Stanford out to settle unfinished business

Stanford out to settle unfinished business
December 2, 2011

KENNESAW, GEORGIA – Legacy.
 
This year’s NCAA Women’s College Cup is all about legacy for the Stanford Cardinal. Paul Ratcliffe’s squad has been dominant over the past four seasons.
 
They return to the final four for the 4th consecutive season.  The team’s overall record for that time period is 83-4-4.
 
The team hasn’t won a national championship.
 
Seniors Camille Levin, Teresa Noyola, Lindsay Taylor and Kirsty Zurmuhlen have been to this rarified air each of their four seasons, including in the championship match the past two seasons. The College Cup is where 3 of those 4 losses have come, meaning Stanford this season went undefeated for the 3rd consecutive year. It is reminiscent of the kind of dominance exhibited by North Carolina teams of yore.
 
stanford women's college soccer players lindsey taylor and Kirsty ZurmuhlenKirsty Zurmuhlen and Lindsey Taylor were all smiles after Zurmuhlen's go-ahead goal against Oklahoma State.
But those teams usually won the national championship. Stanford hasn’t done it yet.
 
Coming into this year’s event (and Friday’s semifinal match vs. Florida State), the Cardinal look perhaps even more than ever like the prohibitive favorite.
 
They’ve been rock solid all season and even being stretched to overtime last week in the quarterfinals by then #2 Oklahoma State has done nothing to raise any hint of vulnerability about Stanford. But the seniors know all about the paradox, irony, unfinished business, whatever you want to call it.
 
“We have really focused on enjoying the journey through it all and taking each training session and day one at a time rather than looking too far into the future,” said Levin. “ But all with the goal of winning a National Championship.”
 
Teresa Noyola agreed.
 
"It is important to remember the feeling and remember our mistakes, but it is important to move on and I think we have all done that. We have talked about it,” she said. “We came here to play Florida State and all our energy is focused on Florida State and nothing in the past or the future. Of course we remember the last three years, but right now we are focused on the next game.”
 
Of course on the field it will be the same powerhouse team that’s been running roughshod over opposition most of the season. Levin is a versatile right back. Taylor has banged in 20 goals this season for her forward slot. Noyola is a midfield virtuoso and Zurmuhlen a two-way midfielder who didn’t start her first game before this season but has persevered to play a major role on this year’s championship contender. 
 
Other likely starters include goalkeeper Emily Oliver and defender Rachel Quon from Chicago-area club giants Eclipse Select, Dallas-area standouts Alina Garciamendez (defense) and Chioma Ubogagu (forward), Phoenix-area forward Marjani HingGlover and Californians Kendall Romine (defense) and Mariah Nogueira.
 
The next few days will tell whether this is the Stanford team that gets over that final hurdle in the championship quest.
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