On Sunday, No. 5 Stanford men’s soccer fell to Denver at home by a final score of 1-0. Denver forward Keegan Kelly was the lone scorer of the match. Isaac Nehme was the winning goalkeeper for Denver, playing all 90 minutes while Rowan Schnebly was the losing goalkeeper for Stanford, playing all 90 minutes as well. Denver improves to 2-0-0 on the season while Stanford falls to 1-1-0.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Denver-Sunday, August 25th
“We knew it would be a really really tough game against a rock solid team,” Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said after the match. “Denver, a great program and very tough to play against. So we knew it was going to be a very tight, tough game. And in the game, I’ve got such mixed emotions because I’m so proud of how we played. So proud that we were definitely carving out the little bit better chances in a tough game and we were doing enough to just edge a one-nil game against a team that just does not want to give goals up.
“So I’m truly proud with so many things about the team and then I’m just absolutely devastated at two moments. Their goal is devastating. We don’t challenge for the first goal kick and then we don’t challenge for the second goal kick and from our goal kick we basically have the ball in our back of the net within five seconds, which is just absolutely devastating. Credit to the Denver players, their center back wins a strong header and the attacker absolutely buries a great shot. So, cannot take anything away from Denver, but I’m absolutely devastated at us letting that goal in.
“And then I’ll have to look back at the video, but to me it looks like we scored a goal. And then we had a couple of other goal mass scrambles that we could have, should have, would have. But I’ll credit Denver on those moments because they just made it so tough. But, I’m so proud of how we played in so many ways and just devastated at ourselves for one moment in the whole game and then devasted at the world for the other.”
During the first half, neither team scored. Denver was the first team to get a corner kick at 2:01, but Stanford totaled more shots in the half as they outshot Denver 3-1. Stanford midfielder Fletcher Bank forced two saves by Isaac Nehme at 14:37 and 18:34. They were good shots, but not good enough to get past Nehme who was there to keep the ball out of the net. Stanford was making a really good effort to find the back of the net but to Denver’s credit, they were doing what they do best which is to play stout defense.
Coming out of halftime, Denver quickly scored as Keegan Kelly scored from outside the box off an assist from Tyler Schommer at 48:05. It was a lapse in the Cardinal’s defense, the only real lapse of the match, but it was enough to cost them a goal. The Pioneers were now up 1-0.
Stanford then started playing more aggressively, hoping to even up the match 1-1. Denver continued to play great defense, not giving Stanford many clean opportunities. Stanford did however get one golden opportunity that did not go their way as Shane de Flores had a shot at 73:48 that hit the top woodwork of the goal only for the ball to bounce out of the net. It was close enough that the officials went to review the goal only to rule that there wasn’t enough visual evidence to overturn the call. That ended up being the last good scoring opportunity Stanford had as they really didn’t get any good looks from there on. 1-0 was the final score as Denver survived.
Going back to the near goal by Shane de Flores, I was shown a couple of different looks, including the view that the officials saw. From what I observed, I thought it was pretty clear that it was a goal. In soccer, the ball has to completely clear the goal line unlike American football and from what I saw, it was clear that there was some green in between the ball and the goal line indicating it had cleared the goal line. I would be curious to know why the official that reviewed it didn’t think that was conclusive.
Casting that aside, Denver played well enough to deserve the win. Kelly’s goal was excellent and then Stanford honestly didn’t get very many good looks all match long. So, I don’t want to make it come off like Denver didn’t deserve the win. They did what they had to do.
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, August 29th at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Well, we have to do the basics,” Gunn said looking ahead to their match against the Titans. “We lost the ball short too many times today and we can still improve in certain areas and again it’s a totally different type of game today. Totally different challenge and we missed out on a couple of key points that just need to be improved on.
“I’m positive we’ll do it. I know we’re all deeply upset, but overall against a very good team, I’m pretty happy with the performance. I think if we’d got one goal and won one goal kick header, I’d be coming off saying how proud I was of the team and so that part doesn’t change. We just have to tighten up on a couple of things.”
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