Men’s soccer struggled to find the net on Friday as the No. 23 Cardinal (3-2-3) were bested by San Francisco 2-1, ending their eight-game undefeated streak against the Dons in Stanford’s final non-conference match.
“They were playing like it was a cup final and we were playing like it was a Sunday afternoon stroll,” head coach Jeremy Gunn said. “All credit to the way they played, but we have to look ourselves in the mirror and see about our attitude.”
Coming off blowout victories the weekend before, Stanford couldn’t find a rhythm at Negoesco Stadium as it was outshot 11-2 in the first half and gave up goals to USF’s Jorge Ruiz in the 37th minute and David Garrett in the 56th. Despite a diving save by senior goalkeeper Andrew Epstein just before Ruiz’s goal, the freshman was able to rebound the shot to net his first career score. Garrett found the back of the goal after a pass from USF junior Aaron Lombardi on the left edge of the 6-yard box put the senior forward in position facing the middle of the net.
In the 86th minute, the Cardinal finally scored on a shot from junior forward Foster Langsdorf that ricocheted off multiple Don defenders before bouncing off Lombardi and past USF sophomore goalkeeper Andre Glasnovic for an own goal. Langsdorf had four of the last seven goals for the Cardinal.
Junior left winger Bryce Marion suffered near misses to the far post in the 29th and 50th minutes. The team also had two second-half headers that went high over the goal.
Facing a possible fifth-straight loss this season, USF displayed a thrilling performance at home in front of a sellout crowd, the first at the Hilltop since 2011.
“San Francisco was fired up, had a tremendous crowd and great excitement,” Gunn said of the 1,900-spectator match. “They managed to put away their chances just a little bit better than we did.”
The defending national champions face California at Cagan Stadium this Sunday at 5 p.m.
Contact Tristan Vanech at tvanech ‘at’ stanford.edu.