STANFORD, Calif. - No. 13 Stanford earned a decisive win over Saint Mary’s on Sunday, taking down the Gaels 4-1 at Cagan Stadium. The Cardinal has now scored nine goals over the last two games after scoring two across the first two games of the season.
Stanford moves to 3-1 in 2024 while Saint Mary’s falls to 1-2.
Despite the three goal advantage for Stanford, Saint Mary’s struck first to take the lead in the seventh minute of the game.
“Really disappointed about giving up the early goal,” said the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “It was poor marking on a set piece and that is just a level of alertness we have to go into the game with, so we have to correct that.”
The Cardinal responded swiftly, however. Jackson Kiil headed home a free kick delivery from Will Reilly just two minutes later, knotting the game at one apiece.
“Everything else about the game I thought was really solid,” added Gunn. “I thought we scored some excellent goals and we moved the ball against a stubborn defensive team that is hard to play against.”
The Stanford attack continued to pressure the Saint Mary’s defense, and it was Louis Sterobo who broke the tie in the 28th minute. His first Stanford goal would end up being the game-winner.
Dylan Groeneveld provided the assist on the play after controlling the ball in the box and then setting up Sterobo perfectly.
Five minutes before halftime, Duncan Jarvie provided the third goal. It marked Jarvie’s first of the season and was made even sweeter because it was also the sophomore’s birthday.
Fletcher Bank and Zach Bohane were both instrumental in the buildup to the third goal, which gave Stanford a two-goal cushion heading into halftime.
“Saint Mary’s is very sharp at pressing and they’re very good at the knock downs, the counter attacking moments, and threatening in the quick transitions,” explained Gunn. “I thought we did really well in negating everything that they had, and against a team that is sometimes tough to lose the ball against, I thought we moved the ball quite well.”
The final goal of the game came in the 67th minute from Shane de Flores, his third goal in the last two games. Zach Bohane’s corner kick found the glancing head of de Flores running to the near post and cemented the win for Stanford.
The Cardinal defense held strong, allowing only six shots across the 90 minutes of action, and Rowan Schnebly recorded three saves across his 83 minutes in goal.
Fellow goalkeeper Laszlo Bollyky made his Stanford debut, finishing out the final seven minutes of action.
“Overall, I’m really pleased with the performance,” said Gunn. “It’s another great result, another multi goal game, and can we just iron out those little kinks so we can continue to be even more solid.”
The Cardinal heads on the road for the first time this season on Friday, opening up ACC play against Clemson at 4 p.m.