STANFORD, Calif. – Corey Baird scored once and assisted on two others, Foster Langsdorf had his second consecutive brace to start the season and No. 1 Stanford rolled past No. 23 Creighton 3-0 in front of a sellout crowd of 1,916 at Cagan Stadium on Friday night.
"The fan support tonight was terrific and first and foremost I want to thank everyone for coming out and cheering us on," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "We put together a fantastic performance against a very, very good team. We were flying. The team's been hungry, they've all been desperate to keep improving and as a result they're looking sharp. That was the assertive, exciting soccer that we're looking for here."
The Bluejays were on the back foot from the get-go. Nine minutes in, Baird possessed near the endline and tightroped his way toward the post. The keeper committed and he left it in front for a driving Langsdorf, who buried the goal to put the Cardinal up 1-0.
Chances were aplenty for Stanford, but the Cardinal wasn't able to get any insurance until early in the second half when Langsdorf tallied another. Baird took a throw in on the far side, turned for goal and had his ball deflected by a Creighton defender. It fell to Langsdorf's feet and the senior easily slotted home his second in the 55th minute.
Through two matches, Langsdorf has four goals on just seven shots and with 27 career goals is two shy of Stanford's all-time top 10.
Baird, who set up both of Langsdorf's tallies, was rewarded in the 65th minute with his first strike of the season. Jared Gilbey filtered the ball up to Bryce Marion in space 20-yards out. The Cardinal winger lofted a ball to the other side in the box and Baird hammered home a header to the far post.
"Forwards are a strange breed and when you're scoring goals the goal looks big and it's easy and when you're not scoring goals the goal looks small and it's difficult," Gunn added of his tandem up top. "I thought Foster and Corey were unbelievable tonight. Bryce was unbelievable out there and we scored some fantastic goals. It's a great performance, but soccer changes from day-to-day so let's put it in the bank and look forward to Sunday."
Baird, who entered the match third among active players in assists, now has 26 in his career, two short of a tie for fourth place in Cardinal history.
Stanford is now 28-2-6 at home since 2014. The Cardinal extended its current shutout streak to 728:29 and hasn't allowed a goal in its last seven consecutive matches. In its last 20 games against ranked opponents, Stanford is 14-2-4.
The crowd of 1,916 was the largest for a home opener in program history.
