For the fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament, the No. 1 overall seed will not participate in the College Cup.
That’s because No. 8 Stanford, led by goals from Jordan Morris and Foster Langsdorf, upset Wake Forest, 2-1, on the road at Spry Stadium on Saturday in the NCAA quarterfinals.
The U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team forward scored the first goal of the game with a header in the first half. Morris, who is also a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist, was a handful for the Demon Deacons on the evening.
On the other end, though, the Cardinal conceded a penalty well into the second half, letting the home side back in the game. Ian Harkes converted from the spot to even the score at one apiece.
The game headed to extra time, and the Cardinal had the perfect opportunity to advance with a penalty kick chance. However, Brandon Vincent’s shot hit the crossbar and sailed out of play.
That potentially devastating miss proved to be meaningless, as Langsdorf flicked a cross towards goal and watched his looping header fall into the back of the net for the victory moments later.
The Cardinal will play No. 4 Akron in one College Cup semifinal, as the Zips scored in extra time to take down No. 12 Creighton, 3-2. Adam Najem, who was called into the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team Identification camp in August, scored the golden goal. Fabian Herbers was unable to score a goal during the 2015 tournament, but he did assist on both Bluejays goals, bringing his total assists to five this competition.
Meanwhile, there will be at least one program from the ACC represented in this year’s College Cup final because No. 6 Syracuse and No. 2 Clemson both advanced to the Final Four. The Tigers were able to trump a pesky No. 10 Maryland side, 3-1, in penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie on Friday.
The Orange used a header from junior Ben Polk to shut out unseeded Boston College, 1-0, at home. With the win, the Orange advance to their first-ever College Cup.
The two semifinals will be played at Sporting Park in Kansas City on Dec. 11. Clemson-Syracuse begins at 6 p.m. (ESPNU), while Akron-Stanford will kick off at 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU).
The championship game will be played two days later at 2 p.m. (ESPNU).
Syracuse dominated BC. If it wasn’t for the BC goalie it could have been a lot more. Go ‘Cuse, you can beat Clemson
Jordan Morris doesn’t take penalties for Stanford? Go figure.
Their captain who was 4 for 4 on the season taking pk’s went. I wouldn’t say it was a good attempt, but you can’t be surprised that’s who the coach had take it.
Lots of great offensive, goal-scoring players throughout the years who weren’t PK specialists. It’s not necessarily the same thing.