Stanford, Cal On to CRAA WD1 Final
Stanford, Cal On to CRAA WD1 Final
Stanford and Cal will play for the CRAA Women's D1 collegiate championship after both teams won semifinals Sunday.
Stanford vs WWU
Stanford beat Western Washington 42-10. The teams played to a scoreless tie in the first 13 minutes, and it wasn't until a somewhat unlucky obstruction call against WWU as they were running out of their 22. Stanford tapped and sent the ball to flanker Sydney Davis, who was over just as the referee whistled for a forward pass. So, still 0-0, and it stays that way into the second portion of the first half. Finally Stanford was able to score. Holding a slim 5-0 lead, Stanford had trouble completing their connections, with missed passes and knock-ons seemingly showing some nerves.
WWU finally got into the Stanford end with the half almost over. They were penalized for holding-on, but the Stanford players were a bit too annoyed at the call being slow in coming—their backchat resulted in a reversed penalty, which Marin Cohen put over the bar. The half ended with a 5-3 scoreline.
Stanford scored early in the second half, and then the dam finally broke 10 minutes into the second half. Davis found fullback Cara Feit, who took through a gap and curved around under the posts. Feit converted to make iy 17-3.
A penalty and maul led to No. 8 Kirsten Lees popping off the back and charged over.
After that the constant pressure from Stanford started to tell and Emma Troast scored on a pick-and-go, and in the final 10 minutes flyhalf Laura Bocek and prop Madisyn Cunningham went over before WWU's Cohen scored on a quick-tap and converted. Stanford finished it off with a score through the forwards. Stanford did well to change how they played to be a bit more conservative and retain possession and advance to the final at Stanford.
Cal vs Claremont Colleges
Unlike the other semifinal, Cal got going early. Fullback Jane Bassil broke through from 50 meters. After some good work from the forwards, Bassil set up wing Lorie Martinez in the corner.
Down 12-0 Claremont Colleges worked hard to keep the ball and shift the momentum. Finally a break from Alex Meecham set up Laila Hannum for a try for the Foxes, making it 12-5 midway through the first half.
The plan was working for Claremont. They held the ball nicely and put Cal under pressure. After a forced turnover led to Ashlee Viveros getting over the line but being held up, the Foxes countered off the goalline drop and flanker Raquelle Ortiz juggled a pass and was in at the corner. That made it 12-10.
In response Cal worked the phases and found Bassil for her second. Martinez then claimed her second and it was 22-10 at halftime.
In the second half Claremont's scoring chances failed to yield points. Cal also struggled to build on their score. It wasn't until the final 10 minutes that they pulled away. May Lauritzen scored on a 20-meter eightman pick; Mariah Overby broke through from 60 meters, getting a nice offload from Malina Goldstein, and they added one more.
So it's the #1 team from the Pacific Mountain Conference South against the #2 team from the same conference. these two teams met February 22 with Stanford winning 36-19.
The rematch will be April 19 at Stanford.
