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10-20-2014, 11:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-20-2014, 11:37 PM by
Viking_Guy.)
It was definitely a back and forth affair. And the scary thing is, the Stanford goal could've been easily waved off.
C.al's goal was a beautiful bit of work, aided and abetted by a Stanford midfielder not covering - a cross from the left edge of the box went over the top, and an attacking player standing on the endline at the edge of the 6 yard box nodded the ball backwards directly into the path of an onrushing Bare, belatedly trailed by a Cardinal midfielder about 3 yards behind, who pounded the ball with a hard one-touch that left Epstein no chance from about 9 yards.
Given that, it was fairly remarkable Stanford was only down 1-0 at halftime; while they outshot the visitors 12-9, C.al had 3 or 4 clear chances that forced great saves. Stanford's midfield and forwards were not getting any pressure on the Be.ars' holding midfielder, who kept picking out easy through balls into space, leading to open shots from the top of the box on several occasions and easy through balls to the endline for crossing looks.
The Cardinal offense, meanwhile, looked like the football team (at least earlier this year) - misfiring in the red zone. They had 3 or 4 clear headers of their own (and many more throughout the match) - and hit every one of them hard and directly at the keeper. None of them did the one thing I've always heard coaches instruct players to do - "HEAD DOWN!" and kept driving the ball at the center of the goalmouth at about chest height - about the easiest save in the world for a goalie to make. There was one good shot from the feet of Verso late in the half, well-placed in the upper 90 but not hit hard enough.
The second half was a complete change - C.al couldn't get out of their own end, and was forced into scrambling the ball out of their own crease on several occasions. Let me put it this way - Stanford had no corners in the first half, and 6 a little more than midway through the second period. Jeremy Gunn mentioned at half that they needed to take away the C.al holding mid (Casiple) and the announcers rarely mentioned his name after the break.
That said, the only ball they were able to put in was a scramble play off a corner. Bobby Edwards sent in a ball to the far post that was FINALLY headed down at the line. A defender tried to clear, and the ball hit Batteer in the shoulder (snicker - upper left arm, actually, though the ref might have given the "ball playing the man" justification) and fell back into the mix. Another clearing attempt was hammered, which hit Batteer more cleanly in the chest - and ricocheted back into the goal. After all of the good play and chances, an absolutely bizarre finish to tie the game.
Stanford kept the pressure on, but C.al, after spending the first 35 minutes of the half on the back foot, found its rhythm again, and the end of the game and overtimes were much more even. The Cardinal had the better and more numerous of the chances - Edwards hit the crossbar in the 97th minute, and Batteer sent a clear header (albeit diving forward) dead center in the box about 7 yards out over the bar as well. C.al, meanwhile, got a really dangerous free kick about 2 yards outside the box on the left when defender Brian Nana-Sinkam was slow to react to a ball, allowing a B.ear forward to close him and block his clearance attempt, then run by him and (it appeared to me) pull his foot in a classic forward dive - where you pull your right foot behind your own left ankle under little to no contact and collapse to the ground. Much less contact than the earlier foul mentioned by WIM. The free kick was a beauty, curling over the wall and under the bar - and about 8-12 inches outside the post into the near side netting. It would've been a gut punch loss.
All told, a fun game to watch, if not for the faint of heart. My gameball to the two keepers - they didn't get a lot of help, and to keep it a 1-1 game when the two teams totaled FIFTY-ONE shots, TWENTY of which were on target and not blocked by the defense, is amazing. C.al's Taillole had more saves, but Epstein's were much more spectacular and difficult.
Hopefully no let down this Friday at USF - high "trap potential" game, following two home games ending in ties against UCLA and UCB and before the road trip to Westwood on October 30.
VG