PALO ALTO, Calif. - The USF men's soccer team has faced a challenging nonconference schedule up to this point, and that continued with the Dons' 3-1 loss at No. 4 Stanford Friday evening. Despite the loss, USF (2-5-0) scratched and clawed for 90 minutes, as has been their style as they run through a gauntlet that will hopefully set them up for WCC play in a few weeks.
"Overall, there were a lot of good things tonight," said second-year head coach Eddie Soto. "We defended better; I'm really liking the shape of our defense. It's unfortunate that two of their goals came on corner kicks, but we fought back early and I'm pleased with how we played, especially being a man down (after a red card). We're coming along; there were a lot of positives tonight and I can tell we're really making strides. Our guys didn't give up at all and we're really building right now."
Stanford (6-1-0) came out with two goals in the first half to jump out to an early lead. Tomas Hilliard-Arce netted both first-half goals for the Cardinal, one in the 19th minute when he headed in a cross to the back post from Ty Thompson, followed by his second in the 35th minute, a header punched in off of a corner kick.
Coming out of the half, USF got on the board when David Garrett notched his second score of the year. Garrett rebounded his own header that bounced off the post to cut the Stanford lead to 2-1.
Not long after, however, Stanford put the match away with a goal by Jordan Morris in the 58th minute, the second Stanford header scored off a corner.
The Cardinal held a commanding 12-3 advantage in corner kicks overall, while Stanford outshot USF 20-11 on the night.
USF was forced to play a man down after Davi Ramos was issued a red card in the 63rd minute.
Andre Glasnovic was saddled with the loss in goal for USF, but turned in an impressive performance with a career-high nine saves on the night.
Altogether, Garrett led the Dons with three shots, while Sean Bowman and Davi Ramos contributed with a pair of shots each.
The Dons return to the pitch on Sunday afternoon when they travel across the Bay to take on Cal with kickoff slated for 2 p.m.
