STANFORD, Calif. – Top-ranked Stanford scored four times in the first half, and added two more goals in the second half, en route to earning a 6-0 victory over visiting UC Irvine on Sunday afternoon from Cagan Stadium.
The win moved Stanford to 3-0-0 on the season, while UC Irvine dropped to 0-1-1 to start the year.
The Cardinal got to work quickly on Sunday as junior Bella Winn notched her first Stanford goal in the eighth minute. The transfer from UCLA, who made her first Stanford start, received a cross from junior Charlotte Kohler, trapped the ball with her left, spun and fired a right-footed shot inside the post for what proved to be the game-winner.
A brilliant run from sophomore Brooke Holden allowed the Cardinal to double the lead in 14th minute. Junior Jaden Thomas dispossessed an Anteater player before feeding Holden a pass across midfield. Holden made a cutting run through a pair of defenders before weaving back the other direction and putting her left-footed shot on frame and past UCI goalkeeper Savanna Arruda for her first of the season.
Arruda was credited with five saves as Stanford posted a 24-2 advantage in shots.
The Cardinal converted a corner kick opportunity for a third first-half goal in the 38th minute as Y-Lan Nguyen delivered a quality ball from the corner that was tapped by Arruda trying to make a play on the service. The deflection carried toward the back post where Lizzie Boamah volleyed it into the empty net for her fourth career goal, including her first tally of the year.
With the first half winding down, junior Eleanor Klinger added a fourth Cardinal goal in the 42nd minute with a shot from distance that snuck inside the upper 90. Senior Erica Grilione keyed the opportunity, intercepting a pass from UC Irvine in its defensive end and touching it toward Klinger. The native of Cleveland, Ohio took one touch before unleashing her left-footed shot toward the back of the net to record her first points of the year.
Stretching her goal streak to three straight contests to start the season, Kohler opened the scoring in the second half with a goal in the 60th minute. Klinger played a ball into the box that was peppered from Winn to Holden and onto the right foot of Kohler who one-timed her shot to the far post for the goal.
Putting the finishing touches on the rout, the Cardinal delivered on a perfect free kick opportunity in the 85th minute. Freshman Sadie Leal-Schuman delivered a textbook service to the near post where Grilione made her run and headed home her first of the season.
All three of Stanford’s goalkeepers logged minutes on Sunday, with sophomore Caroline Birkel working the first 45 minutes of the clean sheet. Fifth-year Rhiannon Stewart started the second half and made one save over 26-plus minutes before junior Kaiya Jota sealed the shutout over the final 18-plus minutes.
MATCH NOTES:
- Stanford has conceded just one goal in the series against UC Irvine and has outscored the Anteaters 15-1 with five shutouts in six matches (5-0-1) ... the Cardinal is 4-0 in home matches against UC Irvine
- The Cardinal used 23 players in Sunday’s match … Alex Tay and Aniya Williams made their collegiate debuts, while Rhiannon Stewart made her Stanford debut after transferring into the program from Harvard
- The Cardinal owns a 136-7-10 record at Cagan Stadium since the start of the 2014 season … has won 18 straight matches at home dating back to the 2024 season
- Stanford is 70-8-10 over its last 88 matches and has managed a clean sheet in 44 of its last 84 contests, including each of its three matches this year … has outscored the opposition 73-17 over its last 20 matches … has opened the season with three straight shutouts for the first time since posting three consecutive clean sheets to start the 2021 season
- The Cardinal’s six goals were the most in a single match since scoring six vs. BYU on November 24, 2025
- Charlotte Kohler scored for the third consecutive match, becoming the first Cardinal to manage the feat since Jasmine Aikey scored in four straight from November 21 to December 5, 2025 … has managed at least one goal and an assist in back-to-back matches, and now owns six such matches in her career … has contributed on five of Stanford’s nine goals this season (3 goals, 2 assists)