Men's Soccer Falls to No. 7 Stanford, 3-0

LOS ANGELES – Playing its third game in eight days, UCLA fell to No. 7 Stanford, 3-0, on a warm Sunday afternoon at Wallis Annenberg Stadium.

The Cardinal (7-1-1, 5-1-1 in the Pac-12) scored two goals in the first half and another goal in the second half while playing with a man advantage. The Bruins (1-6-2, 0-5-2) faced a barrage of shots from the Cardinal, who totaled 20 shots to UCLA's four.

The Bruins started out strong with a few good chances to score early in the match. UCLA earned a free kick in the second minute, but Tommy Silva's long-distance service was grabbed by Stanford goalkeeper Andrew Thomas. Three minutes later, Silva sent a cross into Kevin Diaz in the box, but the cross was just a bit too high for Diaz to get a head on. Cody Sundquist put a ball on frame in the 22nd minute that was saved by Thomas, and the Cardinal came right back to score less than a minute later. Andrew Aprahamian sent a pass to Zach Ryan on the left, and Ryan shot far post for the game's first goal at 22:05.

The Cardinal doubled the score in the 42nd minute off a turnover. Will Richmond sent a ball to the far post, where Rhys DeSota was perfectly positioned to one-time it into the back of the net to make it 2-0 Stanford before the half.

UCLA's comeback chances were made even more difficult in the 57th minute when AJ Vasquez was sent off for fouling O'Brien, Stanford's last man on a scoring opportunity. After the Bruin wall blocked the free kick opportunity, Bruin goalkeeper Justin Garces made two huge saves to keep the Bruins within two.

58' | Justin Garces makes a pair of huge saves to keep the Bruins within two.

📺 Pac-12 Network
📲 https://t.co/UcY5cLTfYr#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/h8ksW5XF1k

— UCLA Men's Soccer (@UCLAMSoccer) March 28, 2021

But the Cardinal increased their lead to 3-0 in the 68th minute when a poor back pass was intercepted by Gabe Segal, who beat Garces 1v1.

The Bruins had a chance to tally their first score in the 76th minute when Diaz had a breakaway opportunity. He drew the goalkeeper out and had an empty net opportunity, but his shot from a sharp angle hit the side of the net.

Garces finished with three saves in 68 minutes of play. Tyler Kirberg came in to finish the game and made two saves in 22 minutes. Thomas had two saves for the Cardinal.

UCLA will next host Oregon State on Saturday, Apr. 3 at 3pm.