Stanford Women's Soccer Dominates USF in Opener

Going into halftime, Elise Evans already had two assists, three different players scored, and Stanford was the clearly the better team. But somehow in the second half, the Cardinal were even better.

Aikey scored her second goal in the 55th minute, followed by sophomore Jaden Thomas in the 68th. Then, freshman Brooke Holden scored a brace (two goals) late in the contest to put the finishing touches on Stanford's 7-0 victory. Both came past the 80th minute. The first came from an aggressive defensive play, which landed the ball on Holden's foot not far from the USF net.

As a whole, Stanford took 30 shots compared to USF’s four. The dominance in time of possession, offensive and defensive ability was shown all game, and gives Cardinal fans something to look forward to for the duration of the season.

After the game, head coach Paul Ratcliffe spoke about the win. “It was a great opening game for us,” he said. “A lot of goals, a lot of players got to play, and it was a great atmosphere.”

Jasmine Aikey was the star of the show, after a two goal showing that left fans speechless. Both goals were scored with great composure, calm ability, and perfect placement, which made Stanford’s great day that much better.

“It feels amazing to be back with my teammates,” she said, following the win. “We have all put in a lot of work this offseason, and it feels like all my hard work has paid off.”

Stanford will be celebrating tonight, but has to get right back to work. On Sunday, they take on rival Santa Clara in a top 25 matchup. Stanford is currently ranked the No. 7 program, while Santa Clara is ranked No. 16. The Cardinal and Broncos have been going at it for years as the two premier Bay Area programs, and will be able to settle it all on The Farm this weekend.

“They’re pretty much our biggest rivals,” Aikey said, “So we're going to need to make it a soccer game, but that’s our mentality going into this game as well as the entire season.”

A win on Sunday could serve as a huge momentum builder heading into the rest of the season, and it's hard to ask for more of a boost than a 7-0 win to open the season heading into that big matchup against a tough rival.