It will be an all-North Carolina National Championship as Wake Forest punched their ticket with a physical 1-0 win over Stanford in the first semifinal of the College Cup. Emily Morris scored the game-winning goal, assisted by Sierra Sythe and Caiya Hanks in the 73rd minute. This marks the first time Wake Forest will play in the National Championship.
It was a dance until it wasn't. Stanford and Wake Forest traded chances and bruises throughout the first half, mixing crunching tackles with dangerous goal-scoring opportunities.
The Cardinal had the best chance of the half. With 15 minutes to go, Andrea Kitahata forced Wake Forest goalkeeper Valentina Amaral to make a save. Amaral got a piece of the ball, but not enough, and it sputtered across the front of the net as three Stanford players raced to put it home. Kristin Johnson got there first, poking the ball away as Elise Evans crashed the far post. The delicate nil-nil tie continued.
Although Wake Forest had more shots in the first half (four), Stanford keeper Haley Craig only had to make one save. The senior goalie had the better positioning in the box, taking away crosses that had the potential to become dangerous.
The second half was a different story. The Demon Deacons came out hard and fast with three dangerous chances in the first six minutes. With the crowd behind them, and it was, as expected, a hometown crowd, Wake Forest found space on the wings. Where space didn't exist, the Demon Deacons used short passes inside the box to manipulate Stanford defenders and tee up shots.
It was lucky shot number seven that counted for Morris. Sythe found Hanks on the wing, making a run. Hanks fed a perfect cross across the top of the box and Morris fired it on net. Stanford keeper Craig got her hands on the ball but was too far off her line to stop it cleanly. The shot trickled through and over the goal line as a Stanford defender cleared it a second too late.
Momentum was firmly on the side of the Demon Deacons, who absorbed Stanford's desperate push in the final 15 minutes to maintain the 1-0 lead. Although it was a game of "margins," as Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe stated in his press conference, after the goal line clearance by Johnson, it felt firmly like Wake Forest knew the margins were in their favor.
Bending but not breaking has been Wake Forest's DNA all season, despite the beautiful soccer the Demon Deacons play. Historically, Wake Forest has had Stanford's number with a collective 4-0-1 record against Stanford. And, after the goalline clearance, the game felt like Wake Forest's. There was a tangible sense of belief that it didn't matter when the Demon Deacons would find the back of the net and then hold that lead for as long as it took. It was Wake's self-confidence that won the game, patiently waiting for the right moment and not rushing things.
Stanford played tough and compact, but ultimately couldn't finish their chances, giving Wake Forest the momentum. This was a game where the Cardinal did just about everything perfectly, but it still wasn't enough to keep the Demon Deacons off the scoreboard and the offense wasn't there to push the game into overtime. The desperate push in the last 15 minutes was exactly what Stanford probably needed to do all game, as the team that scored first felt like the logical game-winner.
Press Notes
Elise Evans on being back at the College Cup:
"Coming to the College Cup is always the goal for us. Getting back here the past two years is incredible and something that we look forward to every single year. And something that we talk about the first day of preseason is that we want to get back to the College Cup and hope to go as far as we can."
"We're the only team to come back from last year and especially for all the adversity we've had to go through this year, a whole conference transition, traveling a thousand more miles than we've had before, many injuries, being a young team, so I think it's absolutely phenomenal and incredible that we've gone this far."
Paul Ratcliffe on being a young team:
"I'm very proud. I think we had four freshman starting tonight. It was phenomenal that they got the experience to play in a big game like this at the College Cup. So for them I think it's going to be great for their develop and growth. But I don't look at age too much, it's more the quality of the player and what they're doing."
Valentina Amaral on her save:
"When she kicked it, It was very much just a reaction save. I was able to get a few fingertips on it and I'm just happy that I had one of my defenders just get it out of the goal area."
Tony de Luz on the ACC:
"It's a little overwhelming, really, I mean, to have four ACC teams in this thing. We won't be in the first round of the ACC tournament tonight, so. It's just unreal, and it raises the level, it makes you better. If you're not improving in our league, then you're falling behind, and it's hard to catch up."
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