A major problem for Stanford men's soccer this season has been the team's struggle to score goals. Despite a plethora of opportunities and near-misses, the Cardinal were once again shut out this weekend in a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 7 UCLA and then again in a scoreless draw against San Diego State.

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John Shen

Dan Shapiro / sophomore / forward / this weekend: led the squad with five shots / picture from 10/16/05 against Oregon State

Stanford (4-10-3, 1-6-2 Pacific-10 Conference) opened Friday night's game by honoring the three graduating seniors: Cooper McKee, Bronson McDonald and K.C. Coyne. Only McKee saw playing time in his final homestand, as the other two upperclassmen were sidelined with injuries.

The Bruins (11-3-3, 6-1-3) outshot the Cardinal 3-1 in the first half, but the squads split time of possession and scoring opportunities fairly evenly. In the second half, the Cardinal reined the game in even more and kept pace with UCLA, as both teams notched five shots on the period. Junior midfielder Michael Brown led Stanford with two shots, while the outside play of junior midfielder Galen Thompson and freshman defender Michael Alexander also created numerous scoring chances.

"UCLA is a great team and things worked out for awhile for us," Brown said. "We created the opportunities and we should have had a couple goals."

The Maloney Field faithful nearly saw Stanford go up on a nemesis it has not beaten since 2000, when a cross in the middle of the second half came in from the right flank and went to the far post. UCLA junior goalkeeper Eric Reed was slightly out of position but the Cardinal forwards could not connect cleanly inside the box, and a UCLA defender was able to block the ball out of bounds.

Second-half injuries, including one to sophomore defender Ryan Oblak, depleted the reserves as the game moved towards overtime. After regulation ended at 0-0, UCLA abruptly ended the sudden-death extra frame with a goal in the 92nd minute. Freshman Maxwell Griffin knocked in a rebound from inside the six-yard box, sealing another loss for the Cardinal. The Bruins clinched the Pac-10 title for the fourth consecutive year later in the weekend.

"UCLA was another game where our young team continued to grow into a pretty good squad," head coach Bret Simon said. "[The Bruins] are arguably the most talented team in the country, and we had a couple opportunities to put one in that just didn't happen. By the end, I think due to injuries and fatigue, we weren't as sharp as we were in the beginning, and they finally capitalized."

The inability to finish off opportunities grew even more frustrating on Sunday for Stanford, when San Diego State (9-2-6, 2-2-5) came to the Farm. Stanford recorded 13 shots and 11 corner kicks in the match, maintaining possession for much of the contest. Meanwhile, the Aztecs were only able to muster six shots, including one shot on goal.

The Cardinal attack was varied and effective throughout the match. It set up multiple through-ball runs to sophomore forwards Scott Bolkan and Dan Shapiro, as well as crosses and rebound opportunities, yet Aztec junior keeper Tally Hall let nothing through, recording six stops on the day.

Nowhere was Hall's prowess more apparent than on Stanford's three close rebound chances, the last of which came with under a minute remaining in the second and final overtime. On each opportunity, a group of Stanford attackers reached a loose ball around the six-yard box and tried to hammer a shot across the goal line, only for Hall to dive across the line and either smother or deflect the ball away.

"A lot of guys today tried to take initiative and put the ball in, but the goalie played fantastically and a couple of balls bounced the wrong way around the net," Simon said.

It looked like Stanford had the match in hand when Shapiro flicked in a rebound over Hall's head midway through the second half. Shapiro ripped off his jersey in a celebration with his teammates but was stopped in his tracks when he saw the linesman's flag raised. The goal was called back by a controversial offside call.

"The linesman felt that at the time the shot was taken our player was in an offside position," Simon said. "Therefore he was in an offside position when the ball bounced back to him on the rebound. Where I was standing, it was hard to judge the proper depth [and, thus, the accuracy of the call]."

Stanford continued to penetrate the 18-yard box nearly at will but was stymied from notching a game-winning score. The team, though encouraged by the offensive effort, found the result unsatisfying, especially for the penultimate contest of the season. The Cardinal finish up their season at No. 10 California (12-3-2, 5-3-1) on Nov. 13.

"I feel like we played really well, but the disappointing part is we had so many chances to win," Brown said. "We need to just keep at it. What we do at the end of this season definitely carries over into next year so we can't give up. We need to play at a high level where we can hopefully score some and get a result."