STANFORD, Calif. – Making an early-season statement on Sunday from Cagan Stadium, No. 7 Stanford rolled past No. 16 Santa Clara 5-1 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The Cardinal outshot Santa Clara (1-1) 28-2 in the match, including posting a 19-0 advantage in the first half.
For the second consecutive match, senior Allie Montoya got the scoring started, this time receiving a pass from Jasmine Aikey, cutting back past a defender and firing her right-footed shot into the back of the net in the 14th minute.
The Cardinal extended the lead to 2-0 in the 28th minute when Charlotte Kohler was taken down in the box for a penalty. Redshirt senior Andrea Kitahata stepped to the spot and blasted her shot past Santa Clara goalkeeper Amaris Franco for her first tally of the season and the 23rd of her career.
Senior Elise Evans, who had two assists in Thursday’s 7-0 rout of San Francisco, notched her first goal of the season in the 31st minute, collecting her own rebound and poking her second shot into the back of the net following a Stanford corner kick.
Leading 3-0 at half, Stanford quickly pushed the tally to 4-0 with a goal just over a minute into the second stanza. Shae Harvey played a ball to the foot of Jasmine Aikey that was flicked on toward Joelle Jung. Jung sprinted forwarded and lunged a pass toward the endline where Montoya one-timed a return backward pass back to Jung. The junior controlled the ball with one touch before unleashing a shot to the near post for the goal.
The score held at 4-0 all the way to the 89th minute when Santa Clara was able to pull one back on just its second shot of the afternoon. Refusing to surrender any momentum, the Cardinal responded just 24 seconds later when freshman Milly Bray uncorked a left-footed rocket from outside the box that beat Santa Clara’s second-half keeper Ally Reynolds.
The Cardinal will remain at home next week for a pair of matches beginning with a 7 p.m. clash against San Diego State on Thursday night.
GAME NOTES:
- Stanford has now won the last three matches against Santa Clara, and is unbeaten in the last four overall after drawing in 2022
- The 5-1 victory on Sunday marked the most goals Stanford has scored against Santa Clara, and the largest margin of victory over the Broncos, since a 6-1 win on August 17, 2012
- The 12 combined goals (7-0 vs. San Francisco; 5-1 vs. No. 16 Santa Clara) to start the 2025 season are the most for Stanford through two matches in program history, surpassing the 11 scored to begin the 1988 season
- Stanford has posted a 122-7-10 record at Cagan Stadium since the start of the 2014 season - a .914 winning %
- Allie Montoya has scored in back-to-back matches, becoming the first Cardinal to manage the feat since Andrea Kitahata had two against California and one against UC Santa Barbara last season
- The two shots allowed are the fewest by the Cardinal since limiting Saint Mary's to two on August 27, 2023