Stanford 2 Washington State 1 (OT) 
A friend who had accompanied me to several women's soccer matches (UCLA, Santa Clara) still hadn't seen us win, or score a goal for that matter. All he had seen was us hitting the post time after time. We joked that he was bad luck but decided to chance it since this was the last Pac-10 home game of the season and senior year.
When Washington State got their early goal, it looked like his streak of bad luck would continue, but we pressed hard and won the possession battle even though the few shots we got off never really troubled their keeper. High crosses into the box were another matter and she must have mishandled or misjudged 4 or 5 throughout the course of the game.
We finally broke through off a defensive error that Christen nicely converted thanks to her great ball control (and a lucky bounce of the ball). The goal was somewhat controversial since it went in off the post and may or may not have fully crossed the line before coming out. The side line referee signalled that it was a goal and I wasn't going to complain. It would be interesting to see the replay on FSN, which will be showing the game on Thursday 8 November at 9am.
The goal definitely sparked us to life and we continued to attack as the first half wound down. During half-time, I joked with my friend that he still hadn't seen the ball in the back of the net. It appeared that he wouldn't after a sloppy second half where we gave away possession too much and missed a couple of close range headers. The players began to tire towards the end and so it was yet another overtime.
I was unaware that Pac-10 overtimes followed the golden goal rule (i.e. the game ends the moment one team scores) but seeing the whole Stanford bench rush onto the field after Shari Summers scored from point blank range off a corner made it pretty apparent. It was a good win over a decent team and hopefully we can finish the Pac-10 season strong at the Oregon schools and have a strong showing in the tournament.
~ Zhihao
A friend who had accompanied me to several women's soccer matches (UCLA, Santa Clara) still hadn't seen us win, or score a goal for that matter. All he had seen was us hitting the post time after time. We joked that he was bad luck but decided to chance it since this was the last Pac-10 home game of the season and senior year.When Washington State got their early goal, it looked like his streak of bad luck would continue, but we pressed hard and won the possession battle even though the few shots we got off never really troubled their keeper. High crosses into the box were another matter and she must have mishandled or misjudged 4 or 5 throughout the course of the game.
We finally broke through off a defensive error that Christen nicely converted thanks to her great ball control (and a lucky bounce of the ball). The goal was somewhat controversial since it went in off the post and may or may not have fully crossed the line before coming out. The side line referee signalled that it was a goal and I wasn't going to complain. It would be interesting to see the replay on FSN, which will be showing the game on Thursday 8 November at 9am.
The goal definitely sparked us to life and we continued to attack as the first half wound down. During half-time, I joked with my friend that he still hadn't seen the ball in the back of the net. It appeared that he wouldn't after a sloppy second half where we gave away possession too much and missed a couple of close range headers. The players began to tire towards the end and so it was yet another overtime.
I was unaware that Pac-10 overtimes followed the golden goal rule (i.e. the game ends the moment one team scores) but seeing the whole Stanford bench rush onto the field after Shari Summers scored from point blank range off a corner made it pretty apparent. It was a good win over a decent team and hopefully we can finish the Pac-10 season strong at the Oregon schools and have a strong showing in the tournament.
~ Zhihao
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