SAN FRANCISCO – Stanford scored twice in two minutes midway through the second half and the No. 25 Cardinal picked up its first win of the season at No. 16 San Francisco on Friday night, 2-0.
Stanford (1-0-3) now has three shutouts in its first four matches and lowered its goals against average to 0.21. The victory also extended the Cardinal's unbeaten streak to 19 matches dating back to last season, one shy of tying the school record set across the 1996 and 1997 campaigns. Stanford also upped its record to 21-2-5 in its last 28 matches against ranked opponents.
"I thought we were electrifying going at them tonight," head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "USF is a fantastic team and they're getting great results, but we completely deserved the victory. We were magnificent – rock solid at the back and then when we were on the ball it was very exciting. It was hard to keep up at times because we were zipping it around so quickly."
The passing and moving that has yielded the Cardinal championship after championship over the past few seasons shined through in the 67th minute when a nice pass from Logan Panchot and back-heel flick from Zach Ryan in the box set up Derek Waldeck near the left post, who barreled home his second career goal to the near side.
Two minutes later Waldeck was on the giving end, curling his left-footed corner to the top of the six and Adam Mosharrafa. Stanford's redshirt senior center back headed it home for his first of the season and the Cardinal was comfortably in control.
"Our passing and movement to goal was very sharp and it was fun to watch," Gunn added. "In some of the other games this year it's been harder to get going and we had to hit a few more balls. Tonight we managed to win it, get it on the ground and really move it wonderfully. Everyone was sharp and energetic. This just gives the team a little pat on the back to say 'good job, let's keep going.'"
The goals were the highlight, but Stanford had a number of other chances nearly fall its way. Coming out of halftime, Ryan Ludwick sent it in from the right side and Amir Bashti's header hit the post. Not a minute later Charlie Wehan's shot from the top of the six hit the same left post.
Early in the match Ryan, who earned his first career start, switched the field to the right side and Wehan, whose crack from 20 yards narrowly sailed over the crossbar. And in the 27th minute, Jared Gilbey got off a shot from the right corner of the box with his left that skipped outside the far post. Ryan also had a header wide left in the 59th and Mosharrafa knocked one off his head wide left in the 63rd before Stanford finally broke though.
"We hit the woodwork twice, which when we've been hitting woodwork so much the players could be asking the question, 'what do we have to do?'," Gunn said. "But what we had to do was keep playing the way we have been. Zach [Ryan] had his first start and was absolutely threatening all night long. Everybody in the team did their jobs well tonight. We're very happy with the performance and obviously very happy with the result."
San Francisco (2-1-1) really only pressured Stanford a couple of times. With a slick surface on a cool San Francisco night, many players were struggling to stay on their feet. A Cardinal fall in the 58th minute led to a breakaway for USF, but Andrew Thomas shut down Sandro Bradara to preserve his third clean sheet in his first four collegiate games. Thomas also punched away a Dons free kick late in the first half that had an opportunity to cause some problems.
Now with its first win under its belt, Stanford returns home for a stretch of five straight at Cagan Stadium beginning next Friday night against No. 22 UMass Lowell (7 p.m.). The Cardinal has posted a 37-3-9 (.847) record at home over the past five seasons with a goals against average under 0.50.
"We could have won all three of the games coming into this one," Gunn commented. "I think when you're tying games it's just a weird dynamic because you're so happy with all the great things going on, but everybody wants more. If you win or you lose there is a pretty clear-cut line. Those ties on the road will show up as very, very good results come the end of the season. They're very tough teams and very tough places to play."
