Stanford men’s soccer comes up just inches away against NC State

Under the Friday night lights of Cagan Stadium, No. 2 Stanford men’s soccer (8-1-2, 3-0-2 ACC) could only come away with a “frustrating” scoreless draw against a new ACC rival, the NC State Wolfpack (5-2-3, 1-2-1 ACC). In the second matchup ever between the two programs — the first being in 1987 — both teams fought hard to create scoring opportunities but ultimately struggled to get anything on frame.

The ball just seemed to bounce in the wrong direction every time for the Cardinal, normally one of the country’s most efficient offenses. On a corner in the 12th minute, redshirt sophomore defender Palmer Bank found himself with a free header within touching distance of the open net but sent the ball over the crossbar. A few minutes later, redshirt junior forward Jackson Kiil’s point-blank shot was blocked by a sliding Wolfpack defender.

Later in the half, Kiil saw a cross from junior forward Fletcher Bank ricochet between his legs within the six-yard box, and in the ensuing chaos, sophomore midfielder Dylan Groeneveld got off another header that was barely tipped wide by NC State junior goalkeeper Logan Erb.

Stanford’s fortunes didn’t change in the second half. In the 56th minute, junior forward Liam Doyle curled a cross behind the Wolfpack back line but also just barely out of reach of sophomore forward Duncan Jarvie. Minutes later, freshman midfielder Alex Chow also saw his free header in the NC State penalty box drift wide. 

“We were just inches away tonight,” said head coach Jeremy Gunn. “On another night we create less chances but score more goals.”

Besides the key missed opportunities, the Cardinal were otherwise engaged in a tough physical battle. Senior defender Noah Adnan and redshirt sophomore defender Dylan Hooper had their hands full all night with NC State’s pair of powerful forwards, but they were able to keep the Wolfpack to just one shot on goal.

“I thought the center backs did a great job of being physical,” said senior midfielder Will Reilly. “It was a huge test for them and I thought they did well.”

The draw extends the Cardinal’s unbeaten streak to nine and keeps them in second place in the ACC, which has become the powerhouse conference in men’s college soccer. The ACC currently has seven ranked teams, including the top three, and the No. 1 ranking has been traded between teams for five out of the seven weeks so far during the season (with Stanford holding the spot for one). Although the Cardinal have already gotten good results against ranked teams like Clemson (6-2-2, 3-2 ACC), Duke (4-2-3, 2-1-2 ACC) and Notre Dame (5-1-2, 2-1 ACC), they still have massive tests ahead against SMU (6-1-4, 2-1-1 ACC) and North Carolina (6-1-3, 3-1 ACC) before the gauntlet that is the ACC tournament. 

“It’s definitely a different challenge than the Pac-12, but ultimately the key things are the same,” Reilly said. “It’s about how hard you compete, your attitude and how hard you’re going to work. We just try to get those right, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Stanford soccer’s next game is away at SMU next Friday. The next home game will be on Oct. 21 against Pacific (2-5-2, 0-2 WCC).

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