Recap: Stanford Men’s Soccer falls out of top ten following loss to Virginia

Credit: Maddie Hinkley/ISI Photos On Friday, Stanford men’s soccer fell to Virginia at home by a final score of 3-2. Brendan Lambe (15:39), Marco Dos Santos (71:32), and Samuel Oulouheu (73:23) scored for Virginia while Jack Pymm (48:08) and Yujin Kikuchi (59:27) scored for Stanford. Caleb Tunks was the winning goalkeeper for Virginia, totaling six saves and two goals allowed in 90:00 of play while Rowan Schnebly was the losing goalkeeper for Stanford with one save and three goals allowed in 90:00 of play. Virginia improves to 4-4-1 overall and 2-1 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 7-2-1 overall and 0-2-1 in the ACC, falling from No. 6 to No. 14 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. BOX SCORE: Virginia at Stanford-Friday, September 25th “Just really pleased with our performance in so many ways,” Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said after the match. “Look, we really dominated the game in so many departments other than the one that matters and you know, there’s a poor first goal to give up, because we just weren’t assertive enough. But we’ve played really great. We were so good in so many departments and you know, the first goal is a little bit too easy that we’re broken down, but then it takes a deflection and you know, you create your own luck in life, but today it just seemed like so many of those moments, again, just went against us. “I mean, they score a deflected goal where we blocked it, they get a handball penalty where it’s completely inadvertent. There’s no way the ball is going to score. It’s just a header. Go easy to the keeper and it’s just really unlucky. And then we had so many great attacking moments. You know, I mean, the first half, we were all over them and we had them on the ropes, you know? “And so, just really pleased and proud with how we played. And then, you know, I mean, even we give away a free kick and then it’s just a really unfortunate own goal, you know?…You’d have to look at it. I don’t know if it was going in or not…But again, it’s like, you know, we’ve, so we’ve contrived to let in two deflections and an inadvertent, unlucky handball and you think, how many other shots did they have? I mean, it’s just incredible isn’t it? And so, you know, it’s a disappointing result, but it’s such an encouraging performance and yeah, we just have to turn the performance into the result in that moment, really?” Stanford was the first team to get a shot off at 8:04 and 8:07 as Trevor Islam had a shot blocked followed by a shot going off target. Dylan Groeneveld then had a shot blocked at 10:55. That gave Stanford a 3-0 advantage in shots. However, Virginia would be the first team to score at 15:39 as Brendan Lambe found the top left of the goal off his right foot right after a goal kick as Alex Parvu and Marco Dos Santos got credited with the assist. That gave Virginia a 1-0 lead. Stanford would then get corner kicks at 19:36, 30:58, 32:35, 36:00, 38:20, 39:03, and 39:11, unable to even up the match before halftime. Virginia would take a 1-0 lead into halftime as Stanford just couldn’t get a shot to fall. During halftime, Stanford honored their three-peat national championship teams (2015-17). It was truly an amazing run the Cardinal had during that stretch. It was cool for the fans to cheer on the returning players from those squads during the break. At 48:06, Virginia would commit a foul, giving Jack Pymm a penalty kick opportunity for Stanford. Pymm would find the bottom right of the net, tying it up 1-1. Stanford would then get a corner kick at 53:43 before getting called for a yellow card at 55:26. Soon thereafter at 59:27, Yujin Kikuchi would find the top right of the goal off his right foot as Timothy Fortier got credited with the assist. That made it a 2-1 lead for Stanford. At this point, the Cardinal had all the momentum. The Cavaliers didn’t give up though. They kept battling and got rewarded with a penalty kick opportunity at 71:32 as a handball was called against the Cardinal. Marco Dos Santos would bury the chance, finding the bottom right of the net. That tied up the match 2-2. Disaster then struck for the Cardinal at 73:23 as Samuel Oulouheu found the bottom right of the goal off his left foot via a free kick opportunity just outside the box. That made it a 3-2 lead for the Cavaliers. Stanford would get corner kicks at 76:20, 81:08, 88:06, and 89:52, unable to even up the match. 3-2 Virginia walked out with a win as the Cardinal and their fans were stunned. To quickly touch on Virginia, this was a fantastic win for them. They came cross country and picked up a huge win on the road against a Stanford team that was ranked No. 6. They kept battling the entire match and never gave up. In the end, they were rewarded for their belief. As for Stanford, this is a disappointing loss. They out-shot Virginia 26-4 and had plenty of chances. They could have easily scored four goals and still come out on top. They should feel encouraged by all the chances they created while also critically evaluating what they need to do to get those chances to drop in the future. “I’ve had enough practice at this message because it just happened last weekend,” Gunn said in reference to the previous loss to Notre Dame. “And so, we have to be accountable for ourselves and figure out how to change some of those things. But again today, I mean look at, I mean, look, you just have to watch the game to see what happened, you know? That in itself is enough and so, really encouraged with what we did, really encouraged in so many ways and you know, we’ve just got to kick on. We’ve just got to kick on and we’ve got to know we’re on the right track. We know it’s gonna be difficult, we know we’re gonna have frustrations, and we just have to be strong enough to stick together and keep working, you know? Simple as that.” Up next for Stanford is a road match at Duke on Friday, October 2nd at 4:00 PM PT on ACCNX. Note: Cardinal Sports Report has you covered for all the latest news on Stanford athletics. Subscribe to Cardinal Sports Report and get your first year 60% off! Don’t miss out on this great offer! 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