MONTREAL, Quebec – The television froze in Paul Ratcliffe’s hotel room.
The Stanford women’s soccer coach, in Seattle on a recruiting trip, had no patience for technical difficulties while watching the United States play Germany in the Women’s World Cup semifinal Tuesday. He abandoned the TV and found one downstairs in the hotel bar.
Good thing. He watched one of his former players, Kelley O’Hara, score the clinching goal in a 2-0 victory at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, sending the U.S. to Sunday’s final in Vancouver against Japan or England.
O’Hara, Stanford class of 2010, entered the match in the 75th minute as a rightside midfielder. The U.S. was protecting a 1-0 lead and O’Hara was a smart choice for her ability to both defend and attack.
In the 2012 Olympics, she played every minute of the Americans’ gold-medal run at left outside back. At Stanford in 2009, she set a school season record with 26 goals (tied a year later by her U.S. teammate Christen Press) while leading the Cardinal to its first NCAA final. Five players from that 25-1 Stanford team were in this World Cup.
Her versatility was ideal because coach Jill Ellis, whose UCLA team was victimized twice by O’Hara’s Stanford side in 2009, could bring on an extra defender without having to worry about her team falling back defensively. Besides adding strength in defense, O’Hara also had the offensive skills to continue to allow the U.S. to press forward.
Sure enough, in the 84th minute, Carli Lloyd got around the German defense on the left side and sent a cross into the goal mouth. O’Hara anticipated the play by reaching a spot just outside the six-yard box, waiting patiently as Lloyd worked the defense, and then bolted forward and the ball swung across.
With a defender in step, O’Hara volleyed the ball into the net from close range. It was her first international goal, in her 62nd national-team appearance.
“I’ve seen her score like that at Stanford quite often,” Ratcliffe said. “She has an unbelievable change of pace, and just beat her player to the ball. Unbelievable.”
O’Hara played in the Cardinal attack all four years and scored 57 goals. She won the Hermann Trophy as college soccer’s top player in 2009, and had a memorable match that year when she scored a hat trick in a 4-1 victory over a rival California team that included U.S. superstar Alex Morgan. In 2008, her breakaway tying goal late against North Carolina in an early-season home draw signified the emergence of Stanford as one of the nation’s elite programs.
Besides being one of the fittest players ever at Stanford – she was a competitive triathlete growing up in Peachtree City, Georgia – O’Hara was determined. Diving headers, breakaway goals, collisions with defenders, vocal leadership -- O’Hara was unafraid to push the envelope.
“The thing that stands out the most is her competitiveness,” said Ratcliffe, heading into his 13th season at Stanford. “She’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever coached. No doubt about it.”
O’Hara was versatile enough to play anywhere at Stanford, but Ratcliffe put her up top because she was such a threat.
“Kelley’s the type of player you have to have on the field,” he said. “I wanted her as high as possible to because of the danger she provided with her quickness and athletic ability.”
It was unplanned, but Ratcliffe was going to be in British Columbia this weekend anyway. It turns out two of his Stanford players, O’Hara and Press, will be in the World Cup final at B.C. Place. This time, he doesn’t want to rely on the TV. He’s determined to find a ticket.