Bay Area and Washington schools clash in Pac-12 women's soccer

Oct 20, 2015

• Four of the top five teams in the Pac-12 standings will meet this weekend in Washington. STANFORD put its 6-0 Pac-12 record to the test against WASHINGTON STATE on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. CALIFORNIA and its five-game winning streak heads to Seattle and face WASHINGTON at 4 p.m. PT on Friday. On Sunday, the Bears and the Cougars will square off at 1 p.m. PT while the Cardinal and the Cougars compete at 5 p.m. PT. All games will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.

• Four Pac-12 teams are ranked in the NSCAA poll this week. Stanford remained at the No. 4 spot and California climbed nine spots to No. 14. USC jumped back in to the top 25 and sits at No. 24. Washington State fell to No. 25. ARIZONA and Washington also received votes.

• After four weeks of Conference matches, the Pac-12 has six teams in the top-28 and seven teams in the top-63 in the NCAA's latest RPI rankings. Stanford is tops for the Conference at No. 10, Arizona sits at No. 12, California is 17th, Washington State is 24th, USC is 26th, Washington is 28th and Oregon State occupies the 63rd spot.

• California's Samantha Witteman took home Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honor while her teammate Indigo Gibson was voted Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Arizona's Lainey Burdett was tabbed Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week.

• Defense has been stout among the league's members in the 2015 season. Four Pac-12 teams rank in the top 50 in the country in goals against average (GAA) with California leading the way. The Bears have allowed just 10 goals in 16 games for a .602 GAA, good for No. 21 in the country. Stanford (No. 24, .634 GAA), USC (No. 30, .657 GAA) and Washington (No. 44, .769 GAA) join Stanford in the top 50.

• Individually, Emily Boyd of California has the best GAA in the Pac-12 at .547, a mark that ranks 18th nationally. Sammy Jo Prudhomme of USC (No. 29, .657 GAA), Megan Kufeld of Washington (No. 39, .705 GAA), Stanford's Jane Campbell (No. 40, .706 GAA) and Colorado's Kate Scheele (No. 48, .749 GAA) all rank in the top 50 nationally in the category as well.

• The Pac-12's leading point scorer, Arielle Ship of California, is 28th in the country in points per game at 1.63. She has tallied 11 goals and four assists on the year. With 26 total points, she sits at No. 20 in the country (goals worth two points, assists worth one point).

• Gabi Stoian of Arizona leads the league in assists with seven on the year. That total is tied for 30th in the country.

• National recognition continues to pour in for student-athletes from the Conference. Witteman, Gibson (honorable mention) and Oregon State forward Nikki Faris were named to the TopDrawerSoccer DI Team of the Week.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded standings)

Teams	Points	Pac-12 Record	Overall Record
Stanford	18	6-0	12-2
USC	15	5-1	10-4-1
California	12	4-2	11-3-2
Washington State	12	4-2	11-3
Washington	10	3-2-1	10-3-2
Arizona	9	3-3	9-4-1
UCLA	7	2-3-1	6-7-1
Oregon State	6	2-4	6-5-3
Utah	6	2-4	5-7-3
Colorado	4	1-4-1	7-6-2
Arizona State	4	1-4-1	5-7-1
Oregon	3	1-5	4-10

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (Times local to site)

Thursday, Oct. 22	TV/Live Stream	Time
#4 STANFORD at #25 WASHINGTON STATE	PAC12	7 p.m. PT
Friday, Oct. 23
UTAH at #24 USC		2 p.m. PT
#14 CALIFORNIA at WASHINGTON	PAC12/PACBA/PACWA	4 p.m. PT
COLORADO at UCLA	PACMT	6 p.m. PT
OREGON STATE at ARIZONA STATE	Live Stream	7 p.m. PT
OREGON at ARIZONA	Live Stream	7 p.m. PT
Sunday, Oct. 25
COLORADO at #24 USC	PAC12/PACLA	11 a.m. PT
OREGON at ARIZONA STATE	PACOR	11 a.m. PT
#14 CALIFORNIA at #25 WASHINGTON STATE	PACBA/PACWA	1 p.m. PT
OREGON STATE at ARIZONA	Live Stream	1 p.m. PT
UTAH at UCLA	PACMT	1 p.m. PT
#4 STANFORD at WASHINGTON	PAC12/PACBA/PACWA	5 p.m. PT

PAC12/PACAZ/PACBA/PACLA/PACMT/PACOR/PACWA - Indicates live broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.

• The Pac-12 All-Century Women's Soccer team was announced by the Pac-12 Networks on Oct. 5. Twenty-four players (seven forwards, six midfielders, four goalies) were chosen from a field of 63 players nominated by Pac-12 institutions. Former Stanford Cardinal and three-time Olympic medalist Julie Foudy was named the Pac-12 Women’s Soccer Player of the Century. Current Cardinal head coach Paul Ratcliffe was also chosen as the Pac-12 Women’s Soccer Coach of the Century. To see the full team, click here.

• COMPLETE CAMPAIGN: Pac-12 students are known for their success on the field, but they are also impressive, complete people with outside interests, diverse backgrounds, extracurricular activities, interesting families, busy schedules, and full lives.

California - Elliott Gentile was able to give back to her community in a big way over the summer. Gentile, who has dealt with multiple knee injuries in her career, had an interesting time being involved in a program with her physical therapist that brought Japanese students to the United States to learn about sports medicine, specifically ACL repairs. Gentile served as the “human subject” that the students were able to observe and ask questions about as the Golden Bear continued to rehab from her injuries. In-between being evaluated, Gentile was able to banter with the students about the Women’s World Cup that was taking place as the group bonded over cheering on their respective national teams in the final between the United States and Japan. The USA won, 5-2.

• ARIZONA STATE's Cali Farquharson and Stanford's Laura Liedle were two of 30 NCAA women's soccer student-athletes selected as candidates for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award®, announced on Sept. 3.

• Twenty-eight players from around the country have been marked as potential contenders for the 2015 Missouri Athletic Club’s (MAC) Hermann Trophy. The MAC Hermann Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer presented annually to one male and one female athlete. The Pac-12 has three representatives on the list, Stanford senior Jane Campbell, the 2014 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in Stanford sophomore Andi Sullivan and UCLA senior Taylor Smith.

• For the fourth straight year, the countdown of Pac-12 Networks’ 850 live event telecasts will begin on the pitch with a 69-game women’s soccer schedule that also features 24 non-conference matchups. Of the 24 non-conference televised games, 12 matchups pit Pac-12 teams against 2014 NCAA Tournament qualifiers. Each Pac-12 team will appear on the Networks at least six times (home or away) in 2015.

PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THIS WEEK:
Offensive - Samantha Witteman, California
Defensive - Indigo Gibson, California
Goalkeeper - Lainey Burdett, Arizona

ALSO NOMINATED

Offensive: Jessica Nelson, ARIZ; Jessica Raybe, ASU; Nikki Faris, OSU; Michelle Xiao, STAN; Darian Jenkins, UCLA; Nicole Molen, USC; Pascale Dumensil, WASH.

Defensive: Sheaffer Skadsen, ARIZ; Greta Espinoza, OSU; Laura Liedle, STAN; Kayla Mills, USC.

Goalkeeper: Emily Boyd, CAL; Bella Geist, OSU; Jane Campbell, STAN; Sammy Jo Prudhomme, USC.

2015 PAC-12 WOMEN'S SOCCER PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

	Offensive	Defensive	Goalkeeper
Aug. 25	Gabi Stoian, ARIZ	Dominique Randle, USC	Lindsey Luke, UTAH
Sept. 1	Celeste Boureille, CAL	Gabbi Miranda, UCLA	Bella Geist, OSU
Sept. 8	Arielle Ship, CAL	Sandra Ley, CAL	Megan Kufeld, WASH
Sept. 15	Shannon Simon, WASH	Kayla Mills, USC	Emily Boyd, CAL
Sept. 22	Mandy Freeman, USC	Madison Tye, UCLA	Emily Boyd, CAL
Sept. 29	Emily Paxton, COLO	Sheaffer Skadsen, ARIZ	Arielle Schechtman, UCLA
Oct. 6	Andi Sullivan, STAN	McKenzie Karas, WASH	Lindsey Luke, UTAH
Oct. 13	Arielle Ship, CAL	Stephanie Amack, STAN	Ella Dederick, WSU
Oct. 20	Samantha Witteman, CAL	Indigo Gibson, CAL	Lainey Burdett, ARIZ