Oct. 29, 2010
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford suffered a tough road loss at the hands of Washington, Friday night in the rain at Cagan Stadium. After an early red card, the Huskies played down a man for 80 minutes, but were able to persevere to earn the Pac-10 road victory. The loss drops Stanford to 7-9-0 (3-5-0 Pac-10), while the Huskies improved to 9-4-1 (3-3-0 Pac-10).
Stanford got off to a quick start as Dersu Abolfathi had a pair of chances in the opening minutes. In the third minute, he carried his dibble for 50 yards down the center of the field and blasted a shot that hit off the right post. Three minutes later, Abolfathi had a nifty turn in the box, but his shot sailed high.
The early chances gave Stanford some momentum, but a red card to Washington defender Taylor Mueller gave Stanford a man advantage for the remainder of play.
Despite being a man short, Washington continued to battle and took a scoreless draw to halftime. The Huskies even managed to keep the scoring chances the same with both teams taking seven shots in the half.
In the second half, Stanford began to push more players forward and the Huskies were forced to chase. Stanford began to control play as Washington looked fatigued having to have 10 men do the work of 11.
The Cardinal outshot Washington 12-3 in the half and had several good chances, but were just unable to finish a go-ahead goal. Cameron Lamming and Bobby Warshaw continuously moved forward from their defensive positions, combining for nine shots, but unable to beat Husky goalkeeper Richey Spencer.
In the 84th minute, Washington sprung a counter-attack to create its first good chance of the half. One chance was all the Huskies needed as Brent Richards played a beautiful through ball to Matt Van Houten who finished the goal with a firm shot into the lower corner.
One defensive lapse by Stanford was all Washington needed to take the lead and hang on for a improbable road victory down a man.
Stanford will now look to rebound on Senior Day, Sunday at 1:00pm, when it takes on Oregon State at Cagan Stadium in the final home match of the season.