Tomo Allen is the Hero For Stanford Soccer in Thriller

Stanford men’s soccer has been on a roll this season.

After an amazing start, filled with dominant performances over inferior opponents and close character-building victories over top ranked teams, the Cardinal looked like they were soaring to a possible National Championship.

Stanford is currently ranked sixth in the country, and looks like they have a shot to have a special season. But on Wednesday night, a tough team came to town.

The Oregon State Beavers came to town, hoping to spoil the Cardinal’s early season success. In a former Pac 12 rivalry, both teams wanted to come out ahead, but only one could come out with the win.

Stanford didn’t start strong. They made their plays and held possession, but they didn’t take many shots and had no attack at times. That was until Will Cleary finally found the back of the net in the 32nd minute to put the up Cardinal 1-0. However, the lead didn’t last long.

The Beavers came storming back, and Arnau Farnos tied it up in the 42nd minute, just before half.

Just 15 minutes into the second half, in a controversial play, Tim Hoffman scored again for the Beavers, putting them 2-1 up. Cardinal fans didn’t like it, but the Beavers were up anyway.

It looked like it was all over at that point, as Stanford players were letting the emotions get the best of them, but it didn’t slow them down. In fact, it fired them up. In the 74th minute, Shane De Flores tied it up 2-2 with an electric goal that sent the fans crazy. But they weren’t done just yet.

With just a few minutes left, Stanford subbed on Tomo Allen, hoping to provide some help attacking, and that was the exact right call. The scoreboard read just 36 seconds left, and Allen got the last touch on a ball that found the back of the net. Stanford had won again, and Allen was the hero.

It wasn’t just a win, but a season-defining one. Stanford had all of the excuses in the book to not come away with a win, but didn’t need them at all—they just wanted the victory.

Stanford now gets a few days rest before matching up against Boston College in another ACC contest. The Cardinal prove every game that they are deserving of a top ranking, getting huge wins in what seems like every single week. Now they have to show it once again, this time against the Eagles.