STANFORD, Calif. – Zach Ryan scored his first collegiate goal early on and Stanford managed the match the rest of the way to beat No. 15 UMass Lowell on Friday night, 1-0.
Stanford (2-0-3) now has four shutouts in its first five matches and lowered its goals against average to 0.18. The victory also extended the Cardinal's unbeaten streak to 20 matches dating back to last season, tying the school record set across the 1996 and 1997 campaigns. Stanford also upped its record to 22-2-5 in its last 29 matches against ranked opponents.
"Hard work no question," head coach Jeremy Gunn said when describing how his team earned the victory. "They passed the ball fantastically and really made us chase, but we kept working and even though they had great spells of possession, they weren't threatening our goal with that possession. So much of the time the work behind the ball was magnificent and we were just really tough to break down. It was a very tight game, a well-fought match and a great result for us."
The Cardinal's defensive effort from its forwards to its back line is always stout, especially at home, and this season has been no different. Stanford has allowed just one goal all year and that's the only score it has surrendered in the past 1,199:15 dating back to last season. The Cardinal is 38-3-9 (.850) at home since 2014 with a goals against average of 0.48.
Offensively, Stanford hadn't been able to score a first-half goal all season, but Zach Ryan changed that with a firecracker in the 17th. UMass Lowell (5-1-1) cleared the ball away from some danger and seemed likely to get out of it until Tanner Beason raced across the midline and immediately headed it back in to the top of the box. Amir Bashti got a touch on it with his back to goal and Ryan smacked his right-footed volley just under the crossbar. The sequence happened so quickly that River Hawk keeper Patrik Gujic was frozen on his line and saw the ball sail over his left shoulder and into the back of the net.
"The ball was played forward, Amir knocked it down and then Zach struck," Gunn said. "It really was a great finish. We've been working with all the forwards playing off each other one-touch and so it was nice to see them combine for the goal."
The goal was an especially good sign for the young Cardinal, which starts four freshmen, six underclassmen and is tasked with replacing 71 percent of its scoring from a season ago.
With two wins and three draws, Stanford is unbeaten through its first five matches in a season for the first time since 2004 when it started 5-0-1.
The Cardinal is back in action Sunday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Delaware in a match broadcast on Pac-12 Network.
