DALLAS – Jackson Kiil‘s 81st-minute equalizer capped an exciting 2-2 draw on Friday night, as No. 5 Stanford battled back to tie No. 15 SMU and earn an ACC point.
“I was really impressed with our performance from start to finish today,” said the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “We came into a humid environment against a very, very good SMU team and I thought we played well.”
All four goals in the game came in the second half, with the Cardinal extending their unbeaten streak to 10 matches. Stanford now stands at 8-1-3 overall and 3-0-3 in ACC play, while SMU moves to 6-1-5 and 2-1-2 in conference action.
Stanford came out strong in the first half and created several scoring opportunities early, but SMU’s defense held firm and the teams entered the halftime break scoreless.
“They had some good build-up possession and made us work defensively, but they didn’t have great box entries and we didn’t allow them to create very many good chances. On the attacking side of the ball, we had several moments in the first half where we felt we could’ve scored, but SMU was able to clear right in front of the goal.”
Noah Adnan opened up the scoring just out of the halftime break, burying a header at the back post off a set piece for the captain’s first goal of the season.
SMU stunned the Cardinal midway through the second half, scoring a pair of goals in three minutes to go up 2-1. The Mustangs drew even on a free kick in the 74th minute, then took the lead shortly after off a corner kick chance that deflected off the crossbar and just across the goal line.
Down a goal, Stanford continued to put the pressure on and responded quickly as Kiil cleaned up a Shane De Flores‘ shot off the post with a header to level the score and finish off a 2-2 draw.
“I felt we continued to play well in the second half, so it was a true gut punch to go down 2-1 with how well we were playing. You could see the excitement in our opponents and many teams would have crumbled in that moment, but our players were immense and kept pushing to find the equalizing goal and remain the more attacking team in the final minutes.”
The Cardinal proved to be the more threatening team in Friday’s action with a 9-4 advantage on shots, including five attacks on frame. SMU led the game with five corner kick opportunities to Stanford’s three.
Stanford now returns home to prepare for an in-state road match against Bay Area foe San Francisco on October 17 at 7 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
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