San Diego State men’s soccer lost to No.6 Stanford University 2-0 on Thursday night at the SDSU Sports Deck.
The Aztecs (6-9-1, 1-7-0) kept the match tied with the Cardinal (10-2-4, 6-1-1) until halftime, but the team surrendered goals in the 47th and 71st minute en route to their fifth consecutive PAC-12 conference loss.
Head coach Lev Kirshner said the loss followed the same pattern of challenges the Aztecs have faced all season.
“It’s kind of been the story of our season; great first half and quality second half that just isn’t going our way for a multitude of reasons,” Kirshner said. “At the end of the day we’ve got to make things happen ourselves too.”
The Aztecs led 6-3 in shots going into halftime, but Stanford sophomore forward Charlie Wehan scored off of an assist by freshman midfielder Will Richmond in the 47th minute to erase the tie.
Senior goalkeeper Cameron Hoagg said Stanford’s efficient style of play was tough to defend, and that one defensive mistake hurt them.
“They’re so efficient with their movements and so fast with their movements and their timing is excellent that it can be hard to defend,” Hoagg said. “There’s a couple of times where we might switch off, but at least we stay with the play. You’ll see the one time we switch off and it doesn’t go your way, they’re going to punish you.”
Across into the SDSU penalty area in the 73rd minute drew a foul on the Aztecs, giving the Cardinal a penalty kick, the fifth one surrendered this season by SDSU.
Stanford redshirt-junior defender Tanner Beason put away the shot in the goal’s bottom left corner for the 2-0 lead.
Kirhsner said giving up penalty kicks is an area that the team needs to improve on.
“I don’t know if I’ve had a team in my career that has given up five penalty kicks in the season. That stuff has got to change,” he said.
The Aztecs had opportunities to keep pace with the Stanford offense in the second half. SDSU was awarded three corners and four free kicks, but each cross attempt was cleared out by the Cardinal.
SDSU had another opportunity to score after senior forward Damian German gathered a headed pass and slipped behind all but one of Stanford’s defenders. German faked a shot attempt and got the defender to slide and give him a clear lane, but his ensuing shot sailed high over the goal.
German said he knew he had an opportunity to score, but an unlucky bounce before the shot caused it to go high.
“I thought I had it all and last second (the ball) popped up and it threw my whole shot off,” German said.
The Aztecs will wrap up their home season on Nov. 4 against University of California, Berkeley.
