University of Washington
Stanford
Huskies Complete Season Sweep Over Stanford
October 29, 2010 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 29, 2010
Palo Alto, Calif. - After a week and a half off, the UW men's soccer team picked up where it left off by winning its second-straight Pac-10 game with a 1-0 shutout over Stanford on the road on Friday night.
The Huskies improve to 9-4-1 overall and 3-3-0 in league play while Stanford falls to 7-9-0 overall and 3-5-0 in conference. The Huskies completed the season sweep over the Cardinal for the first time since 2005, also shutting them out, 2-0, back on Oct. 8 in Seattle. UW now leads the overall series, 25-14-4.
UW played most of the game without senior captain Taylor Mueller. The defender picked up a red card in the ninth minute which made the Huskies play with 10 men the rest of the way.
"It was a really amazing performance and we did the Husky nation proud," said head coach Dean Wurzberger. "We lost Taylor in the ninth minute so we had to play 81 minutes shorthanded. When you lose a senior captain it's not just anyone, we had to re-align the back and everyone took on the challenge on the team. We had to work overtime to settle the team down and pick a formation that kept us dangerous but fill in the back."
The first half was pretty even most of the way as the shots were tied with seven a piece at the half. The Huskies had four first-half shots on goal while freshman goalkeeper Spencer Richey (Seattle, Wash.) made three saves.
Despite Stanford taking control of most of the second half, outshooting UW 12-3, the Huskies got the lone goal of the game.
Senior Matt Van Houten (Portland, Wash.) and junior Brent Richards (Camas, Wash.) hooked up for yet another goal this season in the 84th minute. It is the fifth goal of the season for Van Houten who also scored both goals vs. Stanford in the first win over the Cardinal this season.
"Matt and Brent are dangerous forwards and the both played a hand in the goal," said Wurzberger. "It was an amazing turn of events to not concede a goal. We are going to enjoy this win. The guys did an outstanding job using their heads and their hearts. It's a great win for our program."
Richey improves to 5-2-0 on the season in goal in which all five of his wins have been shutouts.
The Huskies remain in the Bay Area to face No. 12 Cal on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Berkeley, Calif.
