M. Soccer: Ousted in Overtime

This weekend, the Stanford men’s soccer team opened up the road edition of its 2010 Pac-10 campaign against two northwestern opponents. The Card hung with a tough Washington team (7-4-1, 1-3-0 Pac-10) for the first 45 minutes, but gave up two quick goals to open the second half and fell 2-0 on Friday night in Seattle.

Senior defender Cameron Lamming helped Stanford maintain a scoreless draw through the first half of Saturday's game at Washington. The Card allowed two goals in the second half and fell 2-0 to the Huskies. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

Sunday afternoon looked like it would be more of the same for Stanford (5-6, 1-2), as the team extended its scoreless streak to 280 minutes and headed into double overtime against Oregon State (6-5, 1-3) in Corvallis. But a golden goal by senior forward Dominique Yahyavi clinched the victory for Stanford and sent the team back to the Farm with a weekend split.

Redshirt freshman Galen Perkins saw his first collegiate action Friday night, starting in place of injured redshirt freshman goalie Jason Dodson. Perkins played well, making two saves in the first half to keep the Huskies at bay. Yet he was unable to stop veteran senior forward Matt Van Houten, who broke free of the defense minutes into the second half. Van Houten first headed in a cross from the right side in the 46th minute and went on to beat Perkins again, this time on a one-on-one from the left side–Perkins was helpless both times.

Despite the two goals, the defense generally held up well against a potent Washington attack in front of a large crowd at Husky Stadium. The Huskies fell from the national rankings after a wild 4-3 overtime loss to No. 25 San Diego State last week, but were unbeaten in seven straight matches earlier in the year. That streak includes a crucial 4-1 victory over then-No. 15 Portland.

The Stanford offense, however, was out of sync all night–the Cardinal mustered just four shots, half of which came from defenders.

After a day off on Saturday, the Cardinal headed south to Corvallis to face Oregon State. The Beavers were coming off a 5-0 shelling by Cal on Friday night at home, but they still managed to put up a great fight and outshot Stanford 4-1 in the second half. Both teams lacked energy, and the crowd of 800 saw a defensive struggle through steady rain throughout most of regulation.

Perkins again stepped up and made a number of crucial saves, including two to keep Stanford alive in the first overtime.

Head coach Bret Simon was impressed with his young backup keeper.

“Galen Perkins did an excellent job starting the first two games of his college career,” he said.

Perkins made nine saves over the weekend and appears likely to feature frequently in goal for the Cardinal with Dodson’s return still unclear.

After the first overtime finished scoreless, the Stanford offense finally got into gear. In the 107th minute, sophomore forward Adam Jahn found himself free with the ball and fired a shot that goalkeeper Steve Spangler parried away. But senior Dominique Yahyavi pounced on the rebound and fired the ball into an empty net for his fifth goal of the season and his second game-winning goal of the year.

Stanford will resume Pac-10 play next weekend, when it welcomes UCLA and San Diego State to the Farm. The Cardinal will face off against the Bruins on Friday night, before playing a Sunday afternoon game against the Aztecs.