Brace for BashtiBrace for Bashti
Men's Soccer

Brace for Bashti

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – Freshman Amir Bashti scored two goals off the bench to spur Stanford to a 3-1 victory over visiting Santa Clara in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night at Cagan Stadium. Down 1-0 at the half, the Cardinal rallied for a trio of scores in the final 45 minutes to give the program its first postseason victory since downing CSUN two years ago to the day.

Santa Clara midfielder Dylan Autran put Stanford in a hole in the 27th minute with his third scoring strike of the season. Following a yellow card on Ty Thompson, Broncos goalie Kendall McIntosh sent a booming kick down the field that Alfred Edmonds headed toward the box. Carlos Delgadillo corralled the ball and sent it back to Edmonds, who tapped it to Autran, who fired it at Andrew Epstein. Epstein dove left, but the ball deflected off Slater Meehan's heel and bounced to the right corner of the net. 

Santa Clara took the lead to halftime, though Sam Werner's rocket rebound shot off a header attempt from Morris in the 36th minute threatened its lead.

Stanford came out of intermission very aggressive, controlling the ball and putting near-constant pressure on the Broncos' defense, which finally broke in the 57th minute. Drew Skundrich made a run towards the box from the corner, but was tripped just outside the 18. Brandon Vincent, who seemingly had no angle on goal, curved the resulting free kick just past the reach of McIntosh to the tie the game at one. 

The Cardinal kept its foot on the gas, continuing to press deep into Bronco territory. Junior Jordan Morris had several prime scoring opportunities, including a shot off a beautiful feed from Eric Verso in the 63rd minute that trickled just to the left of the post. The floodgates finally opened in the 74th, when Ty Thompson's strike was deflected out by McIntosh, but right to Bashti, who headed the ball home for the game-winning score--his second such goal this year.

"[Ty] hit a nice shot across the goal, and it knew it would be a difficult one for the keeper, so I just followed it up, and when it came to me, I put it away," Bashti said.

The freshman added another goal as time was winding down, taking a cross from Jordan Morris at the top of the box and sending it past McIntosh in the 87th minute to salt away the win.

"When Jordan had it on the line, I made eye contact with him, and I dropped back and I knew he'd play me," Bashti said. "Got to a good spot, collected it and it went in."

Bashti, a Bay Area product, doubled his season goal total in less than fifteen minutes, sending Stanford to its second third round NCAA appearance in the last three years.

"It's fantastic; he's a wonderful soccer player," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said of Bashti. "I have the deepest sympathy for a number of our players because they're great players and they're not getting as much time as they'd like. All I ask them to do is whether they play one minute or whether they play 90 minutes, they've got to work and be prepared. If they do that, good things will happen for them."

SEEING YELLOW » The game was particularly physical in the first half, with both sides combining for five yellow cards and 19 fouls. The two sides totaled just three yellows when they played to 0-0 tie in an August exhibition.

JEREMY GUNN » When we were on-task, playing our game, I thought we were excellent. The game just got chippy and scrappy. They score a goal that's a bit unfortunate for us -- give Santa Clara credit, you've got to get into shooting position and if you get a deflection, then fair enough. We've been excited, we've been uptight, now let's settle down and play. I think we were magnificent doing that in the second half and we did our job, and I thought we did it really, really well.

V FOR VINCENT » Brandon Vincent's equalizer in the 57th minute was his fifth goal of the season, the first not from a penalty kick, and his first since October 23 against UCLA. Vincent, a two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and the 2015 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, remains third on the team in goals scored, trailing only Jordan Morris (8) and Foster Langsdorf (6).

BRANDON VINCENT » Just lined it up, tried to put it on frame, and luckily it went in, so I'm happy. I was trying to put it in a difficult area for the keeper… if it goes in, it goes in, if it doesn't, one of our guys gets a head on it and it goes in.

BRACE FOR BASHTI » Monta Vista product Amir Bashti scored the third and fourth goals of his collegiate career in a fifteen minute span Sunday--in his postseason debut, no less. It was the first multi-goal game for a Stanford player in the postseason since Roger Levesque's brace on November 30, 2001 in a 3-1 over Portland in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Bashti is the first Stanford freshman to score in an NCAA Tournament match since December 13, 2002, when Chad Marshall's header against Creighton in 108th minute sent Stanford to the College Cup final.

JEREMY GUNN II » Amir has added to our team so many times this year and he'll continue to do that.

POSTSEASON BREAKTHROUGH » Stanford has trailed by a goal in each of its last three NCAA tournament games dating back to 2013, but Sunday was the first time the Cardinal as able to mount a comeback.

STAT LINE » Much like its exhibition against the Broncos in August, the Cardinal had a decided advantage in shots (18-9), shots on goal (10-3) and corner kicks (8-0). Fifteen of Stanford's shots and six of its corners came in the second half. Fifth-year senior Eric Verso led Stanford with four shots--all on goal.

NEXT ROUND » Stanford next plays Ohio State on Sunday, November 29th at Cagan Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.