Stanford women’s soccer coach Paul Ratcliffe didn’t hold back offering his opinion of the KSU Soccer Stadium.
“I thought this venue was incredible,” Ratcliffe said. “I think the field is amazing. The stadium is amazing.”
After pounding Florida State 3-0 on Friday night in the first semifinal of the College Cup, Stanford and Ratcliffe will have another opportunity to enjoy the surroundings. The Cardinal will play Duke, which beat Wake Forest 4-1 in the second semifinal Friday night, in Sunday’s championship.
It’s the first College Cup held at Kennesaw State’s year-old stadium and the second NCAA soccer championship held in Georgia.
A freshman from Coppell, Texas, led top-ranked and undefeated Stanford (24-0-1), which will play for its first national title Sunday after falling short in the past three College Cups.
On a counterattack with midfielder Teresa Noyola, Cardinal forward Chioma Ubogagu ricocheted a shot off FSU goalie Kelsey Wys’ leg from about 10 yards for Stanford’s first goal in the 22nd minute for a 1-0 lead.
About two minutes later, Ubogagu out-raced a Seminoles defender down the left flank and served a ball into the penalty box that midfielder Kristy Zurmuhlen slid past Wys at the near post for a 2-0 edge.
“I just felt really comfortable,” Ubogagu said. “I wasn’t really nervous going into the game.”
“I’ve been blessed to have some great freshmen, and ‘Chi’ is way up there,” Ratcliffe said. “It seems like in the big games she steps forward.”
Stanford defender Alina Garciamendez finished the scoring in the 64th minute, going up to head a long serve into the box past Wys.
Pressing forward early to try to crack Stanford’s defense, No. 9 FSU (18-7-1) produced numerous opportunities early, but failed to convert. Stanford goalie Emily Oliver earned her 11th shutout with six saves, including a few dives to scuttle shots.
“Maybe if we were a little better, a little more precise on our finishing, maybe the result would have been different,” FSU coach Mark Krikorian said.
The No. 3 Blue Devils (22-3-1) also will play for their first title with their defeat of the No. 6 Demon Deacons (18-4-4) in the first College Cup with three teams from the same conference. In the 43rd minute, defender Kim DeCesare slammed a loose ball in the penalty box past goalie Aubrey Bledsoe, triggering an onslaught on Wake Forest, which hadn’t given up four goals since the 2009 season.
Duke coach Robbie Church said that his team played nervous early, but grew stronger over the course of the first half.
In the first half, "we started to play better and pick it up," DeCesare said. "The goal was coming."
"The goal at the end of the half was huge, absolutely huge," he said.
Duke forward Mollie Pathman added two goals in the second half, spearing home a deflected shot in the 51st minute for a 2-0 lead and then scoring on a penalty kick in the 58th. Pathman’s second goal answered a free-kick goal by Wake Forest forward Rachel Nuzzolese less than a minute earlier.
The Blue Devils stand 90 minutes from their first national championship, a goal they have pointed themselves at since beginning training in August, and some long before that.
"I grew up watching the College Cup in Cary, N.C., always wanting to be there, always wanting to wear my Duke uniform," said Pathman, from Durham. "It's an amazing opportunity and we're really excited for it."
Duke, which has now allowed 12 goals in 25 games this season, kept high-scoring Wake Forest forward Katie Stengel from scoring with a constant mindfulness of her whereabouts. The Blue Devils emphasized keeping a player behind Stengel and preventing her from turning hard to the goal. Stengel took one shot in the game.
"We could just not give her any room, any space," Church said.
The stadium’s 8,300 seats were nearly filled on a cool night filled with history for Kennesaw State (announced attendance was 9,253). It was arguably the biggest event yet held in the $16.5 million stadium, which opened in 2010 and was paid for with donations and student fees, and a considerable symbol of the school’s progress in athletics.
The school, which opened in 1963 as a 1,000-student junior college, began competing in athletics in the early 1980s and moved to Division I only in 2005.
The stadium was built with the intent of hosting events such as the College Cup and professional and international soccer matches.
Before the first semifinal, two of the stadium project’s leaders, Kennesaw State women’s soccer coach Rob King and Atlanta Beat owner T. Fitz Johnson, watched the crowd filter in from Johnson’s midfield suite.
“Seeing all the smiles of all the girls coming in and just how excited everybody was, it was a good realization of it all coming together,” King said.
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