STANFORD, Calif. - Another clean sheet from the Cardinal defense and a second-half strike from Shane De Flores lifted No. 1 Stanford to a 1-0 win over Bay Area rival San Francisco on Wednesday evening.
The Cardinal (12-1-1) extended its home winning streak to nine games with the win, capping off the nonconference slate with a 7-0-1 record. San Francisco fell to 8-4-1 on the season, snapping a three-game winning streak.
The victory also marked Stanford's fourth straight shutout, the program's longest streak since the 2017 national championship team blanked nine consecutive opponents.
“San Francisco is a very good team that’s having an amazing season, so we knew it would be a difficult game,” said Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “Chances are everything in soccer. If we managed to convert in the first half, I think we would’ve seen a much more free-flowing game, but we gave them very little to get excited about and it was only going to be a matter of time until we found a goal.”
Stanford created numerous chances from the onset, with its best opportunity coming in the 33rd minute, when Zach Bohane’s free kick from just outside the box rattled the crossbar and Alfonso Tenconi-Gradillas sailed the second-chance look just high. Tomo Allen kept the pressure on late in the half with three attempts in the final five minutes, but the match remained scoreless at the break after 12 first half shots from the home side.
The Cardinal were inches away from its first score again in the 57th minute, when a De Flores shot deflected off a Dons defender and struck the woodwork for the second time on the night. Two minutes later, Jack Pymm fired a strike from distance but was denied by a diving one-handed save from the San Francisco goalkeeper.
The offensive pressure finally paid off in the 66th minute, when Will Cleary drove his way down the right side before finding De Flores at the front post, who tapped it home for his second goal of the season.
“That was a great team play,” said De Flores. “I’ll give all the credit to Cleary on that one. He did some great work on the wing, and we’ve been emphasizing box movement, so it was some good movement to get behind and I was able to tap it in for the goal.”
Stanford nearly doubled the advantage in the 73rd minute when a shot from Alex Chow was cleared off the line by a San Francisco defender. The Dons threatened to equalize in the 82nd minute, but goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly notched his lone save on a drive from David Raphael.
The Cardinal defense stood tall the rest of the way, fending off any final chances from San Francisco en route to another home victory.
Stanford returns to ACC action on Oct. 26, as the program celebrates Senior Day against SMU at 6 p.m. Tickets to the final regular season match at Cagan Stadium can be found here.