[STANFORD-UCLA: Men] Aaron Simmons' first career goal in the 89th minute gave No. 5 UCLA a 1-0 win over Stanford Thursday
night in Westwood, extending its winning streak to four games going into Sunday's match at Drake Stadium against No. 1 Cal. It was just the third loss of the season for the Cardinal with all three of
those setbacks coming against top six teams.
Goalie
Earl Edwards Jr. made big saves on
Jimmy Callinan,
Jordan Morris and
Zach Batteer in the first hour to keep Stanford off the scoreboard.
The Bruins won when
Simmons out-jumped the Stanford defense before heading
Ryan Lee's cross off two Stanford defenders and into the back of the net.
“Tonight’s win was a really hard-fought match,” UCLA coach
Jorge Salcedo said. “Stanford played a good game and came in with a great
game plan that made it difficult for us. They continually looked to counter and I thought our guys did a really good job of defending the counter and their two strikers. At the end of the day, the
goal comes from Aaron Simmons battling in the air like he had all night. There was a little bit of luck involved, but we created our own luck tonight and got the victory.”
The
Cardinal (6-3-1) previously fell to then-No. 3 Georgetown (2-0 on Sept. 1) and No. 3 Washington (3-1 on Oct. 3).
“We know that we’re doing so many things right, and we just
keep believing in all the great things players are doing,” Stanford coach
Jeremy Gunn said. “We know that the season is just a journey where
we’re taking steps forward each time we play. Tonight was very tough for us to play and settle on the ball and credit to the Bruins that they managed to pressure the ball quite well. But that
being said we did manage to put together some great sequences and create some outstanding chances. The most valuable player out there tonight would have to be UCLA’s keeper, who made a couple of
huge saves.”