Dec. 7, 2002
Stanford, Ca - For the second straight year, the Stanford men's soccer team is heading to the NCAA College Cup.
Buoyed by goals from Roger Levesque and Johanes Maliza, the ninth-ranked Cardinal defeated 14th-ranked Clemson, 2-0, in an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal match on Saturday night before a crowd of 2,180 fans at Harry Maloney Field.
The Cardinal, now 17-4-2, will play the Sunday winner of the Boston College-Creighton game in the semi-finals on Dec. 13 at the College Cup (NCAA Final Four) in Dallas, Tx.
Stanford scored both its goals in the first half. Roger Levesque, the team's leading scorer, but who had not scored in a goal in the previous 13 games, made up for lost time when he took a pass from Maliza and fired in a header past Clemson goalkeeper Doug Warren at 23:20.
Then at 30:48, the Cardinal added an insurance goal when Maliza took a pass from Matt Janusz and fired a goal from 12 yards away.
"Hopefully we will have two more games," said Maliza. The College Cup semifinal winners (Dec. 13) will meet in the championship game on Dec. 15.
Stanford outshot Clemson, 11-3, and held the Tigers without a shot in the first half.
"Stanford's defense has big people," said Clemson's leading scorer Dimelon Westfield. "Every time I got the ball there were two or three guys on me. It was difficult to do much offensively."
Westfield, who had entered the game with 20 goals, was held to no shots.
"Give credit to Stanford," said Clemson head coach Trevor Adair. "They deserved to win. Stanford is well-organized, athletic and experienced. They play a style that suits them. They know what to do. They will be difficult to beat. We didn't give ourselves a chance to win. We were intimidated, scared. But we showed a lot of character in the second half."
Stanford has beaten Portland, Furman and Clemson to advance to the College Cup. "We are playing as well as we have all year," said Cardinal head coach Bret Simon. "We defeated a great Clemson team. We have met all the challenges this year, and I think we are a better team than we were a month ago. We have been a work in progress. We are maybe a notch better this year than last year."
Last season, the Cardinal chalked up a 19-2-1 record.
UCLA defeated Penn State, 7-1, to become the second Pac-10 team to advance to the College Cup. The Bruins will face Maryland in the other semifinal game. The Terrapins shutout Connecticut, 3-0.
"We are looking forward to our next game," said Levesque, one of five seniors on the Cardinal team. "We really believe in oursevles. The coaches believe in us."
Clemson (14-5-3)00=0 Stanford (17-4-2)20=2
Scorers
Stanford - Roger Levesque at 23:20, assist to Johanes Maliza
Stanford - Johanes Maliza at 30:48, assist to Matt Janusz
Saves
Clemson - Doug Warren (5)
Stanford - Robby Fulton (20