Stanford stymies UCI

BY BARRY FAULKNER
barry.faulkner@latimes.com

IRVINE -- Stanford University has a reputation for both attracting and producing folks who think outside the box. But the Cardinal’s 1-0 win over host UC Irvine in the second round of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament Sunday was all about compartmentalization.

First, the visitors from the Pac 10 played Simon says with the advice of Coach Bret Simon, who frequently yelled instructions for his defenders to “Find nine [the jersey number worn by UCI senior Irving Garcia, the Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Year].”

The bracketing defensive focus extended to Anteater attackers Spencer Thompson, Carlos Aguilar and Amani Walker.

Garcia, who came in with eight goals and nine assists, finished without a shot.

Aguilar and Thompson had one shot apiece and Walker had only frustration to show for his eight shots, four on goal. Thompson came in with seven goals and Aguilar had six, including three in the No. 16-seeded Anteaters’ two Big West Conference Tournament victories.

“Stanford was very well organized and they played well defensively,” UCI Coach George Kuntz said. “They limited our most-attacking players. They limited our creativity, which is a vital part of our team. And they snuffed a lot of shots. We had a whole bunch of shots that they either got a piece of or snuffed [blocked without it ever getting near the cage].”

Garcia was man-marked and double-teamed, something Kuntz said was unprecedented defensive attention for any player in his 20 seasons of coaching.

“Irving is in another class,” Kuntz said.

The second facet of the Cardinal’s compartmentalized approach involved its goal.

Junior midfielder Daniel Leon bent a driving shot into the upper right corner, just beyond the reach of UCI goalkeeper Andrew Fontein, for the difference in the 36th minute.

“It looked like [Fontein] was inches from it,” Simon said. “I think it had to be a perfect shot.”

Walker, who single-handedly surpassed Stanford’s shot total of six (UCI finished with 11), also had to admire Leon’s third goal of the season.

“It was a fantastic shot,” said Walker, who finishes the season with a team-leading nine goals. “He hit it well.”

Once Stanford (12-5-2) scored, it packed in its defense even more.

“I think we defended a lot more, because we had to,” Simon said. “[Irvine] has a number of different players that cause matchup problems and really disrupt your team. We felt like [Garcia] was certainly one of the keys. Not only because he is a great player, but because he can drift to different spots. He can be a forward, a wing, a midfield player, and so you can’t really assign just one player to defend him. We had to keep finding him and finding him.”

The Cardinal, now 7-0 all-time against UCI, nearly found itself behind early, as UCI (15-7) thrilled most of the 1,872 in attendance with a game-opening surge that created several threats.

“They had a late surge, too, that we survived,” Simon said of a frantic UCI finish that saw Walker force senior keeper John Moore to make most of his five saves to record his second straight NCAA Tournament shutout, his ninth this season.

It was the fourth time this year UCI has been blanked, three of those resulting in 1-0 setbacks.

“That’s a terrific [UC Irvine] team,” Simon said. “I’m really proud of my team, because I really think [the Anteaters] are one of the best teams in the country. And, I think they were playing well at the end of the season in particular.”

The loss ends UCI’s season with the same win total produced by the team that advanced to the round of 16 in 2008.

It also ends the career of notable seniors Garcia, Aguilar, Kevin Santora (whose 79 career starts are a school record, Kuntz said) and starting defender Eric Shuffle.

It denies UCI a chance to play top-seeded and unbeaten Akron (21-0), which Stanford will visit Sunday in the round of 16.

“We wanted to be the team to knock off Akron,” Kuntz said. “This loss is more disappointing [than at St. John’s last season in the round of 16] because this was at home. This was a comfortable environment. Last year, it was just the euphoria of getting there [its first NCAA Tournament appearance]. This year, we think we were better overall. So this is hard to swallow, because I think we could have gone much deeper.”

Kuntz also pointed out that the Anteaters have a chance to continue the success of winning back-to-back Big West championships and making consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

“We return seven starters from this team, with Amani and Spencer back, a great goalkeeper and other guys like [midfielder] Gray Bailey,” Kuntz said. “And we think we have a pretty good group coming in, so we’re excited about that.”