Sept. 24, 2010
Stanford, Calif. - The poor start to 2010 seems like ancient history as Stanford (3-4-0) played its best game of the season, knocking off a tough Saint Mary's squad, 3-0. Tied 0-0 into the second half, Bobby Warshaw reached into his bag of tricks with an unbelievable bicycle-kick finish to give the Cardinal the 1-0 lead.
"I have done it in high school and youth, but that was the first one in college," said Warshaw with a smile.
The goal opened the floodgates for the Cardinal who played fantastic soccer in the second half, tacking on two more goals to defeat Saint Mary's by the same score that it did last November in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"I thought we were conscientious with our defending, which allowed us to control the game," said head coach Bret Simon. "We became the aggressor and that leads to chances in the attack and as a result more goals."
The Warshaw goal came in the 61st minute off a corner kick. Ryan Thomas sent a bending ball into the box where Adam Jahn leaped to win a header. His pass went to his right, where an open Dominique Yahyavi played the ball back across the goal with a header of his own. Awaiting the pass was a wide-open Warshaw, who had only one play and that was a bicycle kick. The bicycle worked to perfection and Stanford had the go-ahead goal that would prove to be the game-winner.
Warshaw credited his teammates for fighting through a difficult stretch to begin the season and continuing to train hard.
"We continued to show up and work to get this turned around," said the Cardinal captain. "We just needed to find ourselves and begin playing the way we knew we could."
Just three minutes later, the Cardinal would add to its lead as Yahyavi tallied his fourth goal of the season and fourth in the last three games. Adoni Levine played a long ball up the gut and Yahyavi slipped behind the defense for a 1v1 with the keeper. His shot was perfectly placed to give Stanford a two-goal lead.
The Cardinal continued to create chances with sound defending that led to balls played forward. Stanford capped the night in the 86th minute when Thiago Sa Freire played a ball to a streaking Taylor Amman who beat the Saint Mary's keeper for the team's third goal. It was the second goal of the year for Amman and also Sa Freire's second assist.
The Cardinal outshot Saint Mary's 21-14 on the night, but had 11 shots on goal, easily a season high. Saint Mary's keeper Doug Herrick was tested all night, making eight saves, including a fantastic reaction save on a Cameron Lamming header that seemed to be a sure goal.
Jason Dodson was again solid in net for the Cardinal, recording three saves and earning his second-career shutout.
The Cardinal will remain home for the conclusion of the Stanford Nike Classic on Sunday when it takes on Denver. The game will be played at 1pm at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.