STANFORD, Calif. – Redshirt junior Marc Joshua scored his first career goal in the 65th minute and No. 5 Stanford won its fifth consecutive match with a 1-0 victory over UCLA on Sunday evening.
Stanford (12-1-2, 5-1-1) sits in second place in the conference with three matches remaining, five points behind No. 1 Washington (14-1-0, 7-0-0) and three points clear of Oregon State (7-5-1, 4-2-1). The Cardinal is in the Pacific Northwest next weekend for a pivotal pair of Pac-12 matches against the Beavers (Thursday) and Huskies (Sunday).
"We're still very much in it," Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn said of the league title chase. "Washington is in the best position, but there's three tough games for both teams to play. It's always an exciting conference and we're thrilled to get the result today and to move on to the next game."
Stanford, the five-time defending Pac-12 champions, continued its recent run of dominance over UCLA (5-9-3, 1-6-2) with Sunday's victory. After going 6-39-6 against UCLA from 1973-2013, Stanford is 9-0-3 in its last 12 meetings with the Bruins and has won eight straight.
The game's only goal came courtesy of Marc Joshua in midway through the second half when Stanford cycled the ball from left to right in the attacking third. Cam Cilley got it out wide to Logan Panchot, who spun in his service with an outside flick of his right foot. Joshua got on the end of it and sent in the winning header to the back post.
The first career goal for the local product from Menlo Park came in his 45th career appearance for the Cardinal.
"It's a great header," Gunn said of the score. "We've always talked about how clean Marc is on the ball, but he can score. He scored a lot more in his club career and we're hoping to get more goals out of him. He's a great player and certainly capable of doing that. What a great goal to get a game winner."
Defensively, goalkeeper Andrew Thomas was only forced into one save although he went airborne to snag a number of dangerous services from UCLA. The clean sheet was Thomas' sixth solo and the ninth of the season for Stanford.
Prior to the win, the Cardinal's senior class of Matthew Radzihovsky, Jared Gilbey, Derek Waldeck and Tanner Beason were honored in a pregame ceremony. As has been the case, the celebration of their careers was understated as the focus is on working to reward them with something far greater.
"Sometimes you're in programs where Senior Day is a massive event because it's complete finality for the players," Gunn commented. "We've been fortunate for a long time that Senior Day has happened when we're looking forward. I know it's a super special occasion for any student-athlete, but for us the biggest gift we can ever give them is if we can play as many games as possible. The hope is always that Senior Day becomes a distant memory and their fondest memories come playing as late as possible in the year."
