LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's soccer team dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to No. 7 Stanford on Thursday night at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Pac-12 action.
The Bruins (5-5-1, 1-3-0) out-shot the Cardinal (8-1-2, 2-1-1) by a margin of 8-5 in the contest, becoming just the third team to outshoot Stanford this season. UCLA also enjoyed the majority of possession, particularly in the first half.
However, Stanford capitalized on an 81st minute chance to grab the game's lone goal and escape with the win.
"In a lot of ways, I was really pleased with the way we played tonight," said UCLA head coach Ryan Jorden. "We went through some spells where we were very good and were able to dictate the game. It's our responsibility going forward to turn the really good parts of our performance into the goal that we need."
The Bruins out-shot Stanford 6-1 in the opening stanza, with the visitors' lone attempt coming on a weak header that was easily stopped by UCLA keeper Justin Garces. The Bruins meanwhile were on the ball for the majority of the half, including a stretch around the 30th minute that resulted in a trio of shot attempts.
Milan Iloski, the reigning national player of the week and the NCAA leader in goals, had the best chance for either team in the opening 45, running down a long ball through the left side, dancing through a trio of defenders to get back into the middle of the field, and then curling in a shot to the far post that was pushed away by Stanford's Andrew Thomas.
Iloski had the Bruins' best chance in the second half as well, as he was able to corral a weak clearance from Stanford near the top of the box before shooting high.
Stanford broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 81st minute. Off a throw-in deep in UCLA territory, Ousseni Bouda played a ball into the box for Jared Gilby, who sent a cross across the box where Charlie Wehan met it and smashed it into the net from close range.
The Bruins were able to get one shot off the rest of the way, an attempt from Marcony Pimentel that was stopped by Thomas.
UCLA returns to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting league rival California at 4:00 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.