It was a homecoming of sorts Sunday night for the men’s soccer team at UC-Irvine’s Anteater Stadium. Six of Stanford’s 11 starters—juniors Dominique Yahyavi, Garrett Gunther, Cameron Lamming, Ryan Thomas, Shaun Culver and senior goalkeeper John Moore—plied their trade on the soccer complex surrounding the stadium in the club leagues of Southern California before heading to the Farm.
With so many players familiar with the area, it was no surprise that plenty of Stanford fans made their way out to the second round NCAA tournament contest. Parents, relatives and curious spectators packed the north end of the stadium, as chants of “Go Stanford” overpowered any noise from UCI fans.
Despite the comforts of “home,” however, it took the individual brilliance of a player with ties closer to the Bay Area to settle the game. In the 35th minute, junior Daniel Leon received the ball, and after a few adept touches, rifled the ball into the top corner to take Stanford (11-5-2, 4-4-2 Pac-10, 1-0 NCAA) to the third round of the tournament.
For 16th seed UCI (15-6-0-, 6-4- Big West, 1-1 NCAA), the result will be a bitter loss to swallow after piling a great deal of pressure on the Cardinal defense in a particularly tense second half. Despite this, the away team proved particularly resilient holding on to preserve Moore’s second shutout of the tournament.
On a cold night in Orange County, the game was nervy from the start. With both teams employing a five-man midfield, the middle of the park was especially congested. UCI found some early joy with senior Irving Garcia pulling the strings to carve out two clear-cut chances on the left hand side for the Anteaters.
As Stanford struggled to keep the ball, UCI continued to run at the Cardinal defense from the left flank, forcing senior Michael Strickland to perform a particularly warm-blooded challenge, earning the midfielder the game’s first and only yellow in the 10th minute. The card, to the contrary, seemed to settle Cardinal nerves, and soon fans began to witness some of the slick passing that they had been accustomed to.
The first real chance for the away team came through forward Adam Jahn, as a cross skipped into his path after some quick exchange on the left wing. However, the freshman disappointingly screwed his shot over the bar as the chance went begging.
The introduction of Leon as well as freshman forward and Irvine native Dersu Abolfathi halfway through the first period seemed to breathe some much-needed creativity to the Stanford offense. Coach Bret Simon’s move paid dividends 10 minutes later, as Leon scored perhaps the most important goal of his career, which later proved to be the match winner. And despite a late scare off a long throw, the Cardinal went into the break with the one-goal advantage.
Following half-time, UCI came out with clear attacking intent immediately throwing on a second forward and pressing into Stanford’s half. Clearly on defensive orders, the away team were content to absorb pressure and hit on the counter, as centerbacks junior Bobby Warshaw and Culver marshaled the defense. As each Anteater attack was broken, the ball was hoofed up to Jahn, with one effort proving particularly fruitful as he was able to break free of his marker and force a save out of the UCI goalkeeper.
As the minutes ticked down, the home team threw everything at the Stanford goal. Opposing forward Amani Walker proved particularly menacing as he produced a series of towering headers toward goal and had a goal-bound volley saved by a full-stretch Moore. This proved to be UCI’s best chance, with the Cardinal sniffing out every threat to preserve the team’s ninth shutout of the year.
With cheers erupting from the boisterous away crowd as the referee’s watch hit 0:00, the players embraced and will not look forward to next Sunday’s date with number-one seed University of Akron, who are currently enjoying a perfect 21-0-0 season.
If the Cardinal is able to prove the spoilers to Akron’s undefeated season, they will face the winner of Tulsa and Northwestern in the tournament quarterfinals.