By Elizabeth Trinh on November 2, 2014

After a strong effort in tying the No. 1 UCLA Bruins 1-1 last Thursday in Westwood, the No. 8 Stanford men’s soccer team (10-2-3, 3-1-3 Pac-12) traveled to conference foe San Diego State (7-11, 1-8) and walked away with a 1-0 overtime victory to continue a strong start to the second half of the season.

San Diego State could not keep pace with either Bay Area team it hosted over the weekend, with the loss to the Cardinal coming after an earlier loss to California. Earlier in the season, the Aztecs fell to the Cardinal, 2-0, with the Cardinal’s back line not giving up a single shot on frame. Under head coach Jeremy Gunn, Stanford had been unbeaten against SDSU, and Stanford continued that track record with its victory.

The first period of the game was intense, with both teams seemingly taking turns attempting shots for a total of eight shots per team by the end of the 45 minutes. Neither team could finish on any of its attacks, sending the game into a scoreless break.

The Cardinal, however, came back to dominate in the second period of the game, and controlled the ball and attacked with ease, almost making it a matter of time before they pulled ahead. With double the amount of attempted goals than the Aztecs, the only problem for the Cardinal was not finding the back of the net. Nevertheless, Stanford did put pressure on San Diego State goalkeeper Adam Allmaras by making him scramble to make multiple saves.

With the pressure of overtime, SDSU made multiple last-minute substitutions, but that was not enough for the Aztecs to score.

After giving Stanford senior midfielder Austin Meyer a break in the second period, head coach Jeremy Gunn made a substitution, putting in Meyer in place of junior midfielder Slater Meehan. Coming in fresh, Meyer made Gunn’s move pay off with a 98th-minute goal to capitalize on his second shot of the afternoon to send the visitors home happy.

Although Stanford played against UCLA without the services of sophomore forward Jordan Morris due to his responsibilities to the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team, Morris was certainly present on the field against the Aztecs, making the assist that helped Meyer score on a diagonal shot from 18 yards out for his first goal of the season.

The Cardinal will next come home to play a huge match against No. 4 Washington on Friday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Elizabeth Trinh at entrinh ‘at’ stanford.edu.