With the first half of conference play solidly behind, the Stanford men’s soccer team faced both Washington and Oregon State for the second time in two weeks. After upsetting the Huskies 2-0 last weekend, Washington got their revenge at Maloney Field on Friday with a 2-0 victory. The Cardinal bounced back with a 2-0 win over Oregon State on Sunday.

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Andrew Davis

Sophomore defender Tim Jones dribbles to avoid a Washington steal this past weekend. The Cardinal lost their second of two games against the Huskies within the past two weeks, 2-0, after winning by the same margin.

Despite a clean start to its Pac-10 schedule, Stanford’s (6-5-3, 4-1-1 Pac-10) streak of wins and ties was halted by Washington (9-5-0, 2-5-0) Friday evening. The game was the Cardinal’s first home loss since Sept. 8, and allowed Cal to claim the Pac-10 conference lead. The Huskies clinched the victory thanks to goals by red-shirt junior forward Kevin Forrest and sophomore forward Raphael Cox.

In a relatively quiet first half, the first of Washington’s three unsuccessful shots came from junior forward Ely Allen during the 13th minute. Though Stanford countered in the opening period with attempts by junior forward Dan Shapiro and junior defender Ryan Oblak, neither shot found net.

The return of Forrest, who was out on injury for Washington’s previous two games, proved significant at 51:11 when he scored the Huskies’ first goal with a header off of Cox’s corner kick. Stanford head coach Bret Simon noted that Forrest’s goal was important in giving Washington a mental advantage.

“I think the key to the game was the great goal scored by Forrest,” Simon said. “You have to give him credit. It changed the face of a very even game and forced us to change our style of play to try to equalize.”

With 10 minutes of play remaining, the Cardinal tried to make up the deficit when they maintained possession near the Huskies’ 18-yard box; however, Stanford failed to get a shot off. In the 88th minute, Cox himself found the net after receiving a pass from Allen. Stanford quickly made an offensive reply, but Washington goalie Rylan Hawkins was able to stop the shot by junior midfielder Evan Morgan.

Morgan’s attempt was the last of Stanford’s three in the game; the Huskies posted 10. Freshman goalie John Moore had four saves compared to Hawkins’ two.

Regardless of the score, Simon was pleased with the team’s performance.

“I think Washington is one of the country’s best teams,” he said. “Splitting games with them over the last two weekends is certainly no disgrace.”

On Sunday, the Cardinal played at home again in a meeting with Oregon State (5-9-1, 0-7-0). Like Friday, neither team scored in the first half, but Stanford came out strong with a shot on goal by senior midfielder Galen Thompson in the 11th minute. Over the course of the first half, the Cardinal posted two more shots while the Beavers posted three.

Oregon State senior forward Robbie Findley had one of three unsuccessful shots just after halftime, but Moore countered with his second of three saves on the game.

At 59:38, Stanford got a free kick outside the 18-yard box, and Pac-10 Player of the Week Thompson passed to junior defender Scott Bolkan, who headed it in for his first goal of the season. Simon likened this sequence to the turning point of the Washington game.

“The Oregon State game was decided in a similar fashion [to our game against Washington],” Simon said. “A pretty even game was waiting for an opening goal to force the issue. This time, we scored the first goal. After that, Oregon State had to try to open the game and get the goal back, and we were able to create a few more chances.”

One such chance came in the 74th minute when Morgan landed a shot from the left side off a pass from Shapiro. The Cardinal dominated play for the remaining 15 minutes, securing the victory.

Simon was satisfied with the season’s midpoint weekend, and he is looking forward to the remainder of conference play.

“We are still enthusiastic and optimistic about the season,” he said. “Our 4-1-1 record in the Pac-10 puts us in the hunt for a conference championship. We’ll continue to take one game at a time. If we take that attitude, we’ll have a good chance to get a result in each game.”

With this mindset, Simon and the Cardinal are looking forward to taking on Cal this Friday at Berkeley.

“Both [our] teams have been strong in conference so far,” Simon said. “It should be a great game, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”