STANFORD, Calif. – A header midway through the second overtime gave No. 7 Washington a 2-1 victory over No. 2 Stanford and handed the Cardinal its first loss of the season on Thursday night.
Lucas Meek's sixth goal of the year was the difference in the 105th minute, headed in at the back post off a cross from Blake Bodily. It was the Huskies' (9-1-0, 3-0-0) first victory over the Cardinal (7-1-1, 1-1-0) since 2016 in what was the first matchup with both sides in the top 10 since 2014.
"It was a hard-fought battle between two very good teams," Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn said. "That's what we always expect when we play each other. We dug in, we fought and we competed, but if we're going to be happy giving teams a head start it's always going to be more difficult."
Gunn was speaking of Washington's first tally, which Gio Miglietti put home in the 16th minute off the rebound after Jaret Townsend's initial attempt struck the post. The Cardinal has now been down within the first 20 minutes in three of its last four outings.
"Washington was better than us in the first half and was well-worthy of being up," Gunn added. "We got back into the game straightaway, but we just have not started sharp enough. It's something the players absolutely have to correct and will correct."
For the third time in four games, the Cardinal battled back to even the score. Stanford came out of the locker room on the front foot in the second half and broke through in the 48th minute when Zach Ryan curled in his left-footed shot from the top of the box.
Stanford's exuberance was short-lived, however, as redshirt senior captain and MAC Hermann Trophy candidate Tanner Beason went down following a challenge 12 seconds after the restart. He left the field under his own power, but would not return.
"The players stepped up [in his absence], but it's really disappointing for Tanner and for the team," Gunn said. "We'll just have to wait and see what the damage is."
The Huskies nearly won it in the 97th minute when a corner slipped through the box to Freddy Kleeman, but his shot from inside the six was tipped away by Andrew Thomas. In the 80th Joey Parrish had a point-black attempt for UW with Thomas away from the face of goal, but Logan Panchot and Ryan Ludwick combined to save it off the line.
Stanford is back at it on Sunday at noon when it hosts Oregon State (5-4-0, 2-1-0), which lost 2-1 at Cal earlier on Thursday afternoon.
"We had some chances, but UW had the better ones" Gunn said. "When all is said and done they deserved the game. We take it on the chin and we learn from it. It's not fatal. We move on."
