For the first time since 2002, the Stanford women’s soccer team has an invitation to the NCAA Sweet 16. The invite arrived on Sunday with Stanford’s 2-0 win over Southern California, and Stanford will host the NCAA third round.

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Freshman midfielder Kristen Stannard and the Stanford women’s soccer team will make their first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in four years this Friday at home. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6549
Gus Jewell

Freshman midfielder Kristen Stannard and the Stanford women’s soccer team will make their first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in four years this Friday at home.

Two days after a first-round win over Nevada, Stanford (15-6-1) took the second-round victory in Santa Clara thanks to freshman forward Kelley O’Hara’s two goals. Both teams played a solid defensive game in the first half, and each team managed only one shot each in the first 20 minutes of the afternoon game. The Cardinal finally broke through when sophomore midfielder Lea MacKinna fed the ball to O’Hara for the first goal at the 21:55 mark. O’Hara was 10 yards out when she notched the goal from the left side.

MacKinna, who leads the team in assists, earned her seventh of the season.

USC (11-5-5) and Stanford continued to play well, and Stanford was unable to get past Trojan’s goalkeeper Veronica Simonton again until the 70th minute. Ali Riley made Simonton commit early, leaving an open net for O’Hara’s second goal. O’Hara finished a cross from the eight yards out for her ninth goal of the season.

Stanford junior goalkeeper Erica Holland was kept on her toes by the Trojans, especially in the second half. She had seven saves in the match. The Trojans outshot the Card 15-7 with 11 of those shots coming in the final 18 minutes. It was the fourth time in 22 games that the Cardinal were outshot. It was also Stanford’s 14th shutout of the season.

The Cardinal met the Trojans after both teams notched victories in the NCAA first round. Stanford defeated Nevada, 2-1, on Friday at Santa Clara. Riley scored the first goal (her fourth of the year) of the game with an unassisted goal into the left corner in the first half.

The pressure was kept on the Wolfpack, as the Cardinal took a 7-1 shot advantage in the first half. Sophomore Hillary Heath must have fed off her team’s intensity, and she added an insurance goal that would come in handy. The Card took the 2-0 lead with Heath unassisted goal at 81:53.

Nevada did not score until the final minute of the game (89:09) and it was the team’s second shot of the match. Sophomore Randee Robinson came from the left, and her shot bounced off the crossbar and into the net.

Holland had one save while Wolfpack goalkeeper Caitlin Holmes had six. The Cardinal outshot the Wolfpack 17-2.

Stanford will meet Clemson (12-3-7) this Friday at 7 p.m. for the Sweet 16 Round at Maloney Field.