LOS ANGELES – Zach Ryan scored early in the second half and No. 6 Stanford clinched at least a share of its fifth consecutive Pac-12 title with a 1-0 win at UCLA on Sunday night.
The Cardinal (11-2-4, 7-1-1) is on 22 points through nine Pac-12 matches and can win the conference championship outright with a win or draw in its regular-season finale against Cal at home on Thursday at 6 p.m. Oregon State is in second with 19 points and has one game remaining at Washington on Friday. Stanford eliminated UCLA (10-7-0, 5-4-0) from the league championship chase with its victory in Westwood.
Stanford is the first Pac-12 school to win five consecutive conference crowns. The Bruins won four straight from 2002-05.
Zach Ryan bagged the conference clincher early in the second half when Amir Bashti played it ahead out wide to Marc Joshua. Joshua took a touch and fed it to the top of the 18 where Ryan turned on the ball, split two defenders and beat UCLA keeper Cole Martinez to the near post for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
Stanford, which has outscored its opponents 8-5 in the first 45 minutes of matches this season, has now walloped them 19-5 in second halves.
"Some of our teams have really dominated in first halves and maybe this team is just a little more measured," Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn explained. "This game had the feeling of a cup final and our players remained incredibly composed throughout. They stuck to the task, kept fighting and were true road warriors tonight."
Conference clincher.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/PCDxkFjgqC
— Stanford Men's Soccer (@StanfordMSoccer) November 5, 2018
Stanford collected its third consecutive shutout and 10th of the season despite some nervy moments and four golden opportunities for the Bruins.
In the fifth minute a loose ball in the box had to be saved off the line by Jared Gilbey, Anderson Asiedu hit the post in the 19th, Brandon Terwege did so in the 47th and in the 53rd Santiago Herrera had his attempt pound the crossbar. UCLA outshot the Cardinal 21-10.
"When we played them at our place we really dominated and had control of the game," Gunn said. "But tonight UCLA came out with all guns blazing and had a great performance. They can feel unlucky about hitting the woodwork, but when we're in the middle of the game there's no time to think backwards. You have to try and adapt and make sure you're creating more chances of your own. We didn't have as many, but we scored a fantastic goal and came very close on a couple of other occasions."
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— Stanford Men's Soccer (@StanfordMSoccer) November 5, 2018
Jared Gilbey. Huge.
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Ryan nearly had his second in the 83rd minute when Collin Liberty left it for him in the box, but the redshirt freshman was unable to curl his attempt inside the right crossbar.
Stanford is now 7-0-3 in its last 10 meetings with the Bruins and has been victorious in six straight. The Cardinal won its first game over the Bruins in Westwood in 2015 and has won four in a row at UCLA.