STANFORD, Calif. – Amir Bashti scored twice in the span of two minutes, Zach Ryan found his second goal in as many games this weekend and Stanford handily beat Delaware 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
The win was Stanford's third straight and more impressively extended its unbeaten streak to 21 dating back to last season, a program record. The Cardinal (3-0-3) now has five shutouts in its first six matches and lowered its goals against average to 0.15.
"It's another fantastic achievement," head coach Jeremy Gunn said of the unbeaten run. "After we did so well a couple of years ago I didn't think we'd be able to better anything and hopefully we can keep doing that. It's a testament to everybody in the program. As far as this season goes, if you had been told at the beginning of the season we could be unbeaten through six games you'd happily have taken it. In the course of the year we've had some matches that could have gone the other way, but we keep fighting, we're a tough team to play against and when we're passing and moving the ball well we play some electrifying soccer."
Amir Bashti spearheaded Sunday's offensive fireworks in the span of less than two minutes in the first half. Tanner Beason played a ball over the top in the 18th minute, which the senior forward collected in the corner. Bashti cut it back to his right at the corner of the six and deposited his first goal under the outstretched arms of Delaware (1-5-0) keeper Todd Morton.
In the 19th minute, Bashti's teammate up top set him up for an emphatic strike. Ryan Ludwick chipped the ball in near the top of the 18 and Zach Ryan. The redshirt freshman forward used a flick of his right to free up Bashti heading toward the endline. Instead of delivering a centering pass to a number of Cardinal crashing at the face of goal, Bashti unleashed a rocket to the near post. Anticipating the cross instead of a shot, Morton initially hopped to his right. By the time he realized a shot was heading his way it was too late. Morton tried to punch it out, but instead deflected Bashti's attempt into the back of the net.
"The first one was a really good, composed finish and the second one is what we talk about all the time: hit it hard on target and you have a chance," Gunn said of Bashti's goals. "Some people grumble when they hit the post, but when you put it on target and make the keeper have to save it things have a better chance of going your way. Amir struck it wonderfully. The keeper will look at it as a mistake, but the forward will look at it as he hit the target and got a good reward for it."
The brace was the third of Bashti's career and his first since Sept. 28, 2017, a 5-0 Cardinal win on the road at San Diego State.
Three freshmen combined to tack on some insurance in the 69th minute, which resulted in Zach Ryan's second goal of the weekend. True freshman Will Richmond beat his defender at the side of the box and passed it back out to another true freshman in Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick lofted in a pinpoint cross to the back post and a waiting Ryan. Stanford's redshirt freshman cleanly headed it home to the near side and put his team up three.
"It's exciting," Gunn added of watching a trio of freshmen combine for the goal. "They're moving along and what we hope is to pick up a little bit of experience every single time we go out. We want to have the team playing its best soccer by the end of the year and be playing in the postseason. We're very happy with the work we're doing and with the attitude of the players and we're excited and hopeful that we can keep pushing and keep getting a little bit better each game."
Stanford's defense wasn't tested a whole lot save for the very end of the game when it looked like Delaware had scored in the 89th minute, but was called offside. The Cardinal nearly added a fourth goal of its own with one second remaining, but was also whistled for being offside.
Stanford returns to action on Thursday night when it hosts Pacific at 7 p.m. in a match broadcast on Pac-12 Network.
