Stanford_Men_s_Soccer_vs_UCLA_JPL_20171102_2368Stanford_Men_s_Soccer_vs_UCLA_JPL_20171102_2368
John Lozano
Men's Soccer

Won Another One

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STANFORD, Calif. – A sellout crowd was treated to some vintage Stanford soccer and a championship on Thursday night. Five different players scored and the No. 4 Cardinal emphatically secured its fourth consecutive Pac-12 title with a 5-1 drubbing of UCLA.
 
The fifth Pac-12 trophy overall for the Cardinal (2001, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), it was the first the program has clinched outright at home. Stanford is a gaudy 28-3-7 in conference play during its recent run.
 
"It was wonderful to be at home and it was wonderful to put in a performance like that," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "What an emphatic way to win the conference. The players really did claim a title tonight."
 
"This means a lot," senior forward Foster Langsdorf added. "We came out and were very focused. We were in a similar situation last year where a win would have clinched the Pac-12, but we didn't get it done and had to wait. This time we didn't hope it would come to us. We went out and created it."
 
The game was never close and Langsdorf's first touch resulted in a goal just over seven minutes in. Drew Skundrich possessed at the sideline and sent his service to the center of the box. Tomas Hilliard-Arce headed it to the back post and Langsdorf buried his 11th of the season in stride.

The big momentum swing came in the 31st minute when Brian Iloski stepped up to take a penalty for UCLA. Iloski ran up to the ball, planted his right foot and unleashed a shot with his left that Nico Corti parried away. Six minutes later the Bruins' Kevin Silva saved a Langsdorf header, but Amir Bashti buried the rebound and the Cardinal was up 2-0.
 
"Nico makes the big save on the penalty and it changes the game," Gunn said. "It seems like every game he comes up with that one big save, sometimes two, that's maintained the situation."

Corti made a career-high six saves on the night.
 
Sam Werner nudged Stanford closer to victory when he slammed home is first of the season from 20 yards out in the 52nd minute. Foster Langsdorf and Jared Gilbey cycled the ball from right to left to get Werner free in space.
 
"I've been working on shooting with my right and cutting in in training and was feeling good about it," Werner said. "The second I received that ball I knew I was going to have a look and it came off sweet."

Iloski got a second chance at a penalty and converted in the 63rd minute to make the score 3-1, but Stanford wasn't done. Logan Panchot put a bow on it with an 88th minute goal when Corey Baird fed the freshman at the corner of the six-yard box and Panchot beat Silva to the far post.
 
Baird tied that bow tight himself less than a minute later, dribbling down the left side and curling in his shot at the far post from just outside the top of the 18.
 
Stanford's 36 goals through 16 games are its most since 2001. Langsdorf's strike to start the scoring was also his 34th career goal, tying the senior with Washington's Kevin Forrest for the Pac-12 record.
 
Stanford next hosts San Diego State on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in a game televised on Pac-12 Networks. The Cardinal will honor its six seniors – Corey Baird, Nico Corti, Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Foster Langsdorf, Bryce Marion, Drew Skundrich – prior to the match. In their four years, that group has gone 59-10-12 overall, 28-3-7 in the Pac-12, and won four conference championships and a pair of NCAA crowns.