CHAMPS!CHAMPS!
Men's Soccer

CHAMPS!

Box Score (PDF) Opens in a new window
Box Score

BERKELEY, Calif. – The ending couldn't have been any more fitting. With the clock ticking away in the second overtime, inching ever closer to a final whistle which would signal a draw and with it, leave Stanford excruciatingly short of its first conference championship since 2001, Austin Meyer had the moment of his career and one that will go down in program lore.

The fifth-year senior, already a Stanford graduate (English) and working towards his master's in journalism, delivered the No. 3 Cardinal its first Pac-12 title in 13 years with an exquisite finish to the near post while tumbling backwards.

Meyer's winner in the 103rd minute set off an exuberant celebration, as Stanford's 3-2 victory over rival and No. 15 California clinched the program's second-ever Pac-10/12 championship and was the latest storybook moment in a season of them for Jeremy Gunn's program.

" At the beginning of overtime I went over to my center-mid partner Ty Thompson, who usually has a bit more freedom to go forward while I quarterback in front of our back line and I told him, 'I'm feeling a shot, just let me get forward a little bit [and] you hold for me'," Meyer said. "He let me do that, Corey slipped me a great pass and then it was just instinct from there."

The winner was set up by a senior-freshman-senior connection. Zach Batteer controlled the ball at the top of the box and laid it off to reigning two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week Corey Baird. Baird darted into the scrum with a series of dribbles and threaded the needle at an almost impossible angle to Meyer camped in front of goal. His winner, just the third goal of his career, found its way past Alex Mangels and capped off Stanford's magical regular season.

The Cardinal finished 13-2-3 overall and will almost assuredly receive one of the NCAA's top 16 seeds when the postseason bracket is announced tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Stanford, which began its Pac-12 schedule with two wins, a loss and three draws finished 4-0 down the stretch to seal the title.

Stanford (13-2-3, 6-1-3) finished with 21 points, one clear of UCLA (11-4-4, 6-2-2), which beat San Diego State on Sunday to end conference play 6-2-2.

"It does so much [for our confidence heading into the tournament]," Meyer added. "This team has been on such a journey ever since we started. We lost our first game and had to band together. We knew this was going to be an incredibly difficult conference and it proved to be that. It was going to come down to the last minute and that's what happened."

Much of what this team has accomplished hearkens back to 2002, the year of its last NCAA College Cup appearance. Stanford's 13 wins are its highest regular-season total that 2002 campaign (14), which is also the last time it has had as potent of an offense. The Cardinal's 34 goals through 18 games are its most since 2002 as well.

Cal's hold on the run of play only seemed to take shape around its two goals, which came in the 26th and 75th minutes.

Eric Verso to open things up in the 13th, catching a rebound off of a Golden Bears' defender and chipping it in to the far post. After not scoring at all in Pac-12 play until last Sunday against Oregon State, the redshirt junior's back-to-back scores were his fourth and fifth goals of the year.

In the 35th, a set piece handed Stanford a 2-1 lead courtesy of Brian Nana-Sinkam and Ty Thompson. Nana-Sinkam's goal was the first of the defender's career and made him the 13th different Cardinal to score on this season's deep squad. Stanford hasn't had that many varied goal scorers since 2000 (12).

The win not only secured the Pac-12 championship for the Cardinal, it was also the fourth year in a row it has wrapped up its regular season with a victory over Cal. The result also extended Stanford's dominance in overtime under Gunn. It hasn't lost an overtime game since Nov. 1, 2012 and 7-0-7 in matches lasting longer than 90 minutes over that span.

Monday's NCAA Selection Show begins at 10 a.m. PT and will be streamed live on NCAA.com.