Ten days into her Stanford women's soccer career, Tierna Davidson made her debut on The Farm during a scrimmage against UC Davis on Thursday night.

The 5-foot-10 freshman out of nearby Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton was in the starting lineup as a holding midfielder and held her own in front of 623 fans at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.

"It's been over two years since I've been waiting for this," said Davidson, who played 75 minutes in a game divided into three 30-minute periods. "It's been crazy, but it finally came and I was so happy that I got a lot of minutes and I got to play with all my teammates that I've been watching over the years. It was kind of surreal. It's like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm on the field now. I'm not in the stands watching.' So it was really fun."

All eight freshmen, including Davidson, logged time during the 3-0 victory over the Aggies, who last year forced the Cardinal into overtime after a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation before Davis succumbed 1-0.

Running the show was Stanford junior Andi Sullivan, an All-America holding midfielder who initiated the opening goal in the fourth minute, then applied the finishing touch with her best Lionel Messi impersonation in the 81st minute.

From 21 yards out, Sullivan struck a flawless free kick over the wall and inside the left post past the helpless keeper to cap the scoring.

"I had just worked on free kicks from that exact spot this week," Sullivan said. "So it was really nice to get an opportunity in the game exactly like it."

"Andi is phenomenal," Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. "What a free kick that was. Unbelievable free kick. She's just a great leader for our team and a catalyst in the midfield, for sure."

After celebrating with teammates, Sullivan ran to the sidelines to hug assistant coach Hideki Nakada, in her third season with the Cardinal.

"Hideki was the one who stayed after and was giving me some tips when I practiced them this week," Sullivan said.

The scary part is that by recruiting Davidson, the Cardinal might have just cloned one of its best players.

"She is our next Andi Sullivan," Ratcliffe said. "She is fantastic. Her and Andi are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the midfield."

For her part, Davidson has eagerly awaited to join Sullivan on the pitch since verbally committing to Stanford.

"I mean, I've been watching her and I'm like, 'Wow, I want to be able to play up to her speed, her skill, her vision,' " she said

"I think we have similar ideas and similar style of play," Sullivan said. "And I think Tierna has fantastic vision, has fantastic touch. She's the real deal, so it's nice to have her stepping right in to play holding mid. I think she adds some nice fluidity and a lot of options to our midfield."

Ratcliffe added: "Her ball-winning ability is fantastic, but also her technical ability on the ball and her decision making is incredible. So she's the whole package. She has a bright future here at Stanford and we're so excited to have her here on the team."

Davidson played deeper in the 4-1-2-3 formation, just ahead of the back four. At times she barked orders to her defenders, which was refreshing to see from a true freshman who won't even begin taking classes for another month.

"As a holding mid, you can't go in shy because that's one of the central roles in the field that needs to talk because they can see a lot of the field," Davidson said. "And so I think that's one way to kind of calm my nerves and calm people's nerves around me, it's to just talk. Even if they know what's happening, just talk and get some communication and it just kind of flows a little bit more."

When necessary, Davidson pushed forward to join the attack, displaying a smooth transition since practice began Aug. 1 into a system that Sullivan already runs at ease.

The perfect example came in the fourth minute. From her own side of the field, Sullivan released freshman forward Sam Tran down the right flank with a long, aerial pass across the pitch. Tran tracked down the ball and her cross from the end line found senior Megan Turner at the far post for a full volley to make it 1-0.

"One of the great things about Stanford and especially Paul, he always encourages us to solve every situation of the game as if it's a puzzle," Sullivan said. "So we go through a lot of the scenarios in a lot of different ways to solve different problems, and I feel fortunate enough to play with a lot of great players who understand the game that much to be able to in the run of play realize who's doing what and what that means they need to do."

No. 5 Stanford opens its season next weekend on the road at Navy on Friday, then at Georgetown on Sunday. And if this scrimmage was any indication, the Cardinal is primed to make another run at the College Cup.

"Our goal always is to win a national championship, so obviously last year stung," said Sullivan, referring to a penalty-kick loss in the NCAA quarterfinals almost nine months ago. "But, yeah, it's a totally new year, so we're going to let it go and we're just going to focus on getting to play at Cagan and doing the best we can and going as far as we can."