Box Score (Palo Alto, CA) – San Francisco men's soccer closed its four-match road trip a 2-2 deadlock at Stanford Saturday night at Laird Q. Kagan Stadium. The Dons (1-4-1) twice battled back from a goal deficit to knot the score in securing their first result against the Cardinal (1-4-1) in the last four meetings.
"I'm really happy for the guys," USF head coach Erik Visser said. "They battled really hard. After an untimely red card, our backs were against the wall and we responded. Brendan Roslund had a terrific second half and overtime and really preserved the tie for us. We hung in there and got a result against a good Stanford team."
Trailing 2-1, sophomore midfielder Mauricio Diaz De Leon provided USF's second equalizer in the 65th minute with a nice finish off a cross from freshman defender David Romney. It was the second goal in three matches for Diaz De Leon.
It took USF 36 minutes to create its first shot, but the Dons did not waste it. Freshman forward Miguel Aguilar scored his second goal in three matches to deadlock the score at 1-1 entering the intermission. Aguilar's strike was set up by a goal kick from junior goalkeeper Brendan Roslund.
Stanford's Alexander Binnie opened up the scoring with a score in the 34th minute, but it did not last long as Aguilar provided the equalizer in less than 120 seconds. Garrett Gunther scored in the 47th minute before Diaz De Leon answered.
From there, it was a showcase from Roslund (1-3-1), who recorded a career-high 11 saves, nine coming after the intermission. All told, the Colorado product faced 17 shots in the contest. Drew Hutchins earned a decision for the Cardinal, facing 17 shots and made three saves.
After managing just a pair of shots in the opening 45 minutes, San Francisco made up for lost time after the break. USF fired 14 shots in the second period. Stanford held a 23-17 shot advantage for the match.
It was a heated battle from the beginning. Eight players picked up bookings. In the end, 36 fouls were called.
USF played a man down from the 72nd minute on after senior defender Kevin Orozco was issued his second yellow card of the contest. The Dons played the final minute of overtime with nine players after sophomore midfielder Benkay Kajihara picked up his second yellow.
San Francisco returns home to welcome ancient Bay Area rival San Jose State Sunday, September 23. Match time against the Spartans is set for 2:00 PM in a game featuring live streaming video on USFDons.com, via Stretch Internet.
