On Sunday, No. 2 Stanford women’s soccer defeated Saint Mary’s 4-1 at Cagan Stadium. Caroline Birkel was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal, playing all 90 minutes totaling three saves while giving up one goal. Kate Plachy was the losing goalkeeper for the Gaels, giving up four goals while picking up seven saves.
On Sunday, No. 2 Stanford women’s soccer defeated Saint Mary’s 4-1 at Cagan Stadium. Joelle Jung (2:16), Charlotte Kohler (21:42), Jasmine Aikey (54:16), and Allie Montoya (78:28) scored for the Cardinal while Brooklyn Smith(51:12) scored for the Gaels. Caroline Birkel was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal, playing all 90 minutes totaling three saves while giving up one goal. Kate Plachy was the losing goalkeeper for the Gaels, giving up four goals while picking up seven saves. Stanford improves to 4-0 on the season while Saint Mary’s falls to 0-1-1.
BOX SCORE: Saint Mary’s at Stanford-Sunday, August 24th
“Yeah, good test for our team, I thought Saint Mary’s was a solid team and made it hard on us,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. “Scored two great goals early on, and then they came back and scored a goal to make it a real game and then we finished them off which a couple goals, which was exciting.”
Stanford quickly found the back of the net in this match as Joelle Jung scored at the 2:16 mark with an assist from Andrea Kitahata. Jung found the top left of the goal off her right foot, making it a 1-0 lead.
“Yeah, Dre, she went in line and I was just screaming at her to play me the ball because there was no one for like five yards around me,” Jung said of her goal. “And she passed me a perfect ball and it was, I just smashed that in.”
At the 21:42 mark, Charlotte Kohler found the back of the net for the Cardinal off an assist from Jung as she found the bottom left of the goal off her right foot. That made it a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.
From there, neither team would score the rest of the half and neither team registered a corner kick. Stanford led 2-0. They were in a good spot, but needed to do more to close out the match.
The first corner kick of the match came early in the second half at the 46:16 mark for Stanford. That would not lead to a goal though as Saint Mary’s defended Stanford well. Saint Mary’s would soon get on the board at 51:12 as Brooklyn Smith found the bottom right of the goal off her left foot off an assist from Sydney Middaugh and Ashlyn Vaughn. That made it a 2-1 game as Stanford suddenly only had a one goal lead.
Stanford quickly responded as Jasmine Aikey found the top left of the goal off her right foot at 54:16 thanks to an assist from Jung. That made it a 3-1 lead for Stanford.
“Joelle is having an incredible season,” Ratcliffe said of Jung. “Really proud of what she’s doing for the team. And she’s getting better with each and every game. Her energy level, her skills, like she’s really firing on all cylinders for us.”
“I think finding good pockets in half spaces on top of the 18 and then people are finding me the ball and it was just a final pass,” Jung said of getting two assists. “Finding the perfect weight in the final third for them to just hit it…Yeah, I was super proud of our team for responding to their goal. I think we kind of started off a little slow in the second half and like after they scored, we picked it up and I’m super proud of how aggressive we were and definitely the momentum shifted in our favor and we were able to get a fourth, which was awesome.”
Stanford would get corner kicks at 59:24 and 59:59, though neither led to a goal. Saint Mary’s got corner kicks at 65:44 and 70:19, neither of which led to a goal. Stanford’s day scoring wasn’t over though as Allie Montoya found the bottom center of the goal off her right foot thanks to an assist from Jaden Thomas. That gave Stanford a 4-1 lead at 78:28.
“Yeah, I’m happy for Allie,” Ratcliffe said of Montoya scoring in every match this season. “No one works harder than Allie. She loves the game and really works hard and is so talented. So she’s lighting it up this year, a goal every game, and I’m really excited for her.”
From there, Stanford would win 4-1, preventing Saint Mary’s from making the match more interesting. Aside from that brief moment when the Gaels cut it to one goal, the Cardinal were in control the whole way.
“It was great,” Jung said of the victory. “A lot of great goals this weekend in general. I think our team is putting a new level. We’re able to score a lot and our offense is really aggressive and athletic this season.”
For Stanford, this is overall a good win. They led the entire way, never gave up the lead or allowed it to get tied, and on top of that, they scored four goals. Their offense is clicking early on in the season and that’s something that has to make them feel good.
“Yeah, we need to be tested and we’re not perfect, so we’re gonna concede goals,” Ratcliffe said. “And I want to see the character they show in bouncing back from that adversity and I thought they did an incredible job of bouncing back after conceding a goal. Angry about the situation and fought back and then we got a nice goal.”
“I think as a team we’ve gotten a lot sharper in the box,” Jung said. “Like, our technical execution, our clinical finishing has been awesome this year and we’re all just super hungry to score. And yeah, I’m super proud of everyone.”
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Arizona on Thursday, August 28th at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX. Stanford is looking forward to reigniting an old Pac-12 battle once more.
“Yeah, Arizona always has a strong program,” Ratcliffe said. “We’re excited to continue having a relationship with them playing them. So I think it’ll be another good test for us and yeah, we love playing some of the Pac-12 schools. A lot of tradition there. So, Arizona’s always a strong opponent.”
“I’m super excited,” Jung said of facing the Wildcats. “I know the team is. We’re definitely going to prepare these next couple days, similar to how we have been, and hopefully we get a lot of good goals again.”
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: [email protected]
Category: General Sports
