STANFORD, Calif. – Slater Meehan's late, first-half goal proved to be the difference in a dominant effort for the No. 16 Stanford men's soccer team and the Cardinal won its home opener, 1-0, over Northeastern at Cagan Stadium on Friday night.
"I thought we passed and moved the ball incredibly tonight," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "It was mesmerizing at times. The players really enjoyed zipping the ball around and as a result we created great chances. It was a great team performance and a great 1-0 result."
The Cardinal (2-1-0) continues its three-game stretch at home at makes its Pac-12 Networks debut on Sunday, September 6 against VCU (0-3-0) at 3 p.m. In Berkeley, the Rams dropped a 3-1 decision to California earlier on Friday afternoon. Season tickets, mini plans and single-game seats are available by visiting gostanford.com/tickets or calling 800-STANFORD.
TURNING POINT: The ball squirted loose in the 38th minute off a Corey Baird corner kick and to the feet of Slater Meehan. Stanford's senior settled it and cracked one into the back of the net from just outside the 18. The goal, the second of Meehan's career, was eerily similar to his first last September 9 against UCSB. In that 4-1 win, a corner was punched out and Meehan utilized a nifty volley to fire it home from 25 yards out.
JEREMY GUNN: It was fantastic to see that goal. Slater and Thommo (Ty Thompson) were unbelievable tonight and I think it was a good reward for that central midfield partnership.
Instant reaction from Meehan on his winner » pic.twitter.com/nqZa8680d4
— StanfordMen'sSoccer (@StanfordMSoccer) September 5, 2015
COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE: Stanford put five of its 16 shots on target, but also had three others hit the post. In the seventh minute, Thompson stole the ball and passed ahead to Corey Baird. Baird's well-struck attempt hit the goal at the intersection of the left post and crossbar. Foster Langsdorf weaseled his way through traffic in the box twice in the second half to put himself in scoring position, but both tries, one in the 56th minute and another in the 71st minute, hit the post.
JEREMY GUNN II: When you look at the chances and how many times we hit the post, it wasn't on our side tonight. But I'm happy we're creating those good chances and very happy with the offensive output. A couple of the guys, though, will feel a bit unlucky that they didn't put the ball in.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: The game also featured Andrew Epstein's seventh shutout in his 22nd career start for the Cardinal in goal. Stanford has only allowed one goal in its first three matches of 2015, its best defensive start to a season since it began 2004 with five straight shutouts.
Looking ahead to Sunday » pic.twitter.com/oMXeMhvtHo
— StanfordMen'sSoccer (@StanfordMSoccer) September 5, 2015
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cardinal is 10-1-4 in its last 15 matches on The Farm. Over that time, Stanford has outscored its opponents at home, 26-10, and not allowed more than one goal in any of the 15 contests.
JEREMY GUNN III: They have some very good attacking players and I thought we really earned the shutout. It was great back four work. Andy didn't have to do too much apart from the odd punch, but our midfielders defended so well. We really negated some great attacking threats tonight.