On Sunday November 24th, No. 16 Stanford men’s soccer defeated UC Santa Barbara 2-2 (6-5 PK) to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Stanford will face No. 1 Ohio State in their next match.
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BOX SCORE: UCSB at Stanford-Sunday, November 24th
“It was an incredible game,” Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said after the match. “Yet again. Soccer interviews have a lot of cliches and there’s one that says it’s a game of two halves. This was absolutely a game of two halves. I thought we were fantastic in the first half, we were good for the lead, we played very well, we really didn’t allow Santa Barbara to settle and we played some great soccer and created a lot of good chances.
“And so, ten out of ten for the first half for us and Santa Barbara came out a new team in the second half. We allowed them to be a bit more composed and they showed their wonderful quality on the ball. And so, we were forced to defend a lot more in the second half and we’d never really got looking like ourselves. We would give one goal away straight away, which makes it a totally new game. And then of course, it’s incredibly gut wrenching to give up a goal with what, 13 seconds left.
“But, we talk about everything. We prepare for everything. And so long as there’s an opportunity for us to win the game, we’re gonna try and win the game and that’s what we tried to do all night long in a really, really tough game against a very, very good team. And, obviously it goes to penalties and even the penalties ebb and flow. So, great game. Two really good teams. Very very impressed with Santa Barbara and very very proud of how we played tonight.”
Stanford got off to a nice start in this match with corner kicks at 11:02 and 11:30. Neither would lead to a goal, but they were at least putting pressure on UCSB. Stanford would get two more corner kicks at 21:01 and 21:48. Once again, no goals came, but the pressure continued to be applied.
At 32:24, Stanford would get a corner kick and this time, they hit pay dirt as Noah Adnan found the bottom right of the goal off his right foot thanks to an assist from Will Reilly. The Cardinal were now up 1-0 at the 32:59 mark.
“Weilly [Reilly] hit a great ball in and then it got deflected off the front zone of the UCSB and then I was just there on the back post making the normal run that I always do,” Adnan said of his first goal. “So, right place, right time and I was able to tap it in home.”
Stanford would get two more corner kicks at 43:52 and 44:36. After the second one, Stanford would quickly score as Adnan again found the back of the net, this time the bottom left of the goal off his right foot. Reilly again with the assist. It was now a 2-0 lead for Stanford at the 44:56 mark. A lead they would take into halftime.
“Yeah, absolutely, Weilly put another great ball in,” Adnan said of his second goal. “So, ball jumbled around inside the box, and then we had enough numbers in there, so I was in the right place again and I was able to bury it home. So, it was a great two set piece goals from the team.”
“Yeah, he had a great game,” Gunn said of Adnan. “And you know, we fancied our chances on some of the set piece situations and we’ve gotta just keep getting livelier and score some more open play goals.”
As his team walked off the field to head to the tunnel, UCSB’s head coach Tim Vom Steeg started popping off at the officials like crazy, demanding they review the second goal that Adnan scored. The officials didn’t bite.
UCSB would quickly score in the second half as Haruki Utsumi found the bottom left of the goal off his right foot, making it a 2-1 match at the 49:21 mark. UCSB would then get a corner kick at 49:21 and 58:45, continuing to apply pressure on Stanford.
At this point, Vom Steeg continued to flip out like a sweaty toothed mad man at the officials after thinking he saw a handball or something. His head was steaming with rage and it looked like he needed to be restrained lest he come on the field and take a swing at somebody. Ultimately, this would lead to a yellow card being called against him. There were a string of yellow cards actually, and not even Jeremy Gunn could avoid one, though he was much milder on the sidelines. I didn’t really see what he said or what caused his yellow card.
At 71:10, UCSB did get a penalty kick as it was ruled a handball against Stanford. Alexis Ledoux would attempt the penalty kick, but it was saved by Stanford goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly, who was fired up after getting the save. That kept it at 2-1.
“It’s huge,” Gunn said of Schnebly’s save. “I mean, you know, any penalty save is huge. And so, he held his nerve and he went the right way and made an incredible save.”
“We always have that strong defensive mindset,” Adnan said. “So no matter what we’ll put our shields up and defend as much as we can. Put our bodies on the line no matter what. So, regardless of what the score is, whatever is happening, from the back line to the front line, everyone is aggressive defensively…Oh, I mean, it was a fantastic performance. He [Schnebly] saved us. He had the save in the second half, the PK save that kept us in the game 2-1 and then regardless, it’s the next play mentality that we have and so around, you know, he had ice in his veins.”
After a couple more corner kicks by UCSB at 71:30 and 84:59, the Gauchos were still unable to even up the match. However, that would change as Zac Siebenlist found the top right of the goal off an assist from Filip Basili. It was now tied 2-2 at 89:47.
With so little time left, the match would go into overtime tied 2-2. Per NCAA overtime rules, two 10 minute halves were to be played unless there is a golden goal to end the match. Neither team would score in the overtime. This sent the match into penalty kicks.
UCSB was the first team to go in the shootout and each team would trade goals as it was tied 3-3. Then, Ocean Salari missed for UCSB, opening the door for Stanford to take the lead. Liam Doyle would take advantage for Stanford as he found the top left of the net. That made it 4-3.
Alexis Ledoux then answered for UCSB to make it 4-4 after which Noah Adnan missed for Stanford, giving new life to the Gauchos. Kaden Standish then answered for UCSB to make it 5-4 after which freshman Alex Chow came up big for the Cardinal to respond, making it 5-5. Chow is still yet to score his first career goal, making his penalty kick goal all the more impressive. I wasn’t sure he was going to deliver, but he did.
Peleg Brown would then miss for UCSB, keeping it at 5-5. If Stanford scored one more goal, they would win the match. Up next for Stanford with the match on his foot was Duncan Jarvie, who would find the bottom right of the net for the goal. 6-5 Stanford won in penalty kicks, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.
“I don’t know, I was just very excited that I got to take a penalty,” Jarvie said. “I love taking penalties. I love shooting the ball and so I was just ready, you know, like, I just stepped up. I knew where I was going to go and put it hard in the corner…we practice penalties at training. It’s just one kick of the ball, that’s all it is. So, I mean, that’s kind of what’s kind of in my head, you just focus on the task at hand and then after you realize, oh, you won the game.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s the moment you live for and why you play the game. So yeah, it’s incredible. Super pleased, super happy, super fortunate and blessed.”
“No, we’ve always prepared for it,” Gunn said of penalty kicks. “I think you try to prepare for everything and it’s not playing for penalties It’s being prepared for the opportunities to win the game. And so we try to do as well as we can to win the game in each period of regulation and in each period of sudden death. And then in a penalty shootout, we try to prepare as well as we can do and I thought our players were fantastic with it.
“There are a hundred different data points to do with penalty kicks. None of which I really want to talk about [laughing]. But no, it’s a tough thing to decide a game on, but those are the rules and so we prepare according to the rules and I felt our boys were really composed in the shootout tonight and really did us proud and again, Rowan came up with a couple of great saves and our boys hit the target with every strike.”
For Stanford, this obviously a huge win. UCSB pushed them to the brink and they were able to still find a way to come out on top. It would have been easy for the Cardinal to fold after giving up that second goal so late, but they kept fighting, scrapping, believing. Noah Adnan was obviously huge to score two goals as a defender and then Rowan Schnebly was fantastic, getting saves when he absolutely needed to. Most notably that penalty kick in the second half.
“He’s been huge. He always steps up in those moments on the set pieces,” Jarvie said of Adnan. “He’s a great target that we kind of look for. I mean, senior captain, like, he’s been amazing. He’s gonna step up, so we just look to that.”
On this same day, Stanford women’s soccer also won their NCAA tournament match on PKs to reach the Elite Eight. Jeremy Gunn was absolutely thrilled to hear of their success.
“Oh they did?” Gunn said with a smile. “Hey, you just see me smile how happy I am for them. You know, we love the staff and we love the team. We’ve got two really good tight programs and the women were playing on Friday before we were training and the feeling was a bit because they had gone behind and then right before we were going out to train, they scored and then they scored again and the boys were bouncing. So well done to the women as well for sure.”
Up next for Stanford is a road match at No. 1 Ohio State on Sunday, December 1st in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. That will begin at 2:00 PM PT on ESPN+.
“We had Coach Tara [VanDerveer] talk to us,” Gunn said. “And she talked about enjoying being an underdog in those moments. We know we’ve got a fantastic team and we’ll play anybody anytime, anyplace, anywhere. And so we’re still playing, we get to train this week and we get to compete again at the weekend and we’ll be looking forward to it.”
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