Late Goal Costs Huskies In 1-0 Loss To #1 Stanford

Friday, October 13

Stanford, Calif.

8:00 PM

University of Washington

9-3-3

Stanford

13-1-0

Washington

Stanford

October 13, 2017 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. - The Washington Huskies fell to the #1 Stanford Cardinal 1-0 on a late goal, taking the loss in a nail-biter. Sarah Shimer set a new career-high for saves with nine in the game, the most by a Husky goaltender since Kelsey Rasmussen's 13 against Hofstra in 2005. The game's only goal came in the 86th minute as Stanford squeaked past Washington, with the Huskies now 9-4-2 on the season and 2-2-2 in the Pac-12. Stanford is 13-1-0 on the season and 6-0-0 in conference.

"We knew we'd have to have a Herculean effort defensively and we did," said Head Coach Lesle Gallimore. "Sarah [Shimer] was unbelievable and our team worked their tails off. We created a few corners and we got them turned a few times but we just didn't capitalize when we needed to."

Washington started the game with some offensive pressure as they came out hot. Shannon Simon sent in a cross that curved on goal at 3' and was caught by the goalie for the only shot of the first eight minutes.

At 11', Kimberly Keever worked into the box but had her cross to Amanda Perez bounce off a body. Simon was there for it and, after a quick dribble, found room for a shot that curved away from the post and out of play.

Simon and Keever combined for a scoring chance two minutes later. This particular chance began with a pass from Simon that found Keever with plenty of room at the top corner of the box. Keever rushed in and took a sharp-angle shot, with the ball landing on top of the net just over the corner of the crossbar.

In the 21st minute, Shimer showed her goal-keeping chops with two great saves in a minute. The senior goalie dove to smother two low shots from Stanford. That second save allowed the Huskies to restart and get some offense of their own, ending with a Ava Lewis header off a corner kick in the 25th minute that was cleared out by a defender.

After making an excellent tackle earlier in the half after coming on as a sub, Sianna Siemonsma pressured the Cardinal into a dangerous situation in the 42nd minute. Siemonsma rushed forward to try and grab a loose ball in the box, only to have the defense slide forward and clear it away just in time in the last attack of the first half.

Shimer made seven saves in the first half, with the Huskies recording four shots of their own.

With Shimer continuing to lock down all Stanford attacks, the Washington counterattack found Siemonsma with the ball on the run and two other Huskies collapsing into the box for her at 47'. Siemonsma tried to loop a pass across the box but the Stanford defense was able to react in time to get to it first.

The Huskies earned a corner on their next counterattack at 51'. Simon dropped the ball into the box untouched. The ball bounced around off a defender's shin and toward Olivia Van Der Jagt's foot, only to be found by Stanford and booted away just in time.

A foul on Lisa Jensen in the 64th minute gave the Huskies a free kick 28 yards out. Dominique Bond-Flasza took the free kick and rifled in a booming shot that was caught by the Stanford goalie.

Shimer continued to shine in goal for the Huskies with an impressive leaping punch in the 71st minute. After Dadkhah blocked Stanford's initial shot off a header, Shimer leapt high to get her fist on the next header coming off a reinsertion.

The Cardinal found a goal late in the game, breaking the 0-0 tie in the 86th minute with the game's first and only goal. Shimer got a piece of the shot off a low centering pass but the ball still managed to trickle into the back of the net for the goal.

Washington did not let the goal put them away easily, immediately going on the attack as soon as play restarted. Keever hustled into position and had a shot from short range, only to have it kicked away by the goalie. Simon gathered it and fired just a few seconds later before the goalie could reposition, only to send it just wide of the net.

The last scoring chance of the game would go to Simon as well. In the last 30 seconds of the game, Simon tried a spinning header as she backpedaled into the box, with the ball flying just out of the reach of her head toward the goalie.

The Huskies ended the game with seven total shots, as well as four corners, but took the road loss.

The Huskies will have two games next week, taking on USC first on Thursday, October 19 at 5:00 pm on Sounders/Reign Night. The Huskies will then take on UCLA on Sunday, October 22 at 2:00 pm.

Make sure to follow Husky women's soccer on Twitter with the username @UW_WSoccer and on Instagram at uw_wsoccer.