STANFORD, Calif. — Despite No. 13 Stanford holding the lead twice in the second half, a pair of goals in 78 seconds was enough for No. 5 Clemson to defeat the Cardinal on Sunday evening.
"Incredibly sad at the result. I felt as though we deserved more from the game," said Jeremy Gunn, the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer. "We were clearly on top for such a long portion of the game, but we started to shorten it up and it cost us."
In an opening half of limited chances, it was the Cardinal who struck first from the penalty spot. Alex Chow stepped up and delivered his third goal of the season, giving Stanford a one-goal advantage that carried into the halftime break.
Clemson pulled even in the 73rd minute with a penalty kick of their own, but the Cardinal responded just three minutes later when Jayden Fitzgerald Boes dribbled through several Tigers defenders before poking it home at the doorstep to restore the Stanford lead.
In the 82nd minute, Clemson answered again as Ransford Gyan scored a brilliant goal off an assist from Remi Okunlola to bring them level at 2-2. Away from the play, Logan Tsopanoglou was shown a red card to leave Stanford at ten men the rest of the way.
The Tigers flipped the script just seconds later, as a loose ball in the air took a deflection off a Cardinal defender and into the back of the net. Stanford was unable to find a third goal down a man and ultimately suffered its third consecutive home loss.
Both sides put four attacks on target, with Clemson holding a slight 12-11 advantage on total shots. Stanford earned three corner kicks to the Tigers' five and Rowan Schnebly made two saves in goal.
Stanford returns to action next week when it travels to Dallas to face top-ranked SMU on Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. PT.
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