STANFORD, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer lost a tight 1-0 battle against top-ranked Stanford on Tuesday night at Cagan Stadium to drop their fifth-straight match. The Cardinal remained undefeated at 7-0-1 getting the lone goal of the match late in the first half from Jayden Fitzgerald Boes.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- In the 43rd minute, Fitzgerald Boes found the back of the net when he back heeled the shot from Timothy Fortier. On the play, Bronco goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn deflected a centering pass that bounced off a Bronco defender to the foot of Fortier who struck one atop the 18. The shot looked to be going wide left of the post but Fitzgerald Boes redirected it with his right heel.
- Much of the opening half was scoreless through a physical middle stretch with Stanford generating six shots and a corner kick during that frame but Ozburn made two of his five saves to keep it a scoreless game.
- Alen Begovic recorded the Broncos' first shot in the 36th minute, and Stanford answered with two corner kicks before breaking through with a goal.
- Begonic nearly had the equalizer just before intermission but his shot was saved by Rowan Schnebly as the Cardinal took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
- Right out of intermission, Stanford had an opportunity to double it's lead when Jude Stone had a close range shot but Ozburn was once again up to the task turning the shot away.
- The second half saw a strong performance from Santa Clara (2-5-0) who were able to control the pace of play better.
- For the Broncos, three of the five second half shots came in the waning minutes of the game as they chased after the equalizer but were unable to get one past Schnebly. It included a pair of shots from Diego Jalleau and one from Will Wiersdorf who put his lone attempt on goal.
NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES:
- Santa Clara trails the series 22-26-7.
- Yu Yokokawa got his first start of the season.
- Itamar Efrat made his season debut coming off the bench.
- SCU continued their first half struggle as they have yet to score in the opening 45 this season.
HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:
Head Coach Cam Rast on the game:
"The way we competed tonight is how we always want to compete. Our approach was good and I liked how we moved the ball for large stretches of the game which was encouraging. But we only had a couple of moments and thats our challenge where we want to create more opportunities. And that's really been our challenge this season so far. In the first half, Stanford pinned us but in the second half, we played sharper and moved better. While I was pleased with our ball movement for the most part, it needs to translate to shots and more goal scoring opportunities. We can break down the opposition but it has to lead to chances and that's what we'll need to work more on with one game left to go before the start of conference."
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara returns home to host San Diego State on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. PT. Click here for tickets.
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