CORVALLIS, Ore. – It took some time, but Stanford slotted a pair of goals past Oregon State in the final 10 minutes and the No. 4 Cardinal came away from Corvallis with a 2-0 win on Friday night to extend its unbeaten streak to 15 and clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 Championship.
Slater Meehan scored in the 81st and Jordan Morris continued his recent tear with an insurance strike in the 86th. The win, Stanford's sixth in Pac-12 play, tied a program record for league victories across memberships with the Pac-12, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), PSC (Pacific Soccer Conference) and West Coast Intercollegiate Soccer Conference (WCISC) going back to 1968.
With two regular season games remaining, Stanford (13-1-2, 6-0-2) has already matched its win total from 2014 as it continues to push toward a second consecutive outright Pac-12 Championship. The Cardinal currently owns 20 points and eliminated UCLA, California and Oregon State (7-6-1, 2-3-1) with its victory over the Beavers.
Coupled with Washington's 1-0 loss to California on Friday night, Stanford has clinched at least a share of the league title. UW can match the Cardinal's 20 points if it wins its final four games and the Cardinal closes with defeats in its last two.
Stanford heads further north to face those Huskies (6-4-5, 2-2-2) on Monday night at 7 p.m. in a match televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
TURNING POINT » With less than 10 minutes remaining, Stanford was able to get on the board when Foster Langsdorf fed Slater Meehan from 15 yards out in the 81st. Meehan's third career goal and second this season was backed up with another mark from Jordan Morris in the 86th with assists on the play coming from Mark Verso and Drew Skundrich.
JEREMY GUNN » We were looking pretty comfortable on the ball in the first, but the conditions were getting wetter and wetter. It was a little more difficult and a bit more of a battle in the second half until the game opened up with a great first goal. Andy (Epstein) built out of the back to Drew Skundrich who played it forward to Foster Langsdorf. Foster got on the turn and then slipped Slater Meehan, who made a great forward attacking run and finished beautifully into the bottom left corner.
MAKING HIS CASE » Morris, who has missed four games this year because of U.S. Soccer duties, has been nearly unstoppable when wearing a Stanford shirt. He has a career-high eight goals in 12 appearances this season. In his last eight games with the Cardinal, the junior has seven goals, two assists and 16 points. Morris, who already leads the conference in both goals per game (0.67) and points per game (1.50) will enter near the top of the national rankings in those categories tomorrow morning after reaching the necessary threshold (playing in 75 percent of team's games).
JEREMY GUNN II » Drew (Skundrich) put in a good throw to Mark Verso, who spun his man with a neat turn. He could have looked to shoot, but squared it back across to the penalty spot where Jordan smashed it home into the roof of the net.
CLEAN SHEET » The shutout was Stanford's eighth of the season and its first since the last time it beat the Beavers on Oct. 11 (3-0). Andrew Epstein, who entered the night with the nation's 16th-best goals against average, lowered that number to 0.60 while securing his 11th career clean sheet.
ALL-TIME WINS » Stanford's 13 wins in 2015 match its total from last season and are now tied for seventh in program history (2014, 1997, 1982). Only six Cardinal sides have ever won 14 or more games (14 - 1979; 16 - 1978; 17 - 2002; 18 - 1998 and 2000; 19 - 2001).
CONFERENCE WINS » The Cardinal's six league wins also match last year's total and tie a program record. Stanford won six games as a Pac-12 member in 2014, 2001 and 2000. It was also 6-1-0 in the PSC in 1985. Jeremy Gunn is the first Cardinal coach to notch six league wins in back-to-back seasons.
STAYING AHEAD » Stanford has trailed in just 4.1 percent of its total minutes played in 2015. The Cardinal has been on the field for 1507:39 and been behind for 61:27.
ANOTHER VERSO, ANOTHER ASSIST » It seems as if anyone with the last name Verso is helping set up Stanford goals lately. On Friday it was junior Mark earning his first career point when he helped Morris' 86th-minute tally. Older brother and redshirt senior Eric traveled to Corvallis tied for third in the nation with 10 assists, just the 10th Stanford player since 1980 to reach that number and the fifth since 1985.