When: Thursday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks with JB Long and Krista Blunk on the call.

The second installment of the Pac-12 Networks' Women’s Soccer Game of the Week provides a battle of extremes on The Farm, where Stanford, the highest scoring team in conference play, meets Oregon State, the team that has the lowest goals against average overall in the Pac-12.

The Story So Far: Oregon State (5-3-3, 1-2-0 Pac-12)

The Beavers could lose every match 5-0 from here on out and still have a better goal differential and overall much better year than they did in 2014. A wildly inexperienced Oregon State squad that featured 15 freshmen (13 of them true freshmen) went winless last year, finishing the 2014 campaign with a 0-17-3 record and result-less 0-11-0 mark in conference play.

But those freshmen who stuck around became sophomores, and the growing pains from 2014 helped Oregon State roar out of the 2015 gates with a 4-1-3 nonconference mark, losing only to No. 8 BYU by a goal. The results Oregon State secured in pre-Pac-12 play weren’t cheapies, either. Oregon State opened the season with a win at Portland, a perennial national power (granted, the Pilots are struggling this year). It then spent the whole month of September on the road and went 1-1-3 against non-Pac-12 schools, drawing at Missouri (No. 31 in RPI), winning at Kansas (No. 67 RPI) and drawing at Texas, a top-60 RPI team that UCLA lost to at home earlier in the season.

And while the Beavers lost their first two conference games, the one-goal defeats showed improvement over the 2.5 goal per game deficit they lost by on average in 2014. Oregon State responded to a 1-0 loss at home against Utah (it honestly could have been 2-0 or 3-0) last weekend by upending Colorado, which beat a ranked Cal team the weekend before, 2-0. By every measure conceivable, head coach Linus Rhode has the 2015 Beavers in much better shape, and if they keep this up, a postseason berth isn’t out of the question.

The Story So Far: No. 6 Stanford (9-2-0, 3-0-0 Pac-12)

A lot has been made so far this year about how level the playing field is in the Pac-12 with the Oregon schools taking positive strides and two-time defending conference champ UCLA struggling out of the gates. That said, a traditional power is still on top of the heap. Three matches into the Pac-12 season, Stanford is the only undefeated team in conference play, winning all of its contests on the road by dispatching of Utah and the Arizona schools. Now Stanford plays six of its final eight matches at home and has set itself up to take the conference crown back from the Bruins.

But that doesn’t mean it has been a walk in the park for Paul Ratcliffe’s group. Stanford trailed at Utah an hour into the match and led 2-1 until the 86th minute before tacking on a couple of insurance goals. The Cardinal didn’t take the lead at Arizona State until the 74th minute. In its last game, Stanford again trailed and didn’t tally the game-winner until the second overtime period.

However, trailing in games has never been an issue with Paul Ratcliffe-coached teams. Two things Stanford teams have played with under Ratcliffe are poise and flair. Getting its demeanor from the head coach, Stanford doesn’t panic after conceding a goal; it almost seems to play better when the fire gets lit underneath it a tad. And when Stanford finds its rhythm, it’s a pleasure to watch the Cardinal play the beautiful game.

Three Players to Watch: Oregon State

  1. #0 Bella Geist (Goalkeeper, Sophomore) – There’s no better way to learn than on-the-job training, and Geist received plenty of that in 2014 when she stopped 126 shots (second most all-time in a single season at Oregon State). The sophomore seems like a grizzled veteran now, boasting a 0.58 GAA and .870 save percentage while already posting five shutouts in 2015, besting the number of clean sheets she registered in 2014 by two. Geist was a major reason why the Beavers only lost by one goal to Utah, stopping one shot at point-blank range in the second half.
  2. #17 Allison Pantuso (Defender, Freshman) – She might be a defender, but Pantuso is not afraid to push up into the attack and tops all Beavs with three goals (two of the golden variety). She hasn’t scored since notching the overtime winner at Kansas more than a month ago, but she is still certainly someone the Cardinal needs to keep tabs on. She is very adept with the ball at her feet not just in providing a final touch, but in holding possession for team as well.
  3. #13 Greta Espinoza (Defender, Junior) – The junior from Tijuana brings some major credentials with her to Laird Q. Cagan Stadium Thursday night, as Espinoza played on the Mexican National Team at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup last summer and entered this season with 13 caps with the full national side. So far this year, Espinoza has one goal from her centerback position.

Three Players to Watch: Stanford

  1. #5 Michelle Xiao (Midfielder, Freshman) – The 2015 Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year has been nothing short of electrifying in her first year of collegiate soccer, making tantalizing runs and whizzing past defenders with the ball at her feet. Xiao is tied for second on the team with three goals but first on the team in “wow” plays.
  2. #1 Jane Campbell (Goalkeeper, Junior) – She might not have quite as good of numbers as her opposite Geist this year, but Campbell has quite the résumé. The first high school-aged player to be called on to the full national team for the US since Amy Rodriguez in 2005, Campbell posted 14 clean sheets in 2014 and had a shutout streak that lasted longer than 800 minutes. Oh, and she also scored the game-winning penalty kick to send Stanford to the College Cup last year. Not bad.
  3. #17 Andi Sullivan (Midfielder, Sophomore) – The No. 1 recruit in the class of 2014 lived up to her billing as a freshman when she was named National Freshman of the Year by TopDrawerSoccer and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. So far, so good for Sullivan in 2015, as she leads the team with four goals and 10 points and is the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week and TopDrawerSoccer Player of the Week after scoring a goal apiece against the Arizona schools (her one against Arizona was especially impressive).

Three Notes to Know

  1. Looking to set a precedent – The series history is not good for Oregon State, which has never earned a result of any kind at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium in nine matches. The recent history isn’t good either, as the Beavers lost 7-0 in their last trip to The Farm.
  2. Coach of the Century – It was announced earlier this week that Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe was named Women’s Soccer Coach of the Century, as decided by a panel of voters. In his 13th season on The Farm, Ratcliffe has a record of 223-47-24 and has more wins than any other coach in Stanford men’s or women’s soccer history. He led the Cardinal to its first ever national championship in 2011.
  3. Goal Explosion in Corvallis – The major reason why Oregon State went winless last year was because it could hardly score, finding the back of the net an NCAA-worst four times all year (once on an own goal) and only twice in conference play. A little more than halfway through the season, the Beavers have already tripled their 2014 offensive output by scoring 12 goals so far this year and have scored thrice in conference play.

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