STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford's roll was halted on the road Friday night. After scoring 11 goals in its past three games, all victories, the No. 23 Cardinal was held to one late tally by San Francisco at Negoesco Stadium and dropped its final nonconference match to the Dons, 2-1.
Stanford heads into Pac-12 play with a 3-2-3 overall record and will begin its quest for a third consecutive conference title next Sunday, Oct. 2 when it hosts rival California at 5 p.m.
"The whole game was won and lost in the first 15 minutes tonight," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "San Francisco was fired up, had a tremendous crowd and great excitement. They were playing like it was a cup final and we were playing like it was a Sunday afternoon stroll. All credit to the way they played, but we have to look ourselves in the mirror and see about our attitude."
Stanford had the ball for stretches, but was unable to find the back of the goal until it was down two in the 86th minute. Bryce Marion raced to the endline and crossed it to Foster Langsdorf, who sent what was looking like his seventh goal of the season until a Dons (3-5-0) defender stepped in front. Multiple ricochets later on attempted clearances, the ball bounded off USF's Aaron Lombardi and past Andre Glasnovic for an own goal.
Prior to that, Stanford's offensive effort had been characterized by a bevy of near misses. Left winger Sam Werner was looking for right winger Bryce Marion on a run to the far post, but his cross was just out of Marion's reach in the 29th. Drew Skundrich played a through ball to Marion in the 50th who was wide in his attempt to beat Glasnovic to the far post. Tomas Hilliard-Arce in the 58th and Adrian Alabi in the 73rd each had headers from the middle of the box that sailed high.
The Dons went up late in the first half when Davi Ramos sent one on frame in the 37th minute. Andrew Epstein made a diving save, but the ball skimmed to the top of the six-yard box where Jorge Ruiz was waiting for the rebound to send home his first of the season.
David Garrett gave USF some breathing room in the 56th minute when Ramos and Aaron Lombardi cycled the ball from the left side of the field to Garrett in the middle of the box eight yards out.
"When you allow a team to get happy you have to fight from behind it becomes more difficult," Gunn added. "We just didn't have the right mentality going into tonight. Congratulations to USF. I thought they played very well and pressed very well. It was a frantic game, but they managed to put away their chances just a little bit better than we did."
The result was the Cardinal's first shutout loss allowing more than one goal since a 2-0 defeat at Creighton on Aug. 29, 2014.
A crowd of 1,900 watched the match on The Hilltop, USF's first sellout since 2011.
