SAN DIEGO – Opening the 2023 season on the road at San Diego, No. 11 Stanford (1-0-0) earned a 4-0 shutout victory over the Toreros (0-1-0) from Torero Stadium on Thursday night.
Graduate student Kennedy Wesley, beginning her fifth season on The Farm, contributed the first goal of the year in the 39th minute as she worked up from her defender position and fired a shot from distance that beat San Diego goalkeeper Sophine Kevorkian.
The goal, which handed the Cardinal a 1-0 advantage at the break, was Wesley's first of her career and came in her 80th match overall.
After halftime, Stanford struck for two goals in the span of less than a minute of play to turn the one-goal advantage into a 3-0 lead. Taking a corner in the 52nd minute, senior Julia Leontini sent a ball into the box where it was headed on frame by Wesley. Kevorkian batted away the initial attempt, but sophomore Jasmine Aikey was in perfect position to one-time the rebound into the back of the net for her first of the season.
Redshirt sophomore Andrea Kitahata wasted no time getting her first of the year, dribbling toward goal and drawing a penalty after being taken down in the box. Stepping to the spot, Kitahata found the back of the net with 52:39 on the clock.
The goal was Kitahata's fifth career tally, including her first since October 21, 2021 vs. Arizona State.
With the final minutes ticking away, Stanford delivered the exclamation mark off the foot of sophomore Lumi Kostmayer. Freshman Joelle Jung headed a ball down to the feet of fifth-year player Katie Duong, who played it on to Kostmayer. With her back to the goal, the native of Southbury, Conn. took a few touches to her right before firing a left-footed shoot into the back corner of the goal to put her first on the books for the season.
The Cardinal finished the match with a 21-6 advantage in shots, including putting 12 on goal and forcing Kevorkian into eight saves. On the other side, senior Ryan Campbell made three saves for the Cardinal while recording the shutout victory.
Stanford will remain in Southern California this weekend, traveling to UC Irvine for a 3 p.m. kickoff against the Anteaters.
MATCH NOTES
- With the win, Stanford now owns a 17-match unbeaten streak in season openers (16-0-1) dating back to 2007, and has posted nine shutouts over the 17-match streak
- The Cardinal has now won 13 straight season openers ... played to a 1-1 draw at Boston College to start the 2010 season
- Stanford is 34-4-2 all time in season openers - including 18-2-1 under Paul Ratcliffe
- 2023 marks the third consecutive season that Stanford has opened the year with a shutout (2-0 at Cal Poly in 2021 & 5-0 vs. Sacramento State in 2022)
- Stanford is unbeaten in its last 13 matches (11-0-2) dating back to last season, and has posted seven shutouts in the last nine contests
- With a goal on Thursday, Jasmine Aikey has scored in each of her last three career matches (4 vs. San Jose State, 11/11/22 & vs. #15 BYU, 11/17/22)
- Aikey and Lumi Kostmayer each scored a goal in the first contest of 2023 after leading the team in goals with 10 apiece as freshmen a year ago