CORVALLIS, Ore. - No. 17 Stanford earned its first Pac-12 victory of the season on Thursday night, taking down Oregon State 4-0. In the first win over Oregon State since March of 2020, the Cardinal was dominant in every facet of the game.
"Obviously a fantastic night tonight," said the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn. "Just a truly complete performance on the road where we were really in the mood and straight from the kickoff we were electrifying."
Stanford improves to 7-2-3 on the season and 1-1-3 in Pac-12 play. Oregon State falls to 5-5-3 on the year and 2-1-3 in conference games.
"I felt that we were so sharp and strong defensively and electrifying on the ball," said Gunn. "From the first whistle, we were passing, moving, thrusting, asking questions and looking for chances."
Shane de Flores provided the early goals in the match, opening the scoring just 70 seconds after the opening whistle. Zach Bohane launched a corner kick towards the Beavers' goal, connecting with de Flores at the near post, who hit a glancing header for the score.
"A great first goal. It was a good delivery from Zach and a great header from Shane and from there, we were on top," added Gunn. "We really put ourselves in a strong position."
Then, 18 minutes later, de Flores found the back of the net again, this time off a feed from Fletcher Bank.
It was all Cardinal in the first half, with nine shots and four corners for Stanford, compared to just two shots for the Beavers. De Flores' brace was the difference through 45 minutes, as Stanford headed into the locker room with a two-goal lead.
"Oregon State is a great team and later in the first half and at the start of the second half, they started to get their foot in the game, passing and moving the ball," explained Gunn. "I was so proud of how strong and disciplined we were defensively."
Despite better play from Oregon State in the second half, it was Stanford who struck again in the 62nd minute. Liam Doyle recorded his first goal of the season, finding the back of the net after a dominant attack and build-up from Alfonso Tenconi-Gradillas and Zach Bohane.
"In the second half, they were passing and moving and we were defending, so to score a good goal off the counter attack really killed the game because they were looking to find a way into the match," said Gunn. "We'd been strong keeping them at bay, but that's tough to do for a whole half, so to get the third goal really took the wind out of their sails."
The Cardinal didn't let up as the match crept into the final minutes. Tenconi-Gradillas recorded the first goal of his career, heading home a great ball from Will Cleary in the 81st minute. Ryan Dunn also earned an assist on the play.
"As the game went on, we continued to go from strength to strength and finished the game with a fourth goal," explained Gunn. "I'm so proud of the attitude of the team tonight and really excited about the performance and some wonderful moments."
Rowan Schnebly made his sixth start of the season, recording two saves while playing all but three minutes in goal for the Cardinal. It was the keeper's fifth combined shutout of the season as well, as he leads the Pac-12 in goals against average (0.58).
"Now we move on to the second part of the road trip," said Gunn. "We're looking forward to another great battle with Washington in Seattle."
Stanford will conclude its Pacific Northwest road trip on Sunday against Washington at 3 p.m.