STANFORD, Calif. – Corey Baird assisted goals from Foster Langsdorf and Tomas Hilliard-Arce, freshman Derek Waldeck added some insurance late and No. 16 Stanford extended its program-best start in conference play by beating No. 25 San Diego State on Thursday night, 3-1.
Stanford (7-2-3, 4-0-0 Pac-12), which before this season had never started a league schedule with any more than two straight wins, has now collected 12 points through its first four Pac-12 matches and allowed just one goal. It's the third time since the conference began sponsoring men's soccer in 2000 that the Cardinal has won at least four consecutive conference games in the same season (2001, 2014).
Stanford was up 2-0 after Tomas Hilliard-Arce headed home a corner from Baird in the 65th minute, his second straight game scoring off a set piece. The assist, Baird's second of the match and 19th of his career, moved the junior into a tie for ninth in program history in that category. Baird tied for second in the nation last season in assists with 13.
Ten minutes later, Pablo Pelaez got San Diego State (6-3-3, 1-2-1 Pac-12) on the board when he looped a ball from nearly 25 yards away up and over the outstretched arm of Stanford keeper Andrew Epstein.
"We were in a comfortable spot and then at 2-1 we were back in a fight," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "To get the next goal was crucial."
That crucial score came off the left boot of freshman Derek Waldeck in the 77th. Amir Bashti worked along the endline against Aztec defenders Kyle Adams and Matt Callahan and poked it to Waldeck at the side of the six. The freshman used one touch to gain some separation and then curled it cleanly to the near post with no chance for SDSU's Adam Allmaras to make the save.
This sequence from Amir Bashti and @derek_waldeck4 was sensational.
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 14, 2016
It's Stanford's #12Best Moment from @OpusBank!https://t.co/prZKitIYVI
Stanford moved to 17-2-5 (.813) in Pac-12 play since 2014 and 8-1-3 (.792) in its last 12 games against ranked opponents. The Cardinal also extended its unbeaten streak at home to 19. Stanford is 24-1-8 in its last 33 on The Farm.
Baird, who notched his first two assists of the season Thursday night, also set up the opening tally from Langsdorf in the seventh minute. Baird laid it off to into space at the top of the 18 and the Cardinal's forward partnership paid dividends with Langsdorf earmarking his shot for the far post.
Langsdorf's strike was his career-high eighth of the season and his seventh in Stanford's last eight games.
Eighth of the year for Foster. Seventh in Stanford's last eight games.
— Stanford M Soccer (@StanfordMSoccer) October 14, 2016
?? » @Pac12Network #GoStanford https://t.co/5PWg5tn4id
"They play very well together," Gunn said of the duo. "Corey makes good, intelligent runs and Foster never stops moving. Foster takes the brunt of the attention of the center backs, which allows Corey to get a little bit freer at times. There the ball dropped to Corey, he played a lovely ball in and it was a tremendous finish."
San Diego State entered the week second in the nation in goals against average (0.43) and had only given up multiple goals in a game this season once, but Stanford clipped the Aztecs for three for the third straight meeting. Both Cardinal wins last season also came by 3-1 scores.
"We got kind of suckered in to a bit of a slow pace in the first half," Gunn added. "We scored a great goal, but were just messing about with the ball too much and getting slowed down. That's not really our style, especially not at home. I think in the second half we passed and moved the ball really well and continued to put them on the back foot. We played much better, we created good chances and thoroughly deserved to win."
The Aztecs had their best opportunity in the 11th minute when Travis Nicklaw's header hit the crossbar and ricocheted straight down, but didn't clear the line.
Epstein made three saves on the night and upped his career total to 144, moving past John Moore (141; 2006-08) and into eighth in program history.
Stanford sits atop the Pac-12 table and will host the league's second-place side on Sunday at 5 p.m. when No. 17 UCLA (7-3-1, 3-1-0 Pac-12) comes to Cagan.