STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford Cardinal forward and former Timbers Academy player Foster Langsdorf wasn't even sure that he had scored.
“I look up and I thought I remembered hitting [the ball] with my head and it going in,” Langsdorf said after his team's thrilling 1-0 extra time win over the University of Virginia Cavaliers. “But then Drew [Skundrich] took his shirt off and started celebrating so I thought maybe he had scored it.”
In the 105th minute of a scoreless, end-to-end match at Stanford's Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, Langsdorf scored on a diving header – his 14th goal this season and seventh match-winner – that sent him and his teammates into the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament and on to a date with fourth-seeded Louisville.
“I thought it was an incredible game,” reflected Stanford head coach Gunn after the match. “Either team could win it. If it was a boxing match, we'd just edged it on rounds with just a couple of extra punches in there.”
That final punch came courtesy of a designed set piece. Defender Adam Mosharrafa sent a lofted ball into the box. Stanford's Tomas Hilliard-Arce raced to the ball as Virginia goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell raised his arms to punch it out of danger. When Caldwell missed the ball and collided with Hilliard-Arce, the ball fell in front of goal.
That's where Langsdorf found himself when his striker's instincts kicked in. Moments later, his shirt was off and he and his teammates were wildly celebrating with the crowd.
The Cavaliers' Terrell Lowe, who came up through the Timbers Academy and who played over 600 minutes for Portland Timbers 2 this past season, started and played the full match as the third defender in an effective 3-5-2 formation, time and again putting out fires on the right as he contended with Stanford's speedy wingers and the swift and wily Langsdorf up front.
After the match Lowe and Langsdorf, both former Academy alumni, shared a few words on the pitch. Langsdorf's Cardinal teammate Sam Werner, who played 44 minutes against the Cavaliers and who also came up through the Timbers Academy program, has seen his own role in the team increase from year to year.
“It's been a good process,” the midfielder Werner explained. “[It's been] a good integration where every year it's been a little bit more [time on the field], every game it's been a little bit more, every week it's been a little bit more and it just sort of builds on itself because all the guys in this program know their roles really well.”
Nothing demonstrated that steely resolve more than Langsdorf's charismatically scrappy goal, but if you ask Langsdorf whether scoring that goal himself meant anything to him he shrugs.
“I didn't really care if I scored tonight or not; I just want to keep playing soccer,” he said. “I think that's one thing that changes. Last year, I was worried about scoring...but this year I just want to play as much as I can with my friends because I don't know how much longer we'll be playing together.”
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Academy alumnus Peter Prescott and the Creighton University Bluejays fell out of the tournament with a 2-1 loss at home to conference rival Providence University on Sunday night.
Prescott played the full 90 minutes in defense, adding two shots with one on target.
While Langsdorf and Werner are the last remaining Timbers Academy alumni still in the tournament, a number of Timbers U-23s alums are still active. Tucker and Walker Hume, who played 84 and the full 90 respectively in North Carolina's 1-0 win over Syracuse, will now face tournament Cinderella story Providence in the last eight. Louisville's Mo Thiaw had a goal and an assist in their 3-1 win over Notre Dame. Teammate Geoffrey Dee played 68 minutes in the match as well. Louisville's win sets up a battle of former Timbers U-23s teammates as they'll play host to Langsdorf, Werner and Stanford on Dec. 3.
