STANFORD, Calif. - No. 3 Stanford took care of business on Tuesday evening, defeating UC Riverside 3-0 at Cagan Stadium for its fourth win in a row. Zach Bohane, Palmer Bank, and Duncan Jarvie each netted goals in the victory.
The Cardinal moves to 5-1 on the season while UC Riverside drops to 1-4 on the season.
“It’s a really good performance overall,” said the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “We talk about how you see over in Europe, they have a Champions League hangover when you go on a big trip and you’re not ready for the next game. It was a quick turnaround, but we had a great attitude throughout the game.”
Stanford showed no signs of fatigue after its big win over Clemson during the weekend and flexed its offensive muscle early, firing eight of the first nine shots in the game. The Cardinal would go on to outshoot the visitors 19-2 across the entire game.
”Overall, everything about it was really solid,” said Gunn. “To only give up two shots in an entire game is fantastic.”
The Cardinal defense was stifling from the first whistle, thwarting nearly every threat from the Highlanders. Rowan Schnebly earned his second clean sheet of the season while facing only one shot on target and making one save.
“We created good chances, played well in the first half, and we were just lacking the goal after having a couple of near misses,” explained Gunn. “At half time, we wanted to keep doing the good things that we were doing but just make sure we were continuously backing up plays because they have a really exciting striker, Lukic. If you give him an inch of daylight, he’s going to be very dangerous, as he’s shown.”
Despite entering the locker rooms at halftime all square at 0-0, the Cardinal was able to capitalize on its defensive domination by finding the back of the net in the 62nd minute.
Will Reilly and Alex Chow worked the ball up the right side of the pitch and found Zach Bohane entering the top of the box. Stanford’s number 10 hit it perfectly from just inside the box, launching a curling shot into the top left corner where the keeper had no chance to make a save.
“I thought we were very impressive with a complete performance,” added Gunn. “We were rock-solid defensively, we created chances, and at the end it’s a great 3-0 victory with a 3-0 margin and daylight. Sometimes that’s what soccer is like, you’ve got to keep landing the body blows until you get one, and then it can open up for you.”
Palmer Bank struck next, finishing off a set piece ball orchestrated by Shane de Flores and Noah Adnan. De Flores’ free kick found Adnan’s header at the back post, who sent it back across the face of goal and right to the head of Bank who sent it off the crossbar and down.
It was the redshirt sophomore’s first career goal.
Stanford wrapped up the scoring in the 87th minute when Duncan Jarvie connected for his second goal of the season. The sophomore striker was the beneficiary of a corner kick sent in by Liam Doyle that caught a glancing header from Alfonso Tenconi-Gradillas before Jarvie sent it home.
The win was Stanford’s second shutout of the season and the fourth consecutive victory. Since dropping a 1-0 loss to Denver in the second game of the season, the Cardinal has rattled off four wins, scoring 15 goals while conceding just three.
Stanford returns to action on Saturday against Notre Dame in the second ACC match of the season. The Cardinal and the Fighting Irish kickoff at 4 p.m. PT in South Bend, Indiana.