10-14-2018, 06:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2018, 06:03 PM by DenverCard.)
Epic two-hour-and-forty-minute war between Stanford and UW, with the good guys prevailing with just a couple of minutes left in the second OT. This week's hero was sophomore Ardu Balut, whose game-winning golden goal was his first college goal. And it was a foul on Arda that won the free kick that resulted in the winning goal. Before that, he played great as a holding forward who would receive passes to allow for attacks to build. He's been a 20-minutes-per-game sub, but I think he deserves to start, with Bashti as a change of pace relief for Arda, rather than the other way around, as it has been.
The game was very even, all the way down to penalty kicks awarded to each side that, while legitimate, were still rather soft fouls that might be waved off by another referee. The play ebbed and flowed, with each team having phases of 5-10 minutes where they totally controlled the action and generated chances. Stanford dodged two bullets in the first half while down 1-0 that could've put them in a deep hole. On one, the goalie, Andrew Thomas, came way outside the penalty box to head a ball away, but did so straight upfield, whereupon a Washington player launched a chip shot over Thomas and everyone that hit the crossbar. A Stanford defender was near the goal line, but I don't think he could have stopped it. Shortly thereafter, last year's Pac-12 Freshman of the Year for for UW had a break-away, finding himself 30 yards in the clear of Stanford's defenders, but Thomas blocked his shot.
Stanford was uncharacteristically sloppy on defense, and was vulnerable to odd-man rushes (hockey term) on several occasions. They were fortunate that UW didn't convert any.
There was a big crowd, UW was playing inspired soccer, but Stanford -- as always -- was amazingly resilient. They never let momentum swings by UW, including their two goals (especially the second goal, which was their penalty kick with 3 minutes left in regulation that Thomas partially blocked and could have stopped) get them down.
Best 2 1/2 hours I've spent in a long time. Do look for the highlights on Gostanford.com or the Pac-12 network.
The game was very even, all the way down to penalty kicks awarded to each side that, while legitimate, were still rather soft fouls that might be waved off by another referee. The play ebbed and flowed, with each team having phases of 5-10 minutes where they totally controlled the action and generated chances. Stanford dodged two bullets in the first half while down 1-0 that could've put them in a deep hole. On one, the goalie, Andrew Thomas, came way outside the penalty box to head a ball away, but did so straight upfield, whereupon a Washington player launched a chip shot over Thomas and everyone that hit the crossbar. A Stanford defender was near the goal line, but I don't think he could have stopped it. Shortly thereafter, last year's Pac-12 Freshman of the Year for for UW had a break-away, finding himself 30 yards in the clear of Stanford's defenders, but Thomas blocked his shot.
Stanford was uncharacteristically sloppy on defense, and was vulnerable to odd-man rushes (hockey term) on several occasions. They were fortunate that UW didn't convert any.
There was a big crowd, UW was playing inspired soccer, but Stanford -- as always -- was amazingly resilient. They never let momentum swings by UW, including their two goals (especially the second goal, which was their penalty kick with 3 minutes left in regulation that Thomas partially blocked and could have stopped) get them down.
Best 2 1/2 hours I've spent in a long time. Do look for the highlights on Gostanford.com or the Pac-12 network.