M. Soccer: Cardinal stuns No. 25 UC-Santa Barbara on the road
Senior Adam Jahn turned 4,132 home fans away in disappointment, nodding home a cross from sophomore Jimmy Callinan for the golden goal in Stanford’s thrilling overtime win over No. 25 UC-Santa Barbara on Friday night.
Freshman Aaron Kovar (above with ball) and the Stanford men’s soccer team knocked off No. 25 UC-Santa Barbara on the road Friday night (AVI BAGLA/The Stanford Daily).
It was Jahn’s team-leading ninth goal of the season, but few mattered more than this one, which gives the Cardinal (7-7-1) its second road win of the season over a ranked opponent and a glimmer of hope in the race for the NCAA Tournament.
“What was quite special is the way we played, how well we defended, it didn’t allow the crowd to get going a lot of the time,” coach Jeremy Gunn said. “Until we gave away a couple of counterattacking opportunities in the second half, we managed to keep the crowd fairly quiet.”
Goalie Drew Hutchins made four saves for his fifth shutout of the season, and Stanford’s defense held up against a Gauchos team (9-4-3) that has struggled to score goals recently after starting off the season on fire.
But Santa Barbara managed to outshoot the Cardinal in the end, 17-12, one of the few times this season Stanford has not held an edge in shots.
Jahn struck when it mattered most, however, giving the Cardinal some much needed confidence and a quality non-conference win heading into next weekend’s critical matchup with No. 7 UCLA.
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