They may be newcomers to the ACC.
Their travel obligations take them across the country to their opponents’ home state.
But the turf at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, might feel more like home to Stanford women’s soccer team than its less travel-tested foes in the College Cup that kicks off Friday. Of the four finalists, the No. 3-seeded Cardinal are the only ones hailing from outside the state but also the only ones who were there last year.
“It’s shaping up to be quite the revenge tour,” senior goalkeeper Haley Craig said. “We obviously still have some unfinished business from last year.”
Set to face No. 2 seed Wake Forest in the semifinals (Friday, 2 p.m. PT), Stanford boasts more than a dozen players on its roster from last year’s team that made it to the championship match but had its season end in defeat, 5-1, to Florida State. They also lost to the Demon Deacons, 1-0, in their first ACC match of the season.
“Walking away with a silver trophy instead of the gold, that was a little sad. That’s not what we come to Stanford for,” Craig said. “We come to win championships. So we’re ready to get back and go for gold this year.”
“Obviously last year we ended in disappointment in the final, so I think the team was motivated this year to get back to the College Cup,” added coach Paul Ratcliffe. “It’s a testament to the student-athletes’ determination (and) resilience that they want to get back and make amends.”
In Ratcliffe’s 22 seasons, the Cardinal (16-4-2) have reached women’s soccer equivalent to the Final Four 12 times, including 11 since 2008. Last year, representing the Pac-12, they knocked off BYU, a Big 12 school, in the semifinals before falling to Florida State, one of two ACC participants.
This year, all four finalists hail from the ACC. Yes, including Stanford.
“If anything, it’s a little comfortable knowing the teams that are going to be there,” said Craig, who collected her 11th shutout of the season in a 3-0 quarterfinal win over Notre Dame. “Even more than that, Wake Forest beat us in the regular season, so we have a little extra fire under us right now.”
It’s the first time in the history of the College Cup that all four teams emerged from the same conference. And another twist: The Cardinal are the only team crossing state lines to get there, also the first time in tournament history that one state has produced three-quarters of the field.
Whereas Wake Forest (15-3-4), No. 2 seed North Carolina (20-5) and top overall seed Duke (18-2-1) planned to make the short bus trip to their hotels Wednesday, Ratcliffe arranged for the Cardinal to fly in a day ahead of time. They dedicated all of Tuesday to traveling, arranged to practice Wednesday evening and have media obligations Thursday before Friday’s kickoff.
“We’re trying to become road warriors,” Ratcliffe said. “I think it’s going to be interesting in that there are three local teams and then we are the one team from the other side of the country. We’re excited, but we’re adapting. … The time change is obviously something you have to consider, making sure we’re setting the right times for breakfast, making sure players are getting adequate rest. The travel plans you make are critical. We’re adjusting a little bit all the time.”
The Cardinal also crossed the country to face Wake Forest to open their ACC tenure, a loss that knocked them from the top spot in the NCAA rankings. They went on to finish eighth in their inaugural season in the ACC and didn’t make the conference tournament.
That shortcoming proved to be important, Craig said.
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It allowed them a two-week break from competition, time to get healthy and practice. Since ending the regular season with back-to-back losses, the Cardinal have rattled off four consecutive wins to begin the postseason, including an upset of No. 5 Arkansas on its home turf.
“We didn’t love being eighth in the conference, no one was happy about that, we wanted to make the conference tournament,” Craig said. “But it did give us time to train and fix things so that we went into the big dance really primed and ready to go. I think you can tell that we’re peaking now and we’re ready at the right time.”
No matter the outcome, it’s a fitting end to the Cardinal’s first season in the ACC.
The trip will be their fifth of the season outside the Pacific Time Zone, a new reality of college sports in the era of realignment.
“I do think we expected the worst (when it came to travel),” Craig said. “All of the headlines were how terrible it would be. But I think we made the best out of it. It might just be because it’s season one, but we prioritized mental health, sleep, eating the right things. It’s been fine. I don’t think anyone’s too upset. And we’re playing the best competition in the country, so who can complain about that?”
