STANFORD, Calif. - No. 9 Stanford fell to San Francisco on Thursday night, 2-1 at Cagan Stadium. The Cardinal falls to 6-2-3 on the year while San Francisco improves to 6-2-4.
"I thought it was a very frantic game in the first half," said The Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn. "But we got the go-ahead goal, settled in, and started playing quite well while looking dominant and in a good spot."
Will Reilly opened the scoring in the 34th minute, converting from the penalty spot after Liam Doyle was fouled in the San Francisco box. It was Reilly's first penalty goal this season.
The Cardinal remained on top through the rest of the half, outshooting the visitors 5-2 over the first 45 minutes.
"In the second half, we had some chances to put the game away and we didn't," added Gunn. "San Francisco was always in the game at 1-0 and if we'd scored the second goal the game would've been done because we were clearly on top."
Stanford had multiple runs of play towards the offensive zone, but was unable to find the second goal. In total, the Cardinal fired 12 shots on goal including seven in the second half.
Bohane led all players in the match with four shots while Liam Doyle had three.
In the 85th minute, San Francisco was able to pull one back, knotting the game at one. Then, 13 seconds before the final whistle, the Dons scored again.
"In a one goal game and we're not putting our chances away, they're still in it and they score from a set piece goal," said Gunn. "We've thrown away a win to a tie, but then to give away a loss at the end is just gut wrenching because we've been on top. It's one thing to not finish it off, it's another to give away a loss."
Stanford only allowed nine shots in the game while Rowan Schnebly made four saves throughout the match.
"We have to learn from it, it's such fine margins and if we cut corners, we get punished," added Gunn. "We have to understand how fragile our opportunities are. Now we go into conference next week with a tough set of games, so let's learn from it, grow, and get better."
The Cardinal returns to action next week on its Pacific Northwest Pac-12 roadtrip, facing Oregon State on Thursday, October 19 at 7 p.m. before traveling to take on Washington on Sunday, October 22 at 3 p.m.