Season Sweep of WashingtonSeason Sweep of Washington
Hector Garcia-Molina/Stanford Athletics
Men's Soccer

Season Sweep of Washington

Box Score (PDF) Opens in a new window Highlights Opens in a new window Andrew Thomas Interview Opens in a new window YouTube Opens in a new window
Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford's three leading scorers this season all put in goals and the No. 12 Cardinal earned a season sweep of Washington with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Huskies on Sunday afternoon.
 
Amir Bashti (3'), Zach Ryan (26') and Tanner Beason (74') did what they have been doing all season and Stanford (8-2-4, 5-1-1) continued its torrid offensive pace in conference. The Cardinal scored three for the fifth time in seven Pac-12 matches and is averaging 2.57 goals per game against league opponents. Stanford's 18 goals through its first seven Pac-12 games is a program record and is eight clear of the next closest side this season (Oregon State and Washington).
 
Stanford wasted no time in taking control when Amir Bashti pressed Quentin Pearson and knocked away the Washington (8-7-0, 3-4-0) defender's attempted clearance in the third minute. The ball squirted in the direction of the Huskies' goal where Bashti picked it up, danced around goalkeeper Bryce Logan and slotted home his seventh of the season at the far post.
 
"You always want to start in a positive way and what a fantastic piece of work that was by Amir," Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn said. "He pressed the defender, caused the turnover through hard work and then skipped around the keeper and finished with aplomb. It was great skill and composure in that situation from what was a tough angle to finish."

Capitalizing on that early breakthrough, the Cardinal began to settle into the flow of passing and movement which has made its attack so lethal in the last month. Derek Waldeck raced forward to intercept a pass out of the back from UW in the 26th minute, took three touches and then flicked it ahead with the outside of his left foot to Bashti at the top of the box. Bashti played it back to Zach Ryan and the redshirt freshman unleashed a one-hop laser to the right side of goal past Logan for his sixth of the year.
 
"I think if you've come and watched the last seven years of Washington against Stanford there has never been a dull game," Gunn added. "Both sets of players leave it all out on the field and compete like warriors so a game that's 2-0 at half means absolutely nothing."

Washington, which managed just five shots in the first half, came out direct in the second and ripped off 14 attempts. In the 47th minute, Blake Bodily worked his way free and fired a low rocket to the post that Andrew Thomas reacted quickly to save and he also stopped a Quentin Pearson header minutes later that could have put UW on the board.
 
The Huskies finally broke through in the 68th on a free kick from Scott Menzies. Menzies attempted to play quickly and wrapped a shot around the wall that Thomas saved, but the referee indicated he was still communicating with Stanford's defenders and was not ready to begin play.
 
Menzies lined it up again, his shot tipped off the top of the wall and right under the crossbar to change the complexion on the match.
 
Stanford ended it in the 74th when Adam Mosharrafa stood over a free kick near the midline in front of Stanford's bench. He lofted in a ball to the back post and Tanner Beason ran onto it, outjumped Washington's defender and scored on an upper-90 header back across the face of goal that looped over Logan's outstretched arm.
 
"That goal put us in a commanding position," Gunn said. "I still wouldn't say you feel comfortable until the last few minutes, but the players just kept fighting. That was a great ball in, a great header and something they've worked on. It gives them a nice pat on the back for working on things and then executing well in really tough moments."
 
Stanford steps out of conference one final time on Friday night when it hosts No. 7 Denver (11-2-2) at 7 p.m.