SAN JOSE, Calif. – With a flick of her right foot, Stanford sophomore Sophia Smith finished off a hat trick in the College Cup semifinals, helping the Cardinal dismantle UCLA, 4-1, at Avaya Stadium on Friday night.
The 52nd-minute goal was the 17th goal in a comeback season for Smith, who missed half of the 2018 campaign, including the postseason, with a broken leg.
Smith ignited and bookended a flurry of three goals in 22 minutes of the first half to wipe out an early deficit and send Stanford (23-1) to its fifth NCAA final. Stanford is seeking its third title overall and second in three years.
"She's worked so hard," said Paul Ratcliffe, Stanford's Knowles Family Director of Women's Soccer. "With each game, she's getting better and better. I've said all the time, she's going to come up big."
And she did.
The Cardinal will play nemesis North Carolina (24-1-1), a 2-1 semifinal winner over Washington State, on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU), setting up a College Cup rematch. The Cardinal never has beaten North Carolina in the postseason -- a Kelley O'Hara and Christen Press team fell 1-0 in the 2009 final in College Station, Texas, and the Cardinal lost 1-0 in double overtime in the 2012 semifinals in San Diego.
In this one, Stanford exploited UCLA's three-player back line, attempting to isolate Smith on the wing against a single defender. It worked three times for goals. Not only was it Smith who put the Bruins on their heels, but Madison Haley, whose back-to-the-goal play in the middle sprung her teammates into the open. The formula worked in resounding fashion.
"It seems like it's all come together, finally," Smith said of her journey back. "It takes a big mental toll on you. I was lucky to have all the resources I needed to come back better and stronger."
After a 20-yard left-footed shot by UCLA's Chloe Castaneda glanced off the fingertips of Stanford goalkeeper Katie Meyer at 6:09, under the crossbar and into the net, Stanford responded quickly.
Smith took a short pass from Kiki Pickett and, from the front of the Stanford bench, drove straight at the goal from about 40 yards. A defender tracked her inside the box, only for Smith to cut toward the end line. The extra space was enough for Smith to curl her right foot around the ball. Despite a bad angle, the hard shot found a gap at the near post for the goal, tying the match at 1-1 only 2:25 later.
Carly Malatskey struck a right-footed shot off the fingertips of UCLA goalkeeper Teagan Mcah in the 21st minute to give Stanford a 2-1 lead, taking a square pass from Madison Haley to free herself in the box. It was Stanford's 100th goal of the season, extending a school record for the nation's highest scoring team. No other team in Division I women's soccer has scored 100 goals since 2005.
In the 31st minute, Stanford needed a possession of only seven touches. Meyer punted a ball downfield, Haley collected and two touches later a diagonal ball was running into the path of Smith. The sophomore took two touches to the right and another to the left before powering a left-footed shot that deflected off Mcah's hands against the right post and over the line for a 3-1 lead.
The Bruins (18-5-1) had a chance to get back into the match when Stanford defender Kennedy Wesley toppled UCLA's Mia Fishel inside the penalty area, setting up a Fishel penalty kick. But Meyer dived to her left to make the save at the post and Smith sprinted from outside the box to clear the rebound away before Fishel could get to it, in the waning minutes of the first half to preserve the two-goal lead.
"The momentum definitely changed on the penalty kick," Ratcliffe said. "That was a massive play."
Smith closed out the scoring when defender Sam Hiatt brought the ball up from the opposite end of the field and the UCLA never brought up a player to mark her. With Smith alongside, Hiatt finally passed to the right and allowed Smith one more opportunity to work her magic against a defender one-on-one. Just like her first goal, Smith cut right and shot with her right foot from an acute angle to beat the keeper.
Stanford, winners of five consecutive Pac-12 titles, beat UCLA for the seventh consecutive time. This was their third College Cup matchup and first that wasn't decided by a single goal. In 2009, Press struck a golden goal to beat the Bruins, 2-1, in an overtime semifinal, and in 2017, Stanford got a late goal from Jaye Boissiere to break a tie in a 3-2 championship final victory.
To illustrate Stanford's dominance this season, the Cardinal is 8-0 against ranked teams and has outscored them 25-6.
North Carolina, a 21-time national champion, is a program that is familiar on this stage.
"When you get to this stage, it's all about mentality," Ratcliffe said. "Imposing your will on the opposition is key."
That will be Stanford's challenge on Sunday.
