STANFORD, Calif. - No. 22 Stanford suffered its third loss in four contests, dropping the regular-season finale to California, 1-0, on Friday evening. With the loss, Stanford finishes the season 8-4-4 with a 3-2-3 mark in conference play.
"It was a really exciting game of soccer," Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn said. "They launched the ball at us all game and it was quite difficult to deal with. As a staff, we got our tactics completely wrong and we'll take responsibility for the result today."
Stanford and California were deadlocked for the majority of the game but it was the Golden Bears who had the more threatening looks, as the Cardinal finished the game with a rare disadvantage in the shots tally with eleven to California's 13.
"This was a very different game than any of the other games we've been in," Gunn added. "They were very, very effective tonight. They have three very strong, athletic forwards and they put us under enough pressure to win the game so credit to them.
The two programs came out of the halftime break knotted at 0-0, and while Stanford was pushing the issue in the second half after a slow start, it was California who broke the deadlock. In the 81st minute, it was Cal's Kevin Carmichael who collected the centering pass from Kieran Bracken Serra and buried the left-footed attack to give the Golden Bears the late lead.
Stanford generated a couple more chances late, but California would milk the final nine minutes of the clock and seal the rivalry win.
Zach Bohane led the team with three shots, including an attack on goal. Fletcher Bank, Dylan Groeneveld, Will Reilly, and Nik White also put a ball on target, while Rowan Schnebly notched three spots between the posts.
Stanford will now turn its attention to the ACC Tournament, as Stanford will be the No. 7 seed and play host to 10th-seeded Notre Dame on Wednesday at 6 p.m. PT on ACC Network Extra.