Six minutes, three goals, and a 3-2
lead.
"We just needed to break the ice,"
Ratcliffe said. "Once we got the first
goal, I knew there'd be more. And when
we got the second, momentum was really
on our side, and then it broke wide
open."
Press, who assisted on Noyola's
second goal, in the 78th minute,
registered her second five-point game of
the season. She closed out the scoring
with a right-footed shot off
Allison McCann's pass in the 84th
minute. The five goals was the most for
Stanford in a half since taking a 5-0
against Pacific in the 2008 season
opener.
The Cardinal nearly scored a sixth
goal, but Noyola's late penalty kick was
saved by San Diego State's Aubree
Southwick, who made nine saves.
After three matches, Stanford is
averaging four goals and 35 shots. The
school single-game record for shots was
33 going into this season. But the
defense remains a work in progress with
none of the back four, including two
freshmen, in the same spot as last
season.
"They just need to read the game a
bit better and improve their
positioning," Ratcliffe said. "And
they're young, so they're learning.
They're doing all right."
Stanford's shots hit the frame three
times in the first half, but the
Cardinal has failed to score a
first-half goal in two matches. The
team's early performance will be a point
of emphasis.
"In the past two games, we've come
out a little flat," Press said. "We've
sort of come out with the attitude that
we know we're going to win. I think
that's taken the edge off.
"Today, after they scored the two
goals, there was more pressure on us. We
started playing with more urgency and
passion, and more of a realization that
we had to score now.
"We're going to come away with the
knowledge that we have to come out
really sharp from the beginning."
For Ratcliffe, the lesson was this:
"You've got to keep your composure,"
he said. "Keep playing good soccer and
realize that once you get one goal, then
you've got to get the next goal. One
goal at a time, and keep playing hard.
"And that's what they did."
