SAN DIEGO - No. 6 Stanford fought to a scoreless draw with No. 17 San Diego State on Sunday afternoon, the third shutout of the season for the Cardinal. The draw also earned Stanford a point in Pac-12 play, moving the Cardinal to 5-1-3 and 0-1-3 in conference contests and the Aztecs to 6-1-2 and 0-1-1 in the Pac-12.
"I'm very pleased with the performance today," said the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn. "We suffered one early chance that the Aztecs had that Rowan Schnebly made a great save on, and for the rest of the first half, I felt we were the stronger team and more likely to score."
In a top-ranked Pac-12 battle, both teams brought powerful defenses to the pitch in San Diego. Stanford held the edge offensively throughout the match, outshooting the hosts 13-8 and forcing the Aztec keeper to make four saves on the day.
"We were playing well and getting chances here and there," added Gunn. "Into the second half, we started to find a really good rhythm and as the game wore on we were more and more on top."
The Cardinal proved dominant defensively, only allowing two shots on goal and never conceding a corner. Rowan Schnebly made one save during the match and led Stanford to its third shutout of the season.
"We were the team pressing forward and really looking for the winner while San Diego State looked happy to take a tie," said Gunn. "We played fantastic and had some great chances."
Stanford applied pressure throughout the match, including an onslaught of four straight shots just before the 70th minute that nearly resulted in the breakthrough. Shane de Flores, Will Reilly, and Zach Bohane combined for 10 of the Cardinal shots throughout the match.
"We had some near misses, some great saves, and flurries where we did everything but score," explained Gunn. "Overall, I'm really impressed with the attitude and how we played from start to finish."
The match did not lack physicality, with 40 combined fouls by both teams. San Diego State committed 25 fouls and three players received yellow cards while the Cardinal fouled the Aztecs on 15 occasions.
The Cardinal returns to action at home on Monday, October 9 to face Santa Clara at 6 p.m. at Cagan Stadium.
