Recap: Stanford Men’s Soccer looks ahead to NCAA tournament following ACC tourney exit to SMU
On Sunday, November 9th, Stanford men’s soccer fell to SMU in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament by a final score of 1-0. Stephan Soghomonian scored the lone goal for the Mustangs at 59:57 via penalty kick. Stanford defender Palmer Bank was called for the foul.
BOX SCORE: SMU at Stanford-Sunday, November 9th
“No, it’s honestly a mixture of pride and frustration, really,” Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said after the match. “I thought, you know, we were in a cracking game. It was a really exciting game and we were just so on top at one point and just the penalty, it just comes at that tough time and this is why soccer is such a tough, cruel game, because we were playing fantastic, we were turning the screws, we were getting great chances, we just couldn’t get the ball to drop in the goal and then they get a counter and boom. That’s just the difference on the night and that is, it’s so tough to swallow, but really proud of how the team played and you know, we see how good we can be in a really tough, tight game.
“We get to rest now and we get to get ready. We know we’ll be in the national tournament. We wanted to be continuing on in the conference tournament, but now we rest up, we regroup, and we get ready to play some more great soccer.”
This was the second meeting of the season between the two teams. In the regular season, they met on The Farm and the result was a 0-0 draw. For whatever reason, when these two teams meet, goals are extra hard to come by. In the ACC tourney match, Stanford did outshoot SMU 18-8 while forcing SMU to have 10 saves. SMU in contrast only forced Stanford to have five saves. As for corner kicks it was a 6-4 edge for Stanford. When looking at those numbers, it stings for Stanford to not have come out on top.
“I don’t know so much about that,” Gunn said when asked if there was something matchup-wise that accounted for such low scoring matches against the Mustangs. “I don’t think so much about, because we had guilt-edge chances. You know, I mean, we had those chances and we just, you know, we made the keeper make saves and we just didn’t quite finish a couple of really good ones. And so, no, this is what happens when you have two very good teams playing against each other. It sometimes cancels out, you know, and I think, I think that’s what you’re really seeing in the game is that two very good teams, absolutely competitive, absolutely going for it, and yet the chances are hard to come by and yet we played well enough to create good, quality chances. So we can’t really complain, you know?”
Given the result, obviously a credit to both goalkeepers. SMU’s goalkeeper Martin Dominguez had a great match with 10 saves while Stanford’s goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly played well with five saves as well. When you get a match of this variety, one has to tip their cap to whoever is guarding the cage.
“Yeah, no, played very well,” Gunn said of the goalkeepers. “You know, I think, honestly though, we gave their keeper a little bit easier saves, you know? There were moments when we had them exposed and we just didn’t quite get the strike, you know? I don’t think their keeper made spectacular saves. We were just, you know, we just didn’t quite manage to put the ball in the right places in the moment. And that happens, though. No criticism of our players. And so, yeah, to be shut out again by them, very, very frustrating. Especially when you look at the chances we had again, you know?”
The silver lining for Stanford is by losing to SMU, they got more time to rest up for the NCAA tournament without having to hop on a play to North Carolina for the semifinals. While they would have liked the opportunity to have played for an ACC tournament title just like their women’s counterparts did, they can use this as a chance to heal up and come into the NCAA tournament fresh. Cardinal striker Zach Bohane was held out of the match due to what appeared to be a hand/wrist injury, so the extra time off should be especially beneficial for him.
“It obviously hurts, but I thought everybody on the pitch played magnificent,” Gunn said of playing without Bohane. “And so, no complaints there and we’ve got a good, deep squad and so whoever is playing is going to put forth a great game and you know, no complaints, really.”
As for when the NCAA tournament will begin, the bracket will be revealed on Monday, November 17th. Per GoStanford.com, first round matches will then be held on Thursday, November 20th and second round matches on Sunday, November 23rd.
“No, I think, just we will get to fine tune lots of different things,” Gunn said of preparing for the NCAA tournament. “And I think, you know, in the early part of the season, the openings are a little bit bigger and now you get to the later part of the season, the openings are little bit tighter and we just have to continuously make sure that we just keep sharpening all the different parts of the game. There’s nothing massively different to change, you know?”
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