On Thursday, No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer defeated Arizona 6-0 at Cagan Stadium. Jasmine Aikey (6:10 & 59:28) and Charlotte Kohler (12:30 & 57:58) each had a brace for the Cardinal, finding the back of the net twice. Shae Harvey (16:36) scored her first goal of the season while Elise Evans (70:10) scored her second goal.
On Thursday, No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer defeated Arizona 6-0 at Cagan Stadium. Jasmine Aikey (6:10 & 59:28) and Charlotte Kohler (12:30 & 57:58) each had a brace for the Cardinal, finding the back of the net twice. Shae Harvey (16:36) scored her first goal of the season while Elise Evans (70:10) scored her second goal. Stanford goalkeepers Caroline Birkel (45:00), Kaiya Jota (25:10), and Alyssa Savig (19:50) collectively got the shut out with Birkel recording a save. Stanford improves to 5-0 on the season while Arizona falls to 3-1.
BOX SCORE: Arizona at Stanford-Thursday, August 28th
“Yeah, incredible performance by the team,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. “Played really good soccer, scored some fantastic goals against a really good Arizona team…Jazzy and Charlotte were on fire. I mean, the goals they’re scoring are unbelievable. Charlotte’s movements and then her quality finishing those chances. And Jazzy, I thought looked really really in form tonight. She was scoring goals and turning players and creating opportunities for others, so I thought she was really dynamic up front for us.”
“I mean, I’m just so happy,” Aikey said after the match. “We were firing on all cylinders. Everyone just played an amazing game all across the pitch from goalkeeper to forwards and I’m just really proud of how we’re able to move the ball and just have threats all over the field.”
Like they have all season long, Stanford came out with great energy with two corner kicks within the first 90 seconds of the match at 0:40 and 1:13. While neither led to goals, the Cardinal were setting the tone. Arizona would then get their lone corner kick of the match at 2:08, unable to score off that chance.
Shortly thereafter at 6:06, Aikey would find the top right of the goal off her right foot, making it a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal. In a blink of an eye, Stanford scored their second goal at 12:30 as Kohler found the bottom left of the goal off her right foot thanks to an assist from Allie Montoya. Up 2-0 and less than 13 minutes into the match, Stanford was looking good.
“No, Charlotte’s amazing,” Aikey said of Kohler. “You just know when she’s on the field she’s dangerous and I think that’s one of the things we were kind of lacking last year, having really multiple threats. Like, any one person could have an off game and four other people will score. So, that’s just something that I’m really happy with and proud of everyone in the offense.”
Stanford continued to apply the pressure, getting a corner kick at 15:48 before then scoring again at 16:36 as Shae Harvey found the top left of the goal off her left foot, making it a 3-0 lead. Her first goal of the season.
Stanford wouldn’t score the rest of the half, but they did get seven more corner kicks, making it a ridiculous 10 corner kicks at halftime. Arizona’s defense was nowhere to be seen as Stanford got whatever they wanted against them. Up 3-0 at halftime, it was now just a matter of whether or not Stanford could finish strong.
“Yeah, it’s zero-zero mentality and we got to keep playing,” Ratcliffe said of the message at the break. “We got to keep going. We don’t want to concede a goal in the second half. We want to keep pushing and keep working hard and keep getting better and create the right habits to move forward.”
Stanford continued to dominate in the second half with corner kicks at 48:57 and 53:24. At 57:58, Kohler scored her second goal of the match as she found the top right of the goal off her left foot thanks to an assist from Andrea Kitahata. That made it a 4-0 lead for the Cardinal. In a span of 90 seconds, Stanford would add yet another goal to their total at 59:28 as Aikey found her second goal of the night off an assist from Joelle Jung. This time to the top left of the goal.
“Yeah, I thought when we made changes to the lineup the level stayed the same or got better,” Ratcliffe said of their strong second half performance. “So I was really proud of everyone’s performance. I looked through the team and everyone played at the highest level possible. So I was really impressed with them.”
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve kind of been talking about it all week, just going after people,” Aikey said. “So that was my mindset. So then first 10 minutes, I wanted to get that shot off and got the opportunity. And then the second goal, I mean, that was an amazing ball played by Joelle. Didn’t really do much for that, so I was just really happy with how it all turned out.”
As if leading 5-0 wasn’t enough of a statement, after a corner kick at 69:12, Stanford scored at 70:10 as Evans found the top right of the goal off her left foot thanks to an assist from Jung. There was a review to see if there was an offsides, but it was deemed a legal goal. That made it 6-0, which would end up being the final score.
“Always great to get a shutout,” Ratcliffe said. “I think the defensive unit prides themselves on getting shutouts, the goalkeepers pride themselves on shutouts. And I think as a team we want shutouts, so it’s important to them, you know?
For Stanford, this was a dominant win. They were in cruise control from start to finish. The only remotely worrisome moment for them was a shot that Arizona fired that went off the cross bar and nearly in. That was it. Stanford out shot Arizona 32-6 and had advantage in corner kicks of 15-1. On top of that, Arizona’s goalkeepers Olivia Ramey and Sofia Cortes-Brown were under siege all night, collectively totaling 10 saves.
“I don’t think we’re trying to pile it on,” Ratcliffe stressed. “I think we’re just trying to create the right habits, so we gotta play well and we got to get used to scoring goals because we’re gonna need them as we go down the line. It’s going to get harder and harder. So we need to create those habits and we can’t be shy and we’ve got to be ruthless in front of goal and finish chances.”
“It’s so fun,” Aikey said of scoring six goals as a team. “I think one of the biggest things about this team is how relentless we are and ruthless. Those are kind of some of our words that we’re using and it’s just so fun to be on the halfway line after scoring, knowing we’re going to get another one.”
Across the way at Santa Clara, No.4 Stanford men’s soccer had a close call, winning 2-1 after trailing 0-1 at halftime. Will Cleary (56:00) and Tomo Allen (61:26) both scored for the Cardinal. It was a much more dramatic match, but they too found a way to stay unbeaten. They’ll return to Cagan this Sunday for a match against UC Davis at 7:00 PM PT.
As for Stanford women’s soccer, they’ll be on the road for nearly a month, not returning to Cagan until Thursday, September 25th against Boston College. Their next match will be at No. 4 USC on Thursday, September 4th at 6:30 PM PT on Big Ten Network. Click here for a full breakdown of their upcoming schedule.
“Yeah, I think it’ll be a really good test for the team to measure where we’re at,” Ratcliffe said of the road trip. “It’ll build our character being on the road and it’s quite a few games, too. Four games in a short amount of time. So I think it’s gonna be a really good test for us and we’re excited about it.”
“I mean, for us, it’s really just about bringing Cagan, our fortress, with us,” Aikey said of the upcoming road trip. “Like our coaches said, they’re all just field and we have a ball and we’re gonna go play and we know we have everything we need with all the players and coaches that coming with us. We’re gonna get after it.”
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Category: General Sports
