Irish Inch Past CardinalIrish Inch Past Cardinal
Men's Soccer

Irish Inch Past Cardinal

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Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Stanford scored to close the first half, Notre Dame caught its first goal in the final minutes of the second and the No. 4 Irish converted a free kick in the second overtime period to beat the No. 15 Cardinal at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Friday night, 2-1.
 
Stanford (0-1-2) closes out the weekend tournament against No. 5 Indiana on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PT in a game televised on the Big Ten Network.

"People don't normally see the fine print, but I'm incredibly proud of how we played today and of the work we put into the game," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "I truly feel we were hard done by today and that has to be tough for the players."
 
The Cardinal was strong throughout regulation and took its first lead of the young season in the 42nd minute when Tanner Beason and Drew Skundrich linked up for the second straight game. Beason crossed it in from the left onto the head of Skundrich, who beat Notre Dame's Chris Hubbard to the near post and put Stanford on top.

A right back last season, Skundrich has moved up into Stanford's central midfield and been a potent threat in the box. He headed home his first career goal on a nearly identical feed from Beason in last Sunday's 2-2 draw with Saint Mary's and has put six of his 10 shots this season on frame.
 
Stanford remained on the front foot coming out of the break and when Notre Dame (3-0-0) finally had a strong chance, Andrew Epstein snuffed them out. The redshirt junior first saved a rocket from the left boot of Thomas Ueland in the 51st minute. Ian Aschieris had the rebound fall right to his feet in front of a wide open goal, but Epstein climbed off his back and stretched far behind to snag Notre Dame's chance out of the air.

The Cardinal went down a man for the second consecutive match when Justin Kahl received his second yellow at 69:44. As it did against the Gaels, Stanford's defense remained strong with 10 men, but in the 86th minute the Irish cut a ball back in the box and a little toe poke from Jon Gallagher snuck its way past Epstein to level the score.
 
In the 104th, Notre Dame's Brandon Aubrey fired home a top-shelf, free kick from 30 yards out to send Stanford to its first loss in its past nine games.

"We were comfortable and in a good position, but Notre Dame has a fantastic team and hung in there in what was a great contest," Gunn added. "We'll continue to push and are looking forward to Sunday."
 
Epstein tied a career high with six saves, a number he has reached on four occasions. With 123 career stops, the electrical engineering major inched closer to 10th on the program's all-time list behind Drew Hutchins (129).