Playing in the College Cup for the first time, Mountain View High graduate Allie Montoya took just 79 seconds to make her mark on the biggest stage in women’s college soccer.
The Stanford sophomore’s shot from the right corner of the box landed in the top left corner of the net, providing the winning goal in the Cardinal’s 2-0 NCAA Tournament semifinal win over BYU and setting up a historic championship match.
When third-ranked Stanford takes on No. 1 Florida State Monday in Cary, N.C. (3 p.m., ESPNU), it will mark the first-ever final between undefeated teams.
Goals figure to be hard to come by Monday. Stanford (20-0-4) leads the nation in goals-against average (0.41) and has posted 20 shutouts in its last 32 matches. Florida State (21-0-1) has only conceded one goal in its last 818 minutes of play and is the first team since 2017 to shut out its first five NCAA Tournament opponents.
So the game might come down to another moment of brilliance like the one Montoya had at the start of the semifinal game Friday night.
“It was pretty surreal,” the Los Altos native said. “I was honestly in shock. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘It’s been two minutes, this is crazy,’ but I was just so happy.”
Montoya started right away last year as a freshman but tore her ACL during the season and was rehabbing when Stanford was eliminated in penalty kicks in the second round by BYU. She then injured her other leg in the preseason this year and missed the first half of this season.
BACK-TO-BACK GOALS 😱
Allie Montoya & Maya Doms give the Cardinal the early 2-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/XH2428RJQ9
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) December 2, 2023
But she made her way back into the lineup in time for Stanford’s postseason run as the Cardinal returned to the College Cup for the first time since winning it all in 2019.
“I was pretty nervous in the hours leading up to the game,” Montoya said. “But right when I stepped on the field, most of those nerves turned into excitement. Just because my team is so supportive and playing with them is so fun that most of the nerves went away.”
Montoya had scored just once in 12 games leading up to the semifinals, but her teammates thought there was a reason.
“They were like, ‘You’re just waiting for the bigger games to score,’ and I was like, ‘I guess so,’” Montoya said.
In that way, Montoya is following in the path of her parents, who both played collegiate soccer at Santa Clara. Albertin, now the coach of Bay FC, was drafted fourth overall by the San Jose Clash in the 1997 MLS Draft, while Erin was drafted by the San Diego Spirit in 2001.
“I believe it wasn’t really a choice (to play soccer) growing up,” Allie said. “But I’m glad it wasn’t, because I’ve always loved the game.”
Next up is a match between two of the most distinguished programs in college soccer – the winner Monday will claim its fourth national title, the most of any program other than North Carolina.
Each school has won twice in the last six years. Florida State, which is in the finals for the fourth time in that span, won in 2021 and 2018. Stanford, in the College Cup for the 10th time in 16 seasons, won most recently in 2019 and 2017.
Source: www.mercurynews.com