STANFORD, Calif. – Playing on campus for the first since classes began on September 21, the No. 3 Stanford men's soccer team played to its only draw of the season, battling to a 0-0 tie against Washington on Friday night at Cagan Stadium. The Cardinal had numerous scoring chances throughout the match – 28 shots, including 11 on goal – but was unable to push the ball past Ryan Herman, the Huskies' 6-foot-7 goalkeeper.
The result snapped Stanford's (8-1-1, 1-0-1) eight game win streak, the fourth longest in program history. Still, head coach Jeremy Gunn was pleased with his side's play in its second conference matchup.
"I thought we were excellent," Gunn said. "In the first twenty minutes, they clipped balls at us and caused us a little bit of bother. But after that, it was all us. They had the odd chance here and there, but I was really pleased with how we played. Our defending was excellent and our attacking was great, but we just had to eke-out an opportunity somewhere and we had plenty of looks."
And there was perhaps no better look than the shot redshirt senior midfielder Eric Verso took in the 70th minute that deflected off the post, with freshman Amir Bashti also missing the follow wide. Verso's younger brother, Mark, had a couple of opportunities not long thereafter, but was unable to convert. Bashti showed off some slick moves on the edge of the box in the 86th and sent the ball in front, but no one was home.
Stanford had additional chances in overtime, including a header attempt from Bashti in the 101st and two late strikes from senior Ty Thompson.
CHANCES ON CHANCES: In total, the Cardinal fired 28 shots in Herman's direction and peppered the UW keeper with 11 on frame. It was Stanford's highest shot total since October 20, 2014 against Cal (35), its most on goal since November 7, 2014 against Washington (13) and the Huskies' 11 saves were the most for a Stanford opponent since the same Washington team and graduated goalkeeper Spencer Richey stopped the same number in that November 7 match.
JEREMY GUNN: "We created more chances against this team than we had against anybody all year long. Sometimes you score a world-class goal, and other times you just miss--it hits the post, the side netting, we've headed it wide, we've had the keeper save it. It was a bit of everything so to be honest. I thought we broke a very good, stout defense. It was just a case of 'we couldn't bury one tonight.'"
EPSTEIN CHALLENGED: Stanford goalie Andrew Epstein was called upon to make four saves on Friday night, more than double his season average of 1.78 (second lowest in college soccer entering the game). With the shutout--his fifth of the season--Epstein, a junior electrical engineering major from Fort Collins, Colo., lowered his total goals against average to 0.48, and home GAA to 0.16.
JEREMY GUNN III: "I think he made one big save when they got the counter and they got in. The other ones were mainly routine ones. I don't think we were that broken. There were a couple of headers and different things that give you a scary moment. He's going to get called upon in games and sometimes we get spoiled here. We're playing so well, but our keeper's not having to touch the ball much. I thought he did what he needed to do."
STILL UNBEATEN: Despite snapping its eight-match win streak, the Cardinal ran its unbeaten stretch to nine, the program's longest since it went 11 straight without a loss in 2001. Stanford is also 6-0-4 in its last 10 conference games and 14-1-5 in its last 20 at Cagan Stadium.
UP NEXT: No. 16 Oregon State (7-3-1, 2-0-1) is next up on Stanford's docket on Sunday at 1 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks). The Cardinal has dominated the all-time series against the Beavers, losing only six times in 41 total matches; under Gunn's watch, the Card is undefeated (5-0-1) versus OSU.