Sunday evening, Jordan Morris showed once again why he is considered the best player in college soccer.
The U.S. Men’s National Team player stepped up for his college team when it needed him most: Morris scored the first goal in eighth-seeded Stanford’s (16-2-2) NCAA Sweet 16 game against ninth-seeded Ohio State (13-7-3), in addition to the game-winner after the Buckeyes had tied it up, leading the Cardinal to a 3-1 victory and earning them a spot in next weekend’s Elite Eight.
The victory marked the furthest the program has advanced under head coach Jeremy Gunn, who’s in his fourth season with the team. Stanford also hasn’t reached the Elite Eight since 2002, when the team made it all the way to the national title game.
For a decent portion of the game, however, things did not clearly indicate that the Cardinal were destined to have a convincing win. While the team held an advantage in both shots (7-4) and corners (3-1) in the first half and had several good looks, Stanford could not find the back of the net against a talented backline and the Big Ten Goalie of the Year in Ohio State’s Chris Froschauer.
Ohio State also had some solid opportunities to score despite not maintaining the majority of possession, forcing goalie Andrew Epstein to be active all game, particularly in the second half. Overall the junior notched 6 saves, tied for his most on the season.
After a scoreless first half, both teams came out firing, with Morris notching the first goal of his brace in the 53rd minute. Fifth-year senior Eric Verso chipped the ball over the heads of two Buckeye defenders, finding Morris, who added one more touch before sending the ball into the bottom right corner and putting Stanford on the board.
The play marked Verso’s 12th assist of the season and Morris’ ninth goal of the year.
“Just a great run by Jordan in-behind,” Verso said. “Had a couple times where he’s making that run and I was looking for him and was really close to getting it to him. But on that one I was finally able to get the correct weight on it. It was a great touch and great finish by him.”
The Buckeyes kept up their increasingly potent attack, however, and equalized things not even 10 minutes later when a Buckeye defender, just across midfield, sent a looping ball to Abdi Mohamed, who then proceeded to beautifully head the ball past Epstein for a goal.
“Great cross, great, great header,” Gunn said about the play.
“And so then at 1-1, Ohio State is back in it, and they get a lease of energy,” he added. “But credit to our team; we weathered a 10-minute period where Ohio State were finally landing punches.”
While the Cardinal were able to weather Ohio State’s punches, they also threw some of their own. Despite Ohio State’s offensive aggression, Stanford still got off more shots and corners — but most importantly, the team’s offensive productivity translated to goals.
“Coach always talks about being relentless in our attack, and keep getting body punches in,” Verso said. “In the first half, we moved the ball really well, they defended well and kept getting those body blows in. In the second half, we just kept it up, and eventually their tight lines started to break and the openings started coming.”
Stanford’s offensive relentlessness culminated in Morris’ incredible game-winner in the 78th minute off some great play with freshman Amir Bashti.
Bashti somehow avoided getting the ball stolen from him by either of the two defenders who were on him, instead sending the ball to a Morris with a back heel pass. The junior then collected himself a moment and took a dribble before curving the ball — with the outside of his right foot — around his defender and the goalie to complete his brace and put Stanford back up — for good.
Morris’ 10th goal of the year and second of the night also marked his fifth game-winner and elevated his goals per game average to 0.67.
While Ohio State had some opportunities to tie things back up after Morris’ second goal, none of them were truly threatening, and the Cardinal win was sealed by Corey Baird’s goal, his third of the season, which came with two and a half minutes.
“And I thought what was really impressive (tonight) is that we kept moving the ball,” Gunn said when assessing his team’s overall performance. “I thought we looked clean, looked sharp — we looked in control a lot of the time.
“Coach Bluem [Ohio State’s coach] has got a fantastic team, they’re very tough to play against. And so for us to perform as well as we did on the ball was truly impressive.”
The Cardinal now have a date with the top-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the NCAA Quarterfinal this upcoming Saturday. The game will take place at Wake Forest, and the time is to be determined.
Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.