Oct. 10, 2012

TUCSON, Ariz. - The No. 2 Stanford women's soccer team will attempt to remain atop the Pac-12 standings and extend its conference winning streak, which stands at 36, when the Cardinal plays at improving Arizona on Thursday in a match broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.

The following is a closer look at the match:

Who: No. 2 Stanford (11-1-1, 5-0) at Arizona (5-6-3, 1-2-2)
When: Thursday, 7 p.m. PT
Where: Mulcahy Soccer Stadium, Tucson, Ariz.
Watch: Pac-12 Networks (Mark Rogondino and Kyndra de St. Aubin on the call)
Follow: Gametracker live stats (gostanford.com)
Storyline: Stanford attempts to keep its hold on first against much-improved Arizona on the road.

THE LAST MEETING

Arizona	0
Stanford	7

September 24, 2011
Laird Q. Cagan Stadium

Six Score Seven in Cardinal Rout Six players combined for seven goals to provide No. 1 Stanford with a 7-0 victory over visiting Arizona in a Pac-12 women's soccer opener Saturday night.

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

CURRENT STANFORD STREAKS:
• Four consecutive College Cup appearances
• Three consecutive College Cup finals appearances
• Three consecutive Pac-10/12 Conference titles
• 142-match unbeaten streak (136-0-6) when scoring a goal
(the last time Stanford scored and lost was Aug. 27, 2006; 2-1 to Wake Forest)
• 96-match home unbeaten streak (92-0-4) when scoring a goal
(Stanford hasn't scored at home and lost since Oct. 5, 2003; 2-1 to LMU)
• 61-match home unbeaten streak (59-0-2), second-longest in NCAA history
(last loss, Nov. 23, 2007; 2-0 to Connecticut in an NCAA third-round match)
• 36-match Pac-10/12 winning streak, No. 3 conference win streak in NCAA history
(last loss, Oct. 31, 2008; 1-0 at UCLA)
• 24-match Pac-10/12 home winning streak
(last loss, Oct. 19, 2007; 2-0 vs. UCLA)
• 9-match winning streak
(last non-victory, Aug. 31, 2012; 1-1 vs. Boston College)

PAC-12 SUCCESS: Stanford is coming off three consecutive perfect seasons in Pac-10/12 play and has a 36-match winning streak. Stanford has won three consecutive conference titles and eight overall, and has the past three players of the year: Kelley O'Hara (2009), Christen Press (2010), and Lindsay Taylor (2011).

MILESTONE MATCH: With a victory Thursday, Stanford would move alone into third place on the NCAA Division I list for consecutive conference victories. Stanford is tied with Notre Dame (1995-98) at 36, though that streak was part of an NCAA record 77-match conference unbeaten string for the Irish. Ahead of Stanford and Notre Dame on the consecutive conference victory list is North Carolina (1994-2000) at 55 and Florida (1997-2001) at 49. Stanford has not lost in conference play since losing at UCLA, 1-0, on Oct. 31, 2008, in a match that Stanford standout Kelley O'Hara missed because of a concussion.

CLUTCH VICTORY: Stanford found itself in a rare predicament on Sunday, trailing Colorado late in the second half in Boulder before pulling out a 2-1 victory. Colorado was seeking its first conference victory since joining the Pac-12 last year and led until the 79th minute when the Cardinal scored twice within 37 seconds. In an effort to equalize, Stanford pushed defensive midfielder Mariah Nogueira, and defenders Alina Garciamendez and Rachel Quon into the attack. Nogueira and Garciamendez scored the goals and Quon provided an assist.

LATE DEFICIT: Until the Colorado match, Stanford had not trailed that late in a conference match since Oct. 23, 2009 when the Cardinal trailed at Washington State, 1-0, until Christen Press tied it in the 87th minute. Stanford won on a Kelley O'Hara overtime goal in the 95th.

FROM BEHIND: Stanford has trailed in four matches this season, but until playing Colorado, the Cardinal had not been behind since Aug. 26 during its loss to West Virginia. Stanford fell behind in each of its first three matches, winning two of them.

CLUTCH PLAYER: Mariah Nogueira has made a habit of scoring clutch goals for Stanford. She tied the score against Colorado with a left-footed shot in the 79th minute. Earlier this season, she scored a late winner at Penn State. Of Nogueira's team-high 19 career goals, 14 have tied the score or put Stanford ahead. She also has 10 game-winning goals. And, technically, she's not an offensive player, but rather a holding midfielder. Her six goals lead the team, with the first five behind scored on headers.

ONE-GOAL GAMES: Stanford is coming off three consecutive one-goal victories -- 2-1 over Oregon, 1-0 over Utah, and 2-1 over Colorado. This doesn't happen often for the Cardinal, which hasn't had three consecutive one-goal victories in conference play since 2002. During a stretch from Oct. 25-Nov. 2 of that year, Stanford beat Washington State 1-0, Washington 1-0, and California 2-1. Stanford's most recent stretch of three consecutive matches without a multi-goal victory was in 2005 when it went 0-3-2 from Oct. 15-Oct. 30.

SCORING BY COMMITTEE: Courtney Verloo leads the team in points, but she is only tied for third amond the Cardinal in goals. Verloo has 15 points (4 goals, 7 assists), but defensive midfielder Mariah Nogueira, who mostly comes forward on set pieces, leads in goals, with 6. Stanford's past five goals have come from different players. And, over the past five matches, nine players have contributed to Stanford's 13 goals. Twelve players have scored this season and eight have scored more than once.

SECOND-HALF DOMINANCE: The Cardinal has outscored opponents, 23-4, in the second half this season, following a trend that has been impressive over the past five years. Since 2008, Stanford has outscored opponents in the second half by a combined, 189-33. However, the first half hasn't been bad either, by a 139-19 count. The last time Stanford has been outscored in the second half was in 2007, 20-15. One reason could be because of the possession style that Stanford plays. Opponents tend to chase the ball for much of the match and wear down in the latter stages.

FIRST-HALF DEFENSE: An Oregon goal 30 seconds before halftime on Sunday ended Stanford's first-half scoreless streak of 430 minutes, 57 seconds. The Cardinal had not allowed a first-half goal since Aug. 24 - a streak of eight matches. In its past 21 matches dating back to last season, Stanford has shut out opponents in the opening half 17 times.

EMILY'S BACK: Junior goalkeeper Emily Oliver, who did not play in the first eight matches because of injury, has started the past four. Oliver has a career goals-against average of 0.29. She has allowed only 13 goals in 49 career matches. Her GAA, if maintained, would rank No. 1 in Stanford career history. U.S. national teamer Nicole Barnhart, a Stanford volunteer assistant coach, has the Stanford record of 0.45. Barnhart, a member of the U.S. national team, also holds the career shutout record of 35. Oliver is fifth, with 22.

LAST WEEK: Stanford made the Utah-Colorado trip for the first time since those schools joined the conference last year. The Cardinal was tested in both matches, in a 1-0 victory over Utah and a 2-1 triumph over Colorado. Against Utah, Nina Watkins scored five minutes after entering the match. Her 35th-minute goal broke a Utah offsides trap on Rachel Quon's long free kick.

Against Colorado, Mariah Nogueira and Alina Garciamendez scored within 37 seconds of each other, in the 79th minute, to rally the Cardinal.

BEHIND THE CAMERA: This is the eighth of 12 regular-season matches Stanford will play on the Pac-12 Networks this season. The Cardinal is 6-0-1 on the new networks and has outscored its opponents, 23-3, in those matches. Stanford has scored five or more goals in three of those and is averaging 3.3 goals. Including a victory over Penn State on the Big Ten Network, Stanford is 7-0-1 on television this season.

THE SCHEDULE: Stanford opened with five matches against teams that reached the 2011 NCAA tournament and emerged with a 3-1-1 record - losing to West Virginia and tying Boston College. In all, Stanford plays nine teams that reached the postseason last year. Against teams ranked at the time of their meeting, Stanford is 5-0-1 this season.Against teams ranked in this week's NSCAA top 25, Stanford is 3-1-1. Stanford beatcurrent No. 7 San Diego State (1-0), No. 11 Georgetown (6-0), and No. 18 Santa Clara (6-1). The Cardinal tied No. 23 Boston College (1-1) and lost to No. 25 West Virginia (1-0). Still to come is No. 3 UCLA on Oct. 28 in Los Angeles.

THURSDAY'S OPPONENT, ARIZONA: The resurgent Wildcats already have equaled their victory total -- five -- of the past two seasons combined. Arizona's 2-1 conference-opening victory on the road over current third-place California was an illustration of how far Arizona has come. However, the Wildcats haven't won since them and are 0-3-2 in that span. Jazmin Ponce, a junior, leads the team in goals (7) and points (16).

THE STANFORD-ARIZONA SERIES: Stanford leads the series, 15-2, and has won six consecutive matches since Arizona beat the visiting Cardinal, 2-1, during the Wildcats' Pac-10 championship season of 2005.

ROAD STRETCH: Stanford is in the midst of a span in which it plays only two home matches during an eight-match stretch to close the regular season. This is the third in a three-match consecutive road stretch. After home matches against Washington State and Washington, on Oct. 18-21, Stanford plays at the Los Angeles schools, including No. 3 UCLA, and finishes at Cal, which sits just behind Stanford and UCLA in third place in the Pac-12.

WORLD CUP WINNER: Stanford's leading returning scorer, sophomore forward Chioma Ubogagu, rejoined the team Sept. 14 after helping the United States capture the FIFA Under-20 World Cup title in Japan. The U.S. beat Germany in the final, 1-0, on Sept. 8, but may not have gotten there without Ubogagu's overtime header that beat North Korea, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.

Ubogagu scored 10 goals and had 10 assists for Stanford's national championship team last season as a freshman and was named to the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament team.

NO SHOTS ALLOWED: On Sept. 16, Stanford held an opponent without a shot for the first time in school history in beating UNC Greensboro, 4-0, at the Santa Clara Classic. Stanford got goals from four different players and earned its fourth consecutive shutout while outshooting the Spartans, 25-0. In a program history that began in 1984, Stanford had held an opponent to one shot eight times, but never to none. UNCG also failed to secure a corner kick, meaning Stanford goalkeepers Aly Gleason and Lindsay Dickerson had an uneventful day.

RANKINGS: Stanford remains No. 2 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire Coaches' Poll, behind Florida State. In other rankings, Stanford is No. 2 by Soccer America, Top Drawer Soccer, Soccer Times, and Our Game.

SHUTOUT STREAK: Earlier this season, Stanford shut out five consecutive opponents - a scoreless streak that was broken after 588 minutes, 30 seconds on Sept. 27 with an 86th minute goal by Oregon State. Stanford's defense allowed five goals in the first four matches before beginning the streak. Also consider that since Paul Ratcliffe and goalkeepers coach Jay Cooney's arrival in 2003, the program's collective goals-against average going into the season was 0.55 and the Cardinal has been below 1.00 each year. The school record for most consecutive shutouts is seven (accomplished four times, including 2011) and the mark for most consecutive scoreless minutes allowed is 774:22 (2002-03).

SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE: All-America Mariah Nogueira is one of 30 players around the country selected as a candidate for women's soccer's Senior CLASS Award, which honors those who excel in athletics, academics, and community service. Nogueira, a senior captain, carries a 3.63 cumulative GPA. She has been involved with Special Olympics, the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative, weekly tutoring for young students from East Palo Alto, working the Halloween Carnival in East Palo Alto, visiting the elderly, and being involved in Kappa Alpha Theta sorority philanthropy events. Nogueira has also served as a Sunday school teacher and as the single adults co-President at her church. The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in October.

RETURNING PLAYERS: Stanford returns seven starters and 21 letterwinners from last year's NCAA championship team. Among those are six all-conference players and three NSCAA All-Americans - goalkeeper Emily Oliver (2011 third team), midfielder Mariah Nogueira (2009 third team), and forward Courtney Verloo (2010 third team as a defender). Stanford returns 34 of last year's 73 goals (47 percent), its lowest percentage since 2004, with Chioma Ubogagu the team's top returning scorer (10 goals, 10 assists, 30 points).

FRESHMAN IMPACT: Of the five freshmen in this year's class, four have played and two have been regular starters. Laura Liedle has started every match at left outside back. Kate Bettinger has started four times as an attacking midfielder. Central defender Maya Theuer has started the past two matches in central defense, and midfielder Katie Donahue has played in four matches off the bench. Sarah Cox is a backup goalkeeper.

FOUR-YEAR STARTERS: Stanford has three players - tri-captains central defender Alina Garciamendez, outside right back Rachel Quon, and holding midfielder Mariah Nogueira - who are four-year starters, with College Cup finals appearances in each of their previous three seasons. Stanford has 10 members of the class of 2013, including three who will still have eligibility after this year.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Paul Ratcliffe, in his 10th season at Stanford, is the reigning NSCAA National Coach of the Year, an honor he has received three times in four years. He also has been named Pac-12 Coach of the Year the past four seasons. Ratcliffe's Stanford record is 169-36-20. Over his career, now in his 14th year as a Division I head coach, Ratcliffe is 224-70-27.

HERMANN TROPHY WINNERS: Before last year, no other school has had three different players win the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy in three successive years. Stanford became the first in the 24 years of collegiate soccer's most prestigious honor when Kelley O'Hara (2009), Christen Press (2010) and Teresa Noyola captured the honor. In addition, Lindsay Taylor, the runner-up to Noyola, was named Soccer America's National Player of the Year. This year, goalkeeper Emily Oliver has been named to the Hermann Trophy watch list.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Central defender Alina Garciamendez and goalkeeper Emily Oliver were named to Soccer America's Preseason All-America team.