Stanford Defeats Clemson 2-0 in NCAA Round of Eight |
Stanford, CA - Ninth-ranked Stanford shut out #13 Clemson 2-0 (14-5-3) Saturday evening in the NCAA Tournament Round of Eight in front of 2,180 fans at Stanford, CA. The game was played on slick surface at a chilly and humid Maloney Field. It was also the first meeting between the two schools.
Stanford (17-4-2) nearly scored first when Taylor Graham's header off a corner kick just missed near post in the seventh minute. Two minutes later, Chad Marshall headed a corner kick that a Tiger defender saved from going into the net. The Cardinal broke through with the game's first goal off a corner kick. Johanes Maliza's corner kick was headed in by Roger Levesque, his sixth goal of the season, at the 23:20 mark. Maliza then got into the goal-scoring column at the 31:48 mark when he fired a shot from 15 yards out passed Tiger keeper Doug Warren. The goal was Maliza's eighth of the season and came just off center of the box. Matt Janusz was credited with an assist. Stanford out-shot Clemson 8-0 in the first half and 11-3 in the match. The Tigers mustered a scoring chance in the 56th minute. Dimelon Westfield fed the ball into the middle to Brett Branan, whose shot from 14 yards center-out dribbled wide left. Paul Souder's shot in the center in the 88th minute that was deflected wide by a diving Robby Fulton was the second of Clemson's three shots in the game. Stanford advances to the Final Four at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, TX. The Cardinal will face the Boston College-Creighton winner on Friday, December 13 at either 5:00 or 8:00 PM EST. The Cardinal last played in the Final Four in 2001, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina in the semi-finals. The Round of Eight appearance for Clemson is the fourth in eight seasons under Head Coach Trevor Adair. However, the Tigers have not advanced to the Final Four since 1987, when the Tigers won their second national championship. Head Coach Trevor Adair "I would like to congratulate Stanford. They played a great game tonight. They deserved to win and were a very good team. I would be surprised if they didn't win the whole thing. They are the best team that we played all year." "I don't think we gave ourselves a chance. We played a lot better in the second half, but for some reason we got intimidated and scared, and didn't play. I'm disappointed in that. But part is that was Stanford." "The team showed a lot of character in the second half. We never died. I'm disappointed for the seniors not being able to go to the Final Four and being able to compete for the national championship. But we didn't deserve it tonight. Things didn't bounce our way because Stanford made things go their way." "I think we were worried about giving up a set-piece and we got too stretched with our backs too far back. We adjusted in the second half and did a lot better job."
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