The most significant goal Foster Langsdorf scored on Stanford’s run to a men’s soccer national championship was also the most unlikely.
In the 97th minute of a national quarterfinal match against top-ranked Wake Forest, Langsdorf’s flick-header looped over a crowd of bodies and under the cross bar, sending the Cardinal to victory.
“That was one of the luckiest and best goals I’ve ever scored,” Langsdorf said.
It was the seventh goal of his sophomore season for the 2014 Mountain View High School graduate, and one that will last in Stanford lore. The play started with Corey Baird taking a free kick from about 35 yards out. Langsdorf made a run at the top of the penalty area and flicked the ball off a nearby defender.
“I just knew there were a lot of bodies in the box and I wanted to put it in there and see what happened,” Langsdorf said.
When the ball spun under the crossbar and into the net, Langsdorf said he was as stunned as anybody in the stadium.
“I just couldn’t believe we were going to the Final Four,” Langsdorf said.
Last weekend at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., Langsdorf and the Cardinal completed their championship journey with wins over Akron and Clemson to claim the program’s first national title. Langsdorf had an assist on a Jordan Morris goal as Stanford rolled to a 4-0 win in Sunday’s final against Clemson.
The semifinal last Friday pitted Stanford against an Akron team that includes Camas High grads Anthony Macchione and Niko De Vera, though neither former Papermaker played in the match.
Langsdorf, Macchione and De Vera played for the Portland Timbers youth academy before heading to college. So to did Peter Prescott, another Mountain View graduate whose Creighton team lost to Akron in the national quarterfinals.
“What are the chances that all of us would get that far?” Langdorf wondered.
The semifinal with Akron was decided by a 10-round penalty-kick shootout. Langsdorf did not take a penalty kick. “I’m not a good penalty kick taker,” he said.
But Langsdorf did have another chance to play hero in the Akron game. In overtime, he met a cross from defender Brandon Vincent at the 6-yard box. Langsdorf turned the ball on goal with the outside of his right foot, then went sprawling to the turf as Akron goalkeeper Jake Fanlason made an acrobatic save.
“I wasn’t upset. I just thought ‘That was a great save,’ ” Langsdorf said of his instant reaction.
Truth be told, the season was a success for Langsdorf even before the playoffs. After playing a limited role as a freshman — and admitting to frustration over it — Langsdorf played in all 23 matches this season, starting 22 including each of the playoff wins.
For much of the season, Langsdorf was used as a forward-positioned midfielder assigned to pester opposing defensive midfielders.
“It was a fun role,” he said. “It was nice to get that responsibility after last year, when I wasn’t really playing much.”
It was also nice to play alongside Morris, a candidate for the national player of the year. A Mercer Island native, Morris has made seven appearances for the U.S. Men’s National Team and is expected to soon turn pro either as a Seattle Sounders Homegrown player or in Europe.
“Incredible,” is the way Langsdorf described having Morris as a teammate. Morris, Langsdorf said, is as impressive as a teammate off the field as he was on the field.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to play with a player of Morris’ stature, Langsdorf said, adding that he tried to learn as much as he could from the Stanford star.
Even with a star player like Morris, getting to a Final Four, much less winning one, requires some luck Langsdorf said. Langsdorf’s winning goal against Wake Forest falls in that category. So, too, does an Akron penalty kick that bounced off the left post and out when the Zips could have eliminated the Cardinal.
“I still can’t believe that guy hit the post,” Langsdorf said.
The only regret for Langsdorf this season was that his father was not there to se the magic. Dean Langsdorf died unexpectedly in May.
“As soon as we won it I thought that Dad probably had the best seat in the house to see the whole thing,” he said.
