STANFORD, Calif. – It took nearly 80 minutes, but constant and consistent pressure from the Stanford men's soccer team finally broke through Bakersfield on Monday night and the No. 8 Cardinal defeated the Roadrunners, 2-0, in an exhibition at Cagan Stadium.
Freshman Amir Bashti scored in the 79th minute off a feed from sophomore Foster Langsdorf and eight minutes later redshirt freshman Sam Werner did it all himself down the left side to earn Stanford the victory in its first of two tune-ups before the regular-season starts on August 28.
"Both teams seemed happy to feel their way into the game in the first half," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "In the second we really went after them a bit more and started to carve out a few more chances. We deserved the goals in the end. I was proud of the players for sticking at it and continuing to press and chase the game in a good, positive way rather than being frustrated."
The Cardinal pelted Bakersfield keeper Nicolas Clever with shot after shot and forced the junior into some acrobatic saves, but it wasn't until Stanford fired its 19th attempt of the evening did it finally capitalize.
Langsdorf took the ball away from the 'Runners near midfield and worked his way to the center of the pitch. A CSUB defender pinched up to stop the sophomore's progress and that's when Bashti made his run. Langsdorf slipped his freshman teammate, who beat Clever to the keeper's right.
In the 87th minute, Sam Werner raced down the left flank from the midline, worked his way free from trouble and fired a shot with his left boot that caromed off the far post and into the back of the net.
Of Stanford's 21 shots, 12 were on frame. Clever was forced into nine saves and one of his defender's bailed him out in the 59th by guiding a blast from Ty Thompson over the crossbar.
"We created some lovely chances," Gunn added. "I think we were testing their goalkeeper. It's hard to be critical of the team when we come away with 21 shots in a game. That's a credit to the fact that we kept after them and kept creating. We finished the game strong."
The boys are back at it! @StanfordMSoccer pic.twitter.com/vXrFWn1brF
— Adam Jahn (@PillowFeet14) August 18, 2015
Stanford's first-half effort featured seven shots and four that forced Clever into action. Corey Baird took rips in the fifth, 21st and 29th minutes, but came up empty. In the 33rd, Jordan Morris got his head on a Baird corner and nearly scored near post before Clever closed the door at the last second.
Stanford's Andrew Epstein and Nico Corti each worked a half and combined on the shutout. The Cardinal is coming off a season in which it led the league in goals against average (0.85) for the first time since 2002.
Twenty Stanford players saw action and 19 played more than 20 minutes.
"When you start the season, you're always learning and re-learning," Gunn said. "The halftime talk was clear that the intensity level was not where it needed to be. We put more pressure on them and we also had a bit more urgency to the game when we came back out. It's just one of those things, from game to game, you're learning one more new thing and carrying it onto the next."
Stanford's final exhibition comes at home on Saturday, August 22 against Santa Clara (6 p.m.) before the Cardinal hits the road to open its regular season at UC Santa Barbara (August 28) and at No. 18 Louisville (August 31). Stanford's regular-season home opener takes place the following Friday (September 4) against Northeastern at 7 p.m.
Season tickets, mini plans and single-game seats are available by visiting gostanford.com/tickets or calling 800-STANFORD.