MORAGA, Calif.— No. 4 Saint Mary's played a marathon match on Sunday afternoon against No. 7 Stanford, but eventually fell in penalties 4-2 to complete one of their greatest seasons in program history.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In the penalties, Stanford's goalie Andrew Thomas made saves on the first and fourth Gael shots, causing Saint Mary's to fall 4-2 to Stanford after a hard fought match.

Saint Mary's nearly won the match moments later in the eighth minute of overtime when Jakub Svehlik took a shot that ricocheted off the right post, but the ball bounced back towards the goalie who then trapped it. The Gaels held control of the second overtime period as they had four scoring attempts compared to Stanford who had just one, but neither team converted and the match was forced into penalty kicks.

The defenses of both teams were in control for the beginning of the match as neither team had a shot until midway through the first half. The first shot of the match came in the 24th minute from Stanford's Jared Gilbey, but it rolled wide to the right of the net. Saint Mary's first shot off the match came off the foot of Joseph Restani in the 31st minute, but was saved by Thomas to keep the match even at 0-0.

The closest attempt of the first half came in the 41st when Anders Engebretsen fed the ball to the front right corner of the net looking for Tobias Clauss to close in but he couldn't get there in time and the ball went out. The Gaels and the Cardinal went into the half tied 0-0 with SMC outshooting Stanford 4-1 and goalie Andrew Thomas being forced to make four saves.

Stanford started the second half right away as they took their second shot of the match less than a minute after halftime, but Remi Prieur made the save to keep the teams tied. The Cardinal had another close shot during the 57th minute of the match after a powerful shot from the top of the box for Charlie Wehan but the shot was blocked by Prieur, hit the crossbar and went out of bounds. The Gaels then responded with a number of shots as the offense upped the pressure on the Cardinal defense. Saint Mary's tried in the 58th minute with a shot from Rudel after a struggle in the box with a Stanford defender, but the shot was gathered by goalie Thomas.

In the first seconds of the 61st minute, Rudel got another attempt and then passed to Jakub Svehlik, but the shot went high of the goal and out. Saint Mary's had another close shot from Engebretsen in the 75th minute after a series of throw-ins for the Gaels, but the shot sailed high over the goal. The two teams continued to trade shots back and forth in the final minutes of the match and kept their energy up until the end of regulation and went into overtime with a scoreless tie.

QUICK FACTS

• Saint Mary's collected the most wins in program history (18) after their historic run this year.
• Anders Engebretsen led the team with five shots and three shots on goal.
• Saint Mary's outshot Stanford 21-8 during regulation play and Cardinal goalie Thomas was forced to make 11 saves.
• Seven Gaels played the entirety of the match including both overtime periods.
• Stanford has won the last three consecutive (2015-17) NCAA Men's Soccer Championships.
• The Gaels and the Cardinal met once this year (Aug. 14) for an exhibition match in which Stanford took the 2-1 win.