Cardinal Falls to California

STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford men's soccer suffered a rivalry loss in Friday's regular-season finale, dropping a 3-1 match to California in the Big Clásico at Cagan Stadium. 

The Cardinal (8-4-3, 1-4-3 ACC) surrendered an early two-goal deficit, which proved to be too much to overcome as the Golden Bears claimed their third consecutive victory in the series.

"Cal started the game a little quite brightly and was a little bit sharper than us, so we deserved to be down," said Jeremy Gunn, the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer. "I thought we settled in and played well after that, but we have to learn from the mistakes we make and get just a little bit better."

California found the early breakthrough in the 11th minute when Noe Morales converted a header off a bouncing ball served into the box by Lucca Guimaraes. Guimaraes doubled the Golden Bears' lead in the 21st minute, sending a strike toward goal that took a deflection and found the back of the net.

Playing with a sense of urgency, Stanford started to build momentum through its press and ultimately found a goal in the 40th minute to cut the deficit in half. Tim Logan set up Joe Moyer for a service into the box, which found the back of the net by way of a Calder Zirn header to bring the Cardinal within a goal heading into the break.

Stanford's momentum was halted just moments into the second half, however, as a red card for unsporting behavior put the Cardinal down a man for the final 32 minutes of the contest. 

California added the insurance goal shortly thereafter when a clearance attempt by the Cardinal found the feet of D'Andre Pickett, who fired a strike inside the left post to put Cal up 3-1. 

Even while shorthanded, the Cardinal offense found opportunities to climb back into the match but was unable to convert on its final seven shots as time expired. Stanford finished the contest with a 17-12 edge on shots and a 6-3 advantage on corner kicks, while Rowan Schnebly made four saves in the loss.

Following the match, Stanford was announced as the No. 12 seed in the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament and will face No. 5 Louisville in the opening round. The Cardinals will host the matchup on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 3 p.m. PT.