STANFORD, Calif. - No. 16 Stanford advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night after defeating Missouri State 3-1 at Cagan Stadium. The match marked Stanford's 21st time appearing in the NCAA Tournament and the second consecutive season the team has advanced to the third round.
The win was the Cardinal's 10th of the year as the team improved to 10-3-5.
"It was such a tough game," said the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer Jeremy Gunn. "I'm just so proud of how our team defended tonight."
The game was physical and contested from the start. The two teams combined for 29 fouls across the 90 minutes and seven yellow cards.
"I felt that Missouri State played fantastic, they were so good on the ball," added Gunn. "We just couldn't really get going tonight. We couldn't get the fluent nature of our game going tonight and as a result, Missouri State had a lot of the ball."
The Bears struck first, scoring the opener in the 8th minute.
"I think as a team, we know we could've played better on the ball, but I thought we were magnificent with our rock-solid defending," said Gunn. "As a team, we really worked hard defensively and fought for each other in what was a really tough game."
Stanford responded, as Zach Bohane netted a spectacular free kick goal to tie the game in the 17th minute. It was the sophomore's eighth goal of the season.
"On the positive side, we give up an early goal despite having the first really great chance of the game and that was a bad body blow for us," explained Gunn. "But we managed to get a great free kick back, a fantastic strike by Zach that gets us back on level terms."
With the game level at one, the Cardinal began looking for the go-ahead goal, and found it in the 30th minute. A beautiful build up on the left side of the pitch from Fletcher Bank and Palmer Bank led to a cross into the box, finding the head of Shane de Flores for the lead.
The Cardinal held the lead into halftime and a 4-3 shot advantage. Coming out of the break, Stanford pounced again.
This time, Bohane delivered a ball into the box from a free kick, finding Jackson Kiil for the goal. The assist from Bohane was his 11th on the season, the most by a Stanford player since 2015, when Corey Baird and Eric Verso each had 13.
"On a night where we didn't really get clicking on the ball, we were clinical on our set pieces," said Gunn. "At the end of the day, the goals are what changed the game and we managed to be clinical with three goals on a night where we weren't as comfortable on the ball."
The Cardinal went on to win the match without conceding again, thanks in part to five saves from Rowan Schnebly, a career-high mark.
"We'll take that as an incredible positive, that, even when we're not flying, we still score three goals," said Gunn. "There's a lot of times and a lot of teams where if you don't play well, your season is finished. And I think tonight, we fought our way through and that's a great sign of a really strong team."
The Cardinal advances to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament, where it will face No. 1 Marshall on Sunday, November 26 in Huntington, West Virginia.