Oct. 16, 2009
San Diego, Calif. - No. 18 Stanford earned a dramatic 2-1 overtime win at San Diego State on Friday night from The Sports Deck. Ryan Thomas notched the golden goal just 1:38 into the overtime period to lift Stanford to 8-2-1 (2-1-1 Pac-10). The Cardinal showed their resilience after falling behind to come back for the key Pac-10 road victory.
The Cardinal and Aztecs played to a scoreless first half, although Stanford dominated play for most of the half.
Stanford had several opportunities to get on the scoreboard, but could not find the back of the net. In the second minute Dominique Yahyavi broke free on the left wing and put a shot on goal, but San Diego State keeper Brad Byrns made the save.
Later in the half Clayton Holz had a scoring opportunity on a mistake by the Aztec defense, but Byrns came out before he could get a shot off. Adam Jahn also had chance from in the box, but his shot went wide.
The scoreless tie was broken just six minutes into the second frame when Matt McManus of San Diego State scored his first goal of the season.
For awhile it appeared as if San Diego State might squeak out a win, despite the Cardinal outshooting the Aztecs 7-2 in the second half.
However, with just over three minutes remaining Garrett Gunther scored the equalizer to bring Stanford back into the game. Gunther used his head to finish a perfect cross from Dominique Yahyavi. The goal was the third of the season by Gunther, all scored on the road.
Yahyavi collected his third assist of the year, tying Evan Morgan for the team lead.
With the match knotted at one, the teams went to overtime, but it would not take long for Stanford to come out on top.
Just 1:38 into the first overtime period a San Diego State foul set up a free kick from 24 yards out. Standing over the ball was Ryan Thomas who used his left foot to bend the ball up and over the wall into the top left corner of the goal. It was a fabulous goal that comes with huge conference ramifications.
The Cardinal will try for one more road victory on their trip to Southern California on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 1:00 pm. This time it will be No. 4 UCLA that stands in the way of Stanford and another road victory.