[DenverCard]

For what I believe was the fifth time in the last nine games, the men's soccer team had to battle back from behind, and once again the team showed tremendous resilience in beating SDSU 3-2.  A quick recap of the goals is found here:

https://gostanford.com/news/2019/10/31/m...y-win.aspx

Stanford looked rather flat during the first half (perhaps due in part to having played and beaten SDSU just a couple of weeks ago), which has been a recurrent theme in the games in which they've fallen behind.  SDSD outshot them by 9-3 in the first half, and by a 5-1 margin in shots on goal.  Still, SDSU may not have scored but for a rare mistake by Stanford's goalkeeper, Andrew Thomas, who came out too late to reach a long ball, allowing the SDSU player to tip it past him.  Had Thomas arrived earlier he could've reached the ball; alternatively, I think if he'd stayed on his line the player would have had a hard time putting a shot past him with two defenders closing in on him.  Stanford tied the game on a set play (with the long ball coming from Logan Panchot) on header that struck Gabe Segal and went in.  So after trailing for much for first half, it looked like it'd be tied at half, and this viewer could relax a bit.

Ah, but with about 4 minutes left in the half, SDSD took a corner kick, and Panchot was called for a foul in the box.  As seen in the highlights, it was not an obvious foul at alll, and such grabbing usually goes unpunished.  A case could be made that Panchot himself was held.  (The referee made other questionable calls, as well.)  But SDSU was awarded a penalty kick.  Thomas made a valiant effort to stop it, but it was perfectly placed.  So 2-1 at half, and no respite from the anxiety that comes from the finite amount of time a team has to come back.

As has been the case multiple times before, such as at Cal, at Santa Barbara, the UCLA game, and others, Stanford was a different team in the second half.  Coach Gunn kept the two substitute forwards, Arda Bulut and Gabe Segal, in the game to start the second half, thereby keeping the starters, Zach Ryan and Ousseni Bouda, on the bench for 20 or so minutes.  As they watched and waited, it was if the springs of their motivation were coiling ever tighter.

During the second half, Stanford repeatedly mounted threatening attacks, only to come away empty.  And indeed, once Ryan and Bouda returned, the attacks were ever more dangerous.  One chance in particular involved a run to the baseline by Bouda, who placed a pass to the middle that the Stanford player just couldn't quite reach.  And there were other very good chances to score.  Meanwhile, from the beginning of the second half, SDSU seemed intent on shortening the game by taking plenty of time with each goal kick and throw in.  I found myself repeatedly yelling at the screen: "Play the damn game!"

With 20 minutes to go and the score still 2-1 SDSU -- and with me now the too-tightly-wound spring -- Gunn brought back in Bulut to replace Cam Cilley, a defensive midfielder.  And soon thereafter Derek Waldeck knocked the ball forward, whereupon Bouda got to it before the goalkeeper and raced in ahead of the defender.  A lightning strike to tie the game!  Minutes later Ryan, the other forward who had been held out for an uncommonly long time, scored on a header from a corner kick.  And after surviving a flurry of attacks over the last nine minutes, Stanford had the game.  Final shots balanced out to 14-13 Stanford, indicating the change in the control of the game during the 2nd half.

Waldeck was one again the unsung hero.  He was everywhere, and was usually part of any effective attack.  He always plays hard, he seems to be everywhere, and he's got great control of the ball.   I'd vote for him as the team's MVP thus far.  Apart from his one error, Andrew Thomas was again very solid. He absorbs shots like a vacuum, almost never giving up rebounds that in general, and on a few occasions in this game, can result in put-back goals.

During the telecast the announcer mentioned that Tanner Beason's injury is a fractured clavicle.  Per my googling, the injury has a 4-8 week recovery time.  He was injured on October 3rd.  Will there be enough games, including the NCAA tournament, for him to be recovered and fit enough to play?  Charlie Wehan left the game against San Francisco 8 days ago with what looked like a not-severe injury, absent any apparent contact, but he did not play against SDSU.

Next is a UCLA rematch Sunday afternoon.  UCLA has no chance at making the NCAAs, but they are still playing hard (3-3 v. Cal yesterday), and will want to try to put an end to a long losing streak against Stanford. So another battle looms.  Few games in men's soccer are a "gimme" and certainly none of the conference games ever are.

[DenverCard]

For what I believe was the fifth time in the last nine games, the men's soccer team had to battle back from behind, and once again the team showed tremendous resilience in beating SDSU 3-2.  A quick recap of the goals is found here:

https://gostanford.com/news/2019/10/31/m...y-win.aspx

Stanford looked rather flat during the first half (perhaps due in part to having played and beaten SDSU just a couple of weeks ago), which has been a recurrent theme in the games in which they've fallen behind.  SDSD outshot them by 9-3 in the first half, and by a 5-1 margin in shots on goal.  Still, SDSU may not have scored but for a rare mistake by Stanford's goalkeeper, Andrew Thomas, who came out too late to reach a long ball, allowing the SDSU player to tip it past him.  Had Thomas arrived earlier he could've reached the ball; alternatively, I think if he'd stayed on his line the player would have had a hard time putting a shot past him with two defenders closing in on him.  Stanford tied the game on a set play (with the long ball coming from Logan Panchot) on header that struck Gabe Segal and went in.  So after trailing for much for first half, it looked like it'd be tied at half, and this viewer could relax a bit.

Ah, but with about 4 minutes left in the half, SDSD took a corner kick, and Panchot was called for a foul in the box.  As seen in the highlights, it was not an obvious foul at alll, and such grabbing usually goes unpunished.  A case could be made that Panchot himself was held.  (The referee made other questionable calls, as well.)  But SDSU was awarded a penalty kick.  Thomas made a valiant effort to stop it, but it was perfectly placed.  So 2-1 at half, and no respite from the anxiety that comes from the finite amount of time a team has to come back.

As has been the case multiple times before, such as at Cal, at Santa Barbara, the UCLA game, and others, Stanford was a different team in the second half.  Coach Gunn kept the two substitute forwards, Arda Bulut and Gabe Segal, in the game to start the second half, thereby keeping the starters, Zach Ryan and Ousseni Bouda, on the bench for 20 or so minutes.  As they watched and waited, it was if the springs of their motivation were coiling ever tighter.

During the second half, Stanford repeatedly mounted threatening attacks, only to come away empty.  And indeed, once Ryan and Bouda returned, the attacks were ever more dangerous.  One chance in particular involved a run to the baseline by Bouda, who placed a pass to the middle that the Stanford player just couldn't quite reach.  And there were other very good chances to score.  Meanwhile, from the beginning of the second half, SDSU seemed intent on shortening the game by taking plenty of time with each goal kick and throw in.  I found myself repeatedly yelling at the screen: "Play the damn game!"

With 20 minutes to go and the score still 2-1 SDSU -- and with me now the too-tightly-wound spring -- Gunn brought back in Bulut to replace Cam Cilley, a defensive midfielder.  And soon thereafter Derek Waldeck knocked the ball forward, whereupon Bouda got to it before the goalkeeper and raced in ahead of the defender.  A lightning strike to tie the game!  Minutes later Ryan, the other forward who had been held out for an uncommonly long time, scored on a header from a corner kick.  And after surviving a flurry of attacks over the last nine minutes, Stanford had the game.  Final shots balanced out to 14-13 Stanford, indicating the change in the control of the game during the 2nd half.

Waldeck was one again the unsung hero.  He was everywhere, and was usually part of any effective attack.  He always plays hard, he seems to be everywhere, and he's got great control of the ball.   I'd vote for him as the team's MVP thus far.  Apart from his one error, Andrew Thomas was again very solid. He absorbs shots like a vacuum, almost never giving up rebounds that in general, and on a few occasions in this game, can result in put-back goals.

During the telecast the announcer mentioned that Tanner Beason's injury is a fractured clavicle.  Per my googling, the injury has a 4-8 week recovery time.  He was injured on October 3rd.  Will there be enough games, including the NCAA tournament, for him to be recovered and fit enough to play?  Charlie Wehan left the game against San Francisco 8 days ago with what looked like a not-severe injury, absent any apparent contact, but he did not play against SDSU.

Next is a UCLA rematch Sunday afternoon.  UCLA has no chance at making the NCAAs, but they are still playing hard (3-3 v. Cal yesterday), and will want to try to put an end to a long losing streak against Stanford. So another battle looms.  Few games in men's soccer are a "gimme" and certainly none of the conference games ever are.