Sports WOMEN’S SOCCER
Stanford’s Press is named Pac-10 Player of Year
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Keith Peters
Stanford senior Allison McCann holds aloft the Pac-10 trophy following the Cardinal’s 3-0 victory over visiting Oregon on Sunday that gave Stanford its second straight unbeaten season in the conference.
NCAA soccer (continued from page 27)
UCLA, BYU, Fresno State and Central Florida are also in the Stanford Regional. Those four teams play the first two rounds on Thursday and Saturday at UCLA. Three years ago, as freshmen new to the process, the current Stanford seniors waited and watched as the proceedings unfolded, with fifthyear seniors Rachel Buehler and Shari Summers the team leaders. Stanford also opened with Sacramento State that year, winning 7-0. Press scored the first goal 37 seconds into the contest with an assist from McCann. That run lasted three rounds. Press has seen the team move closer and closer to the top ever since. The Cardinal will be looking for its third straight appearance in the Final Four this season and fourth overall. “Being close, getting there and not winning it, makes us want it even more this year,” Press said. “Soccer is such a crazy sport. We could be playing Santa Clara and UCLA in our next games, but we have to focus on Sacramento State first.” Press and McCann, most notably, have seen the pitfalls first hand. They know, for example, that Santa Clara coach Jerry Smith will make adjustments and play a different kind of game in the tournament than in the regular season. Smith is the architect of the Broncos’ program that has won the national championship in 2001, was the national runnerup in 2002, and has been to 10 College Cups and 14 quarterfinals. “The thought of knowing Friday could be the last time I ever play soccer makes it even more meaningful,” McCann said. “We just want to keep having fun, keep playing soccer and stay level-headed.” The Cardinal enters the tournament with a 31-match home winning streak and a 17-match overall winning streak, and has won its past eight NCAA tournament matches at
home. “You always need a little luck,” McCann said. “We’ve been so focused and such a tightly-knit group, we all know we are capable of doing it. Maybe in the past we were a little unsure. Not now. Now we know we can do it.” Press, the favorite to win the Hermann Trophy awarded to the nation’s top college soccer player, watched Kelley O’Hara, last year’s recipient, go through a similar season last year. “I could see the pressure she put upon herself and how she handled it,” Press said. “It’s a lot being a senior. We have a small senior class this year and that’s made for a totally different experience. We’ve been together all four years, off and on the field. We are four polar opposites as people but soccer brings us
together. We’re always talking about what it takes and what it means to be seniors.” Friday’s winners meet Sunday at 1 p.m. with a berth in the Sweet Sixteen at stake. “The bracket looks good,” Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. “We’re excited for the challenge. It’s going to be competitive and every game is do-or-die.” Stanford is joined by fellow No. 1 seeds Portland, Maryland and defending national champion North Carolina, which edged Stanford, 1-0, in last year’s final. “We’ve got to take the momentum from the regular season into the playoffs, perform to the best of our ability, get positive results and move forward,” Ratcliffe said. “The team’s performing very well, but I expect us to get better.” N
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t wasn’t quite a clean sweep, but the conference champion Stanford women’s soccer team still was well-represented on the 2010 All Pac-10 Conference team that was announced on Wednesday. In a vote by the conference coaches, Cardinal senior forward Christen Press was named Pac-10 Player of the Year, Oregon State forward Jenna Richardson was named Freshman of the Year and Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Press has 23 goals, seven assists, and 53 points for No. 1 Stanford, which begins NCAA Tournament play Friday night at 7 against visiting Sacramento State. Her goal and point totals lead the nation and have put her in range to break Kelley O’Hara’s year-old Stanford season records of 26 and 65. This year, Press shattered Stanford career records for goals (68) and points (176) and tied the mark in assists (40). She has scored or assisted in 18 of Stanford’s 20 matches and had a nine-match goal-scoring streak. Press becomes Stanford’s sixth Pac-10 women’s soccer Player of the Year, following Carmel Murphy (1995), Erin Martin (1996), Tracye Lawyer (1998), Marcia Wallis (2002), and O’Hara (2009). Leading his squad through an undefeated regular season, a Pac-10 Championship and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year, Ratcliffe was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the third-consecutive season. Stanford is riding an 18-0-2 season heading into the tournament and is the consensus No. 1 team in the nation.
Ratcliffe’s team (9-0 in conference) is only the second in Pac-10 history to have back-to-back undefeated seasons. Under his tutelage, the Cardinal has the third-best scoring offense in the nation, averaging 2.95 goals per game and the sixthbest goals against average (0.487). The Cardinal lost three starters, including Hermann Trophy winner O’Hara, from the 25-1 team of a year ago that reached its first NCAA College Cup final, but Ratcliffe has made several moves that have proved vital. Among them was moving sophomore Courtney Verloo from forward to central defense, where she has become one of team’s most valuable players, and having faith in true freshman goalkeeper Emily Oliver, who has started since the team’s sixth match. Oliver is No. 3 in the nation in goals-against average. Stanford’s first-team selections are Press, junior midfielder Teresa Noyola, sophomore defender Rachel Quon, and junior forward Lindsay Taylor. This is the second first-team honor for each. Noyola, an attacking midfielder, is second on the team in scoring with personal collegiate highs of nine goals and 11 assists for 29 points. Taylor has nine goals and five assists for 23 points, and scored in five consecutive conference matches. Stanford’s second-team selections are Verloo and sophomore midfielder Mariah Nogueira. Sophomore defender Alina Garciamendez, junior forward Camille Levin, and Oliver received honorable mention honors. In addition, Oliver was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. N
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26 THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE: www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowledge/agendas/council.asp THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2010 HAS BEEN CANCELLED
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS The Finance Committee Meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 16, at 7:00 p.m. regarding 1) Quarterly Report for the Library Bond Oversight Committee, 2) Approval of GULP Objectives, Strategies and Implementation Plan, and 3) First Quarter FY 2011 Financial Results The High Speed Rail Committee Meeting will be held on Thursday, November 18, at 8:00 a.m.
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