By JackDougherty, GoPSUsports.com Student StaffWriter
UNIVERSITYPARK, Pa. - As families gather around the country to celebrate Thanksgivingthis week, one large family of 28 travels across the map to sunny Stanford,California, to celebrate the holiday a little differently than everyone else.
No. 10 PennState will face off against powerhouse and No. 1 ranked Stanford in thequarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at 5 p.m. (EST) instead ofcelebrating turkey day with their families.
For mostplayers on the team, there's no where they'd rather spend Thanksgiving.
"I love being with myfamily, but this has been my whole life," senior Frannie Crouse said. "This iswhat we've worked toward and they understand that. I wish I could be with them,but my family is here. We are such a family and we enjoy each other's company."
The Nittany Lions, whohave become incredibly close since beginning their postseason run, hadThanksgiving dinner at head coach Erica Dambach's house Tuesday night. Itwasn't exactly what they're used to, but that just means the team is stillalive for another national championship.
Senior Elizabeth Ball wentthrough the same process in 2015 when she was a part of Penn State's first-evernational title. The team played into December and missed valuable family time,but she said the family that has constituted in Happy Valley makes it all worthit.
For Penn State, the strongbond that has formed in recent weeks has propelled the team into thequarterfinal round. The Nittany Lions are playing their best soccer of theyear, and there's a renewed confidence glowing from each player.
"From the Big Tentournament straight through the NCAA tournament now we're playing good soccer,"Dambach said. "We've put together six, seven game here where we feel like we'replaying some of our best. We're peaking at the right time."
Peaking at the right time.Sound familiar?
The 2015 team peaked atthe end of the season and shut out every team in the NCAA Tournament on theirway to the national title. This year's Nittany Lions are now looking almost asdominant and as complete as that squad was.
Penn State has scored 12 goalsin three tournament games--the team's best stretch all season. Six differentplayers have scored and 10 different players have tallied assists in the NCAATournament.
Penn State just beat a nationalchampionship contender in West Virginia in the Sweet 16. West Virginia was therunner-up last year and was ranked No. 7 before falling to Penn State.
The Mountaineers scoredfirst in the match, which usually guarantees a victory. Just not against thisteam.
Penn State answered fiveminutes later with a goal from Alina Ortega Jurado before Ball and Crouse addedto the lead.
"The belief in this groupright now is stronger than I've ever felt," Dambach said. "We went down a goalagainst West Virginia at their place in the Sweet 16 game, and I don't thinkthat there was a single player of the 28 that felt like we were going to losethat game."
One of the biggest reasonsthe Nittany Lions believe they can run the table and beat anyone in thetournament is their strong nonconference schedule played early in the year.Penn State played West Virginia, BYU, North Carolina, and Virginia earlier thisyear.
"Our coaching staff set usup in the beginning of preseason to play teams that would put us under pressure,so I think that we're all extremely ready," Ball said. "I think that everybody,whether they've been on the team one year or four years, they're ready forwhat's to come."
Stanford will undoubtedlybe Penn State's toughest test so far this year. The Cardinal is 21-1-0 and haswon 19 straight matches since losing to Florida in August. They've been rankedthe No. 1 team in the country for four straight weeks.
Stanford has outscoredopponents 82-7 this year. They average a gaudy 25.5 shots per game and 3.73goals per game.
"They like to keeppossession. They like to keep the ball. They're really comfortable on the ball,so we expect a really good team on both sides of the ball. They're in the EliteEight for a reason, but I like the way we're playing right now and I like theopportunity to go out there and play one of the best teams in the country."
The challenge may bedaunting, but Penn State isn't shying away from the challenge one bit.
"We look at it as anothergame," Crouse said. "We've learned rankings mean absolutely nothing. They're anoutstanding team and we look forward to playing them, but at this pointrankings mean nothing to us."