MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's women's soccer team is looking to take on No.1 Stanford, here in Moraga Thursday evening at 5:00 PM.
GAME INFORMATION AND COVERAGE
Date: Thursday, September 5th
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Saint Mary's Stadium
Live Stats: Click Here
Live Stream: ESPN+
GAELS RECAP
Saint Mary's faced off against CSU Bakersfield last Thursday, where the Roadrunners put pressure in Gaels territory by taking the first shot of the night. Between the 10th and 12th minute four shots were up, two by SMC
Tessa Salvestrin and CSU Bakersfield Sara Ybarra and Isis Salazar-Ortega.
The Gaels continued to remain in the Roadrunners territory as
Briana Salvetti,
Alessandra Towle, and
Taylor Kessler tested CSU Bakersfield goalkeeper. Hollee Hercik, Roadrunners keeper, blocked each of these shots, along with her defense stepping up and blocking another one of Kessler's shots before the half ended.
Coming out of the second half,
Savannah Schwarze shot high and less than two minutes later
Sydney Middaugh attempted another shot for the Gaels. It continued to be a back and forth battle with shots going up for both teams, especially once SMC Salvestrin maintained possession of the ball to shoot back to back times for the Gaels. Roadrunners Hercik was able to keep the game scoreless.
With only 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Gaels drew a foul resulting in a yellow card for CSU Bakersfield, which led Saint Mary's with an attempt roughly 23 yards out. This set Salvestrin lined up for the perfect opportunity to put SMC on the board. Once the whistle blew, Salvestrin launched the ball past the wall into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
Not even three minutes later, the Roadrunners answered by putting a goal on the scoreboard to even the score; however, 20 seconds later the Gaels took back the lead. For the first time in her collegiate career, freshman
Maddie Lucas put the ball in the back of the net with the help of her teammate
Taylour Mendoza.
CSU Bakersfield tried to answer the Gaels one more time, but goalkeeper Banuelos saved the shot from Ybarra to end the game.
ABOUT STANFORD (ACC Conference)
The Cardinal concluded the 2023 season ranked second in the nation after reaching the College Cup Final, where they are now opening the 2024 season in the same position. Entering this week's match, Stanford has climbed to No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches and TopDrawerSoccer polls, which happens to be the highest ranking for them since the 2019 season as the national champions. Overall, the Cardinal have made their 11th appearance in the College Cup and sixth appearance in the College Cup Final looking at a 3-3 record in national championship matches. Stanford's last loss was to Florida State in the 2023 national championship match, which broke a 36 game unbeaten streak (30-0-6), and are now unbeaten in 41 of their last 42 matches.
Looking into this year's matchup, four of the last six goals have come within five minutes at either the start of the match or second-half kickoff. They also have scored a second-half goal in three of five matches. Stanford has posted a shutout in four of its five matches this season and has managed a clean sheet in 24 of its last 38 contests overall. In the month of August, the Cardinal have gone 4-0 outsourcing their opponents 8-1. San Diego State happens to be the only team who has put the ball in the back of the net against Stanford.
The top three players to look out for are Jasmine Aikey (JR), Mia Bhuta (SO), and Elise Evans (JR). Aikey is a preseason All-ACC selection, earned a spot on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Best XI first team and tabbed the No. 3 player on TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Top 100 list, along with being named 2023 Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year and United Soccer Coaches All-America and All-Region first team. She was also a semifinalist for the 2023 MAC Hermann Trophy and a finalist for the Honda Award. Bhuta was tabbed the No. 82 player on TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Top 100 list for this upcoming year, along with receiving multiple awards in her previous seasons. Evans is a preseason All-ACC selection, earned a spot on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, and is TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Best XI first team and tabbed the No. 10 player on TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Top 100 list. She also is currently competing for the United States at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Colombia from August 31 through September 22.
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