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Alicia Jenkins still gets a little upset whenever she thinks about the final game of her freshman year at Stanford.

The Cardinal thoroughly outplayed Clemson in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA women's soccer tournament, but lost in penalty kicks.

"I was nervous because it was at Santa Clara and we seemed to always have lost on that field," Jenkins said. "For a long time it was not a good feeling going there."

The nervousness has since been replaced with a quiet confidence. Each recruiting class brought in more pieces to the puzzle. Last year was a journey. This year seems more like a mission.

Top-ranked Stanford (20-0) began its chase of the elusive national championship with a 2-0 victory over Northern Arizona on Thursday night and hopes to continue with a win Saturday at 1 p.m.

Jenkins, who started all 23 games, was used primarily as a forward in her rookie campaign. Scoring seemed to the one area in which Stanford lacked depth. Kelley O'Hara, who appeared in 17 games, led the team with nine goals. Hillary Heath, Kristin Stannard, Ali Riley and Jenkins contributed another 12 goals to the team's total of 37.

Katie Riley was also a freshman that season, playing in 20 contests.

"I didn't think I would be playing that much," Jenkins said. "It was a great opportunity to get the playing time and the experience. I learned a lot playing the game."

Jenkins had the sense that Stanford could be one of the best teams in the country even then. The Cardinal had not gone to a Final Four in 15 years and each season seemed destined to be the breakout year.

"We're successful now because we had great players in front of us," Jenkins said. "Rachel Buehler, Shari Summers, Marissa Abegg, Jenny Farenbaugh, Lizzy George, April Wall, Allison Falk, all of them. They were the ones who set the tone. They expected us to step up to their level."
In the past two seasons, Jenkins and her teammates have done exactly that. The Cardinal reached its second straight Sweet Sixteen the following year, losing to Connecticut.

There was a sense, though, things were beginning to change. Christen Press had a solid freshman season, combing with O'Hara for 17 goals and 11 assists. Stannard and Ali Riley added another six and Stanford scored 46 goals.

"It's been amazing," Jenkins said. "You could just see the team develop and each year we got closer and closer."

The loss to the Huskies may have been a defining moment. Jenkins said losses like that stayed in the back of the team's collective memory and was used for motivation.

With the addition of another quality freshmen class last year, which included Castilleja grad Lindsay Taylor, Palo Alto's Teresa Noyola and Camille Levin, Stanford set scoring records, played magnificent defensively and reached the Final Four for the first time in 17 years.

O'Hara, who led the team in goals her first two years with nine, had 13 goals last year and was third on the team behind Taylor and Press, each with 16. Stanford scored a school record 71 goals.

"We were really playing well together last year," Jenkins said. "We were beating teams by three and four goals. It felt like things were clicking and we were playing our game instead of adjusting to what the other team was doing."

It's been more of the same this season, only better.

"Every game we feel like we can play with any team in the country," Jenkins said. "You have to have that confidence and as things play out, you get more confident."

O'Hara, named the Pac-10 Player of the Year on Wednesday, added a school record 23 goals to her total this season. Press added another 16. You know the program has come a long way when you realize that O'Hara and Press combined to score more goals this season than the Cardinal did as a team in O'Hara's freshman season.

The top six points leaders is a microcosm of how Stanford has developed the past four years: senior O'Hara (55 points), junior Press (45), sophomore Taylor (20), freshman Mariah Nogueira (15), freshman Courtney Verloo (14) and sophomore Noyola (13).

Every class has made its own contribution. A total of 15 players have at least an assist, and two others -- freshman Alina Garciamendez and junior Kira Maker -- are major players on the defensive end.

"It's the same fundamental things through it all," Jenkins said. "We owe a lot to the players ahead of us who showed us how to practice and how to work for each other. I feel fortunate to be on this team. The personalities complement each other so well."

Should Stanford win its first two games, it will host the third round the weekend of Nov. 20-22, and meet the survivor of the four teams at Santa Clara, which includes the host Broncos, Michigan State, Oklahoma State and USC.