Stanford's 24 shots were the most BC has conceded all season. (Yamari Santillan / Heights Staff)
Taking on No. 3 Stanford in Palo Alto, CA was going to be no easy feat for the Boston College men’s soccer, who had dropped two of its last three conference games.
And it didn’t get any better for the Eagles (5–5, 1–3 Atlantic Coast), when they were shut out 3–0 by the Cardinal (9–1–1, 3–1), whose only loss of the season so far came against Louisville.
It didn’t start out so catastrophic for BC, though.
In fact, it managed to stay in it for the whole first half, allowing zero goals in the net.
Stanford’s two penalty kicks in the first 45 minutes were not enough, as they both sailed wide of freshman Andrej Borak in net.
And Borak came out dominant in the first half—notching four saves against a fast-paced Stanford offense.
While the Cardinal tallied nine shots in the first half, compared to just two from BC, none of Stanford’s shots ended up swishing into the back of the net.
Unfortunately, for its ACC opponents, that wasn’t the case in the second frame.
Where it really began to unravel for BC was a little over seven minutes into the second half. A yellow card at 51:36 on junior defenseman Moritz Gundelach gave Stanford something to run with.
And they did.
Just 1:11 after the whistle, Palmer Bank sent the ball flying over the fingertips of Borak after a Joshua Partal give-and-go turned goal.
Less than three minutes later, the Cardinal was back to stay. While Borak came up with the original save against a Fletcher Bank shot, he was unable to reload on the rebound seconds later.
Giving Borak no time to readjust his stance in net, Alex Chow banked a header off a Trevor Islam assist to give Stanford its second goal in five minutes.
When things couldn’t have seemed to go any worse for BC, they did.
This time around, Chow and Islam switched roles. Getting in on the action, Islam got his own goal on the night off a one-touch from Bank that bounced into the cage.
The next 26 minutes was anything but smooth sailing for BC, who went on to tally another yellow card, this time from the hands of Connor Gibson.
The same patterns plagued the Eagles’ offense: corner kicks and their defense’s inability to limit their opponents’ shots.
Allowing 15 shots and eight on net in the second half, there was only so much Borak could do with his five saves in the second frame.
The same rang true for corner kicks. While Stanford had six opportunities to convert on corner kicks in the second half, BC had none.
And ultimately, that led to the Eagle’s demise in its third conference loss of the season.