STANFORD, Calif. – Hosting No. 11 Santa Clara (3-3-2) on Sunday, No. 10 Stanford (6-2-0) broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of second-half goals en route to capturing a 3-1 victory in front of a sold-out crowd from Cagan Stadium.
Sunday's match pit the 2019 national champion Cardinal against the 2020 national champion Broncos.
"The team scored three excellent goals and played with grit and determination," The Knowles Family Director of Women's Soccer Paul Ratcliffe said after the match. "This result is a great way to build momentum for the start of conference play."
The Broncos got out to an early advantage, scoring on their first corner kick chance of the match in the third minute. The initial attempt was turned away by the Stanford defense, but the rebound fell to the foot of Izzy D'Aquila who punched it into the back of the net for her second goal of the season.
The 1-0 advantage held until the 36th minute when freshman Andrea Kitahata played a ball through the back line to a breaking Katie Duong. Duong went one-on-one with Santa Clara's Kylie Foutch in goal, shooting a pass through the legs of the keeper to even the match and record her first goal as a Cardinal.
36' | GOALLLLLLL ??@KatieDuong3 with her first as a Cardinal to even the match!
— Stanford Women's Soccer (@StanfordWSoccer) September 20, 2021
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The assist was the fifth of the year for Kitahata – the most for the Cardinal this season.
The two teams found themselves even at a goal apiece at halftime, with Santa Clara holding a 4-2 advantage in shots.
The Cardinal nearly took the lead in the 52nd minute as Belle Briede intercepted a pass that was directed toward Foutch who was well off her line. The goalkeeper backpedaled toward her cage and deflected the eventual shot from Briede wide of the goal to keep the match tied for the moment.
Stanford, which managed eight shots in the second half to finish the match with 10, broke through with the go-ahead goal in the 75th minute as Amy Sayer headed home her second of the season off the corner kick from Duong.
Stanford managed seven corner kick opportunities while limiting the Broncos to four.
Junior Maya Doms put the finishing touches on the victory, unleashing a rocket of a shot in the 84th minute that found the upper right corner of the goal. The goal was Doms' team-best fifth of the season.
84' | ?? 3, ?? 1@MayaDoms with the absolute ??
— Stanford Women's Soccer (@StanfordWSoccer) September 20, 2021
Goal No. ??? on the year for Doms!
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Redshirt junior goalkeeper Katie Meyer allowed the early goal, but held Santa Clara off the board from that point forward – recording a season-best six saves on 11 total shots from the Broncos.
Foutch amassed three saves in goal for Santa Clara.
Stanford will begin Pac-12 play on Friday when it hosts Utah at 6 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.