Tying Goal Overturned, Bruins Fall 2-1
Soccer News: The UCLA Bruins lost a tightly contested match, 2-1, to the third-ranked Stanford Cardinals on Friday night at Drake Stadium. Jose Hernandez netted a late equalizer for the Bruins, but an offside call negated the tying goal, leaving UCLA in defeat.
“Tonight was as tough of a loss as we’ve had in the past couple of years in Pac-12 play,” said UCLA Head Coach Jorge Salcedo. “We gave away both goals by giving the ball away in bad parts of the field, and on the second goal, Jordan Morris showed his quality on the finish. We out-played them for the majority of the game, but unfortunately we don’t get the result.”
In the first half, UCLA (6-6-0, 2-2-0 in Pac-12) looked like the better side, controlling much of the possession. The Bruins pressed the Stanford backline numerous times looking for the opening tally, but were unable to find a way through the pesky Cardinal defense.
Despite UCLA’s attack, it was Stanford (10-1-1, 3-0-1 in Pac-12) who scored the game’s opening goal. With just over a minute remaining the first half, Adrian Alabi accepted a pass on the right sideline heading towards the corner flag. The senior then sent in a cross towards the middle of the box where it deflected off of Edgar Contreras in front. The deflection went right to Amir Bashti who used his chest and upper shoulder area to re-deflect the ball past Juan Cervantes to put Stanford up, 1-0.
At the half, UCLA was out-shooting Stanford, 4-3, but the Cardinal earned three corners to the Bruins’ two.
UCLA wasted no time netting the equalizer early in the second half to bring the score even at one. In the 48th minute, a high header was sent into the box by Chase Gasper. The ball then took a dangerous bounce and deflected off of a Cardinal defender towards a waiting Abu Danladi in front. The Ghanaian striker did not disappoint, blasting the deflection into the back of the net from five yards out to bring the Bruins even at one.
Stanford bounced back in the 65th minute to regain the lead off of a UCLA turnover. After the Bruins gave the ball away near midfield, a series of passes led to Jordan Morris gaining possession at the top left corner of the box. Morris then took a few touches towards the center of the pitch and let a strike fly from 20 yards out directly into the upper right corner of the frame to put the Cardinal up, 2-1.
Down a goal, the Bruins began to move more men forward in an attempt to find an equalizer for the second time. In the 85th minute, UCLA seemingly found its tying goal when Hernandez charged onto a Nathan Smith cross and beat Stanford goalkeeper Andrew Epstein to the upper left side from just a few yards out. However, Larry Ndjock, who looked to have no effect on the play, was ruled offside, overturning the would-be tying goal.
A late flurry, highlighted by a Jackson Yueill drive that skipped just wide, came up short as UCLA fell to Stanford, 2-1.
Overall, UCLA out-shot Stanford, 15-6, including, 11-3, in the second half. Cervantes made no saves in the defeat for UCLA, while Epstein made a pair of saves in the victory for Stanford. The loss marks the first time UCLA has ever lost to Stanford at home in the program’s history.
UCLA closes out its home stand when it hosts the California Golden Bears on Monday, October 19 at 6:00pm PT at Drake Stadium. The game can be seen live on the Pac-12 Networks and heard live on uclabruins.com. Tickets for all home matches are available and can be purchased by visiting uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling 310-UCLA-WIN.
