WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A pair of second-half scores from seniors Fletcher Bank and Zach Bohane powered No. 3 Stanford to a 2-0 road win at Wake Forest on Saturday night.
The win, the team’s fourth straight, also propelled the Cardinal (10-1-1, 4-1-0) to the top of the ACC table on 12 points. Stanford moved to 6-0 all-time against the Demon Deacons with the victory.
A dominant performance from end-to-end, it was only a matter of time before Stanford broke through. The Cardinal outshot Wake Forest 21-10, put eight on frame to the Deacons’ two, and was immensely threatening on a night when it only had two corners to Wake’s eight.
“Tonight was a fantastic performance in a really exciting game of soccer,” said Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “I was really impressed with how sharp our team was from start to finish, and when you weigh the chances and the way we played, I felt the team were very deserving of the victory tonight.”
It took until the 63rd minute for Stanford to strike. Near midfield along the sideline in front of the team benches, Wake’s Alfred Denbah attempted a back-heel pass to his teammate that was intercepted by Palmer Bank, cycled ahead to Alex Chow and on to Trevor Islam. Islam’s first touch was a beauty with his left and through the legs of his defender, Daniel Krueger, to spring Fletcher Bank up the left side. With plenty of real estate to work, Bank charged toward goal and hit a bouncing ball with his left into the back of the net.
Fifteen minutes later, Wake Forest had its best opportunity to even the score when Harvey Sarajian pounced on a loose ball and streaked behind the Stanford defense. With a 1v1 developing with Cardinal keeper Rowan Schnebly, Will Cleary and Dylan Groeneveld raced back to track down Sarajian, Cleary blocking the shot from inside the box.
Bohane put it out of reach in the 86th minute with a moment of magic. Fletcher Bank took the ball into the box from the left, centering it to Bohane at the top of the six. Bohane jumped at the ball and scored just below the bar with the outside of his right boot while completing a 360-degree turn in a sublime display of athleticism.
“We managed to create attack after attack and dominate the shot count with some really impressive passing and movement,” Gunn added. “There were moments in the game where the ball was moving in a way that was difficult for opponents to stop. We managed to suffocate for long periods of time when we followed one attack with another.”
Stanford’s stingy defense turned away some Wake chances late. Schnebly earned the clean sheet with an incredible save in the 16th minute, lunging far to his left and punching away a rocket from Jose Perez near the crossbar with his right glove.
“It was great to get a clean sheet on the road and that was helped by a fantastic top corner saved by Rowan in the first half,” Gunn said. “Tonight, we were excellent both sides of the ball against a very impressive Wake Forest team. Our back for were rock solid against some very good counter attacks. Wake Forest still mounted some fantastic attacks in the second half, but our defenders managed to make the tackles and interceptions when they matted most.”
The Cardinal will not leave the Bay Area the remainder of the regular season. Stanford returns home to host Pittsburgh next Saturday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m.