CORVALLIS, Ore. - Stanford suffered a difficult 0-1 loss to #3 Oregon State on Thursday night. The Cardinal fall to 5-6-4 (2-4-2) while the Beavers stay atop the Pac-12 and improve to 10-1-2 (5-0-1) on the season.
"It was a really tough, tight game of soccer today with very few chances at each end," said The Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn. "I thought we did a really good job of stifling a lot of Oregon State's great attacking and we managed to keep the game very tight."
Both sides held firm defensively through the first half. Despite two shots for Stanford and six for Oregon State in the first period, the teams entered the locker room with a 0-0 scoreline at the break.
The Beavers were able to find the opener early after the second half kickoff and the pressure was on the Cardinal to answer.
"It was disappointing to let a goal in so early in the second half," said Gunn. "Then we really needed to play a little bit cleaner on the ball and pass and move better on a night when we were just struggling to get our rhythm of play."
Stanford controlled more of the ball and pace of play in the second half and began pushing into the final third while creating attacking opportunities and searching for an equalizer.
The Cardinal's best chance of the half came on a set piece in the final two minutes of regulation when a rebound fell kindly for Keegan Hughes. His shot attempt to the bottom corner was stopped by a reaction save from the Oregon State goalkeeper.
"We managed to stay in the game by competing all the way through," added Gunn. "Then we managed to put them under some great pressure late on in the game and create a couple of great chances but Oregon State managed to hold firm and finish the game out."
"A disappointing result, but we move on to Sunday."
Stanford completes their Pacific Northwest trip on Sunday at the University of Washington.
