STANFORD, Calif. - No. 13 Stanford bounced back in a big way, downing Cal State Fullerton 5-0 on Thursday night at Cagan Stadium. It’s the most goals Stanford has scored since a 5-0 victory over San Diego State last November.
The Cardinal improves to 2-1-0 on the season while the Titans fall to 0-3-0.
“Incredibly exciting for the spectators tonight,” said the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “Our mandate was ‘we’ve got to ruthlessly pursue scoring goals’ and the issue we had was every player on the pitch took that whole-heartedly.”
The Cardinal opened the scoring early, as Shane de Flores notched his first goal of the season in the 14th minute. He finished off a well-played ball from Fletcher Bank to score the game-winning goal.
“We threw a lot at them in attack but they were very quick to counter attack us and as a result, it was a gut-busting, end-to-end, action packed game,” added Gunn. “From the defensive side, I wasn’t happy we were giving as many good chances, but there was some fantastic last-ditch defending in the box. Kudos to our last-ditch defending, not so good on our team defending as a whole.”
Fullerton continued to search for an equalizer while Stanford sought to add to its lead for the remainder of the first half. The teams entered the locker room with the single goal separating the sides.
“Chances went either way and we managed to convert,” explained Gunn. “At the start of the second half, Fullerton really had a go again and put us under a bit of pressure. Then we got the second goal and it gave us a bit of daylight and a bit more confidence.”
Coming out of the break, Fullerton sustained consistent pressure, firing off five consecutive shots which resulted in three saves from Rowan Schnebly and two blocked shots from other Cardinal defenders.
Stanford settled the ball, and continued to look for more scoring opportunities. In the 63rd minute, the second goal came, this time from Fletcher Bank.
Bank headed home a great linkup from Zach Bohane and Will Cleary to double the lead.
“A wonderful way to finish the game emphatically with rock solid defending in the last 15 minutes where we weren’t giving up chances,” added Gunn. “And we were still counter attacking and scoring great goals.”
The third goal of the night again came from Shane de Flores, this time from a free kick. He struck the ball perfectly, pinning the top right corner of the goal to secure a 3-0 advantage.
Another set piece goal followed, with Alex Chow teeing up a beautiful ball into the box. Senior Noah Adnan headed it home, scoring his ninth career goal in the 89th minute.
Then, Stanford capped the night with a fifth goal. Nico Rei McMillan made a strong move to claim possession and started the attack, feeding the ball to Kwabena Kwakwa. The redshirt junior found Trevor Islam with a great ball towards the box, who then fired it home for his first career goal.
Statistically, each team earned its share of chances, with 16 shots for Stanford and 15 for the Titans. Of those, Stanford was the more decisive, launching 10 on target to Fullerton’s five.
Schnebly finished the day with a complete game shutout in goal, while also recording five saves. The win is also Stanford’s first clean sheet of the season.
The Cardinal returns to action on Sunday against Saint Mary’s at 5 p.m. at Cagan Stadium.