Two top five teams in the country faced off today, as the fifth-ranked Oregon State Beavers faced off against the second-ranked Stanford Cardinal in PAC-12 Men’s Soccer. It was a tough battle from both teams, but in the end, it would be the Cardinal who would come out on top, giving the Beavers their first loss of the season. 

In total, the Beavers had only five shots, with three of those shots being shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper Adrian Fernandez had five saves throughout the game. 

The Beavers were able to strike first, as junior forward Glorie Amanda scored the first goal of the game at 12:42 in the first period, thanks to an assist by sophomore midfielder Javier Armas. It wouldn’t be long until Amanda was able to score another goal for the Beavers, this time being assisted by sophomore midfielder Mouhameth Thiam and redshirt-senior forward Tsiki Ntsabeleng. These two goals were Amanda’s eighth and ninth goal of the season. 

At halftime, the game was tied at two goals a piece, as the Cardinal were slowly starting to rally back from their early deficit, scoring at the 33:40 and 35:18 mark. Although the Beavers played well on defense for a majority of the second period, the Cardinal managed to score their third goal at the 79:18 mark, giving them the lead with just a little under 10 minutes left in the game.

Despite the Beavers trying to rally back, it would be the Cardinal who would hold on to come out on top in this battle of nationally ranked soccer teams. 

The Beavers return to Corvallis on Saturday. March 20, where they will face off against the San Diego State Aztecs.