IRVINE, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford extended its win streak to four straight games to start the season, taking down previously undefeated UC Irvine 2-1 on Friday night. The Cardinal's unblemished record sits at 4-0-0 while the Anteaters fall to 3-1-1.
"A fantastic road victory, we really started brightly and we put wonderful pressure on the Irvine team," said The Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn. "We scored two fantastic goals and really played some breath-taking soccer in the first 30 minutes."
The Cardinal wasted no time offensively, opening the scoring in the 11th minute. Zach Bohane, the team's leading scorer, found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season. Fletcher Bank provided the assist, his third in four games.
Stanford kept the pressure on, sustaining multiple attacks while keeping the ball in the offensive zone. Then, in the 22nd minute, the lead was doubled.
Bohane fired another close attempt which bounced back to him off the right post. He controlled the rebound, finding Mark Fisher who teed it up for Will Reilly to launch a thumping shot from outside the box into the right corner of the net.
Fisher and Bohane each were credited with an assist on the play while Reilly bagged his second goal of the season.
"Irvine managed to respond a little bit and grew into the game before the half," added Gunn. "And then the second half, I thought that Irvine managed to get back into the game without creating too many chances."
Stanford's defense held strong through the remainder of the period to enter halftime with a two-goal advantage. The score remained the same until the 88th minute, when UC Irvine pulled one back from a set-piece play.
"Throughout the second half, we had some very good chances to get that third goal to put the game away, but we couldn't quite manage to do that," said Gunn. "And then we let up a goal in the late stages of the game which made it an exciting last few minutes."
Despite the late goal from the hosts, Stanford held strong to earn a second-straight road victory. Jack Morris played the full 90 minutes in goal, making two saves in his third start of the year.
"Overall, very happy with the performance of the team," said Gunn. "It was another great victory, a road victory, and a performance where we're very pleased with the attitude and the work of the team and it was very hot conditions as well."
The Cardinal recorded nine shots including four on target, one better than the three attempts on goal by the Anteaters. Stanford registered four corners in the match as well.
"A very exciting first three weeks of the season and we're thrilled to start play in the Pac-12 conference next Thursday against Washington, and then Oregon State on Sunday," added Gunn.
The Cardinal returns to action next Thursday for the conference-opener against Washington at 7 p.m. At the match, Stanford will welcome back its five alumni playing for the San Jose Earthquakes. Fans will have a chance to collect a custom poster and get autographs from Tanner Beason, Ousseni Bouda, Cam Cilley, Will Richmond, and Keegan Tingey.