STANFORD, Calif. — A suffocating offensive performance, highlighted by a brace from Logan Tsopanoglou, lifted No. 9 Stanford to a 3-1 victory over Denver at Cagan Stadium on Sunday night.
Stanford (2-0-0) scored three unanswered goals to hand the Pioneers their first loss of the season, improving to 7-1-1 all-time against Denver.
The Cardinal dominated the match statistically, outshooting Denver 32-4 with 13 attacks on frame to the Pioneers' three. Stanford also held a 3-2 advantage on corner kicks.
"Aside from the first five minutes, I thought we played really, really well," said Jeremy Gunn, the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer. "We did an awful lot right and we were on top for massive parts of the game. They've got a very good team, and we managed to stay on top for much longer periods than some would've expected before the game."
Stanford stumbled out of the gates in Sunday's match, allowing Denver's Bryce Willoughby to score on a breakaway chance in the sixth minute following a turnover in the Cardinal's own defensive end.
From there, the Cardinal took complete control of the game, generating several chances throughout the first half in search of the equalizer. Stanford's relentless attack finally broke through in the 42nd minute, when goalie interference on Jayden Fitzgerald Boes sent Jack Pymm to the penalty spot, where he buried it home to pull Stanford level just before the break.
"That was a really important goal to put us back on even terms," said Gunn. "We could go into halftime knowing we had 45 minutes to play with competitive intelligence and bury them."
Stanford picked up right where they left off to open the second half, posting the first eight attacks before finding the go-ahead goal in the 73rd minute. After a series of Cardinal passes led Alex Chow to the top of the box, he played a pass through to Tsoponoglou at the end line, who finished from a tough angle at the near post to give Stanford the lead.
"The ball was at the top of the box and I was able to find space out wide and put it home with a touch finish," said Tsopanoglou. "It felt good. It was an important goal for us in the match and we were able to build on it from there."
Tsopanoglou added a second goal in the 78th minute, cleaning up Fitzgerald Boes’s back-footed poke that was initially deflected away by the Denver goalkeeper, recording a brace in just his second career game to put the match out of reach.
Tim Fortier appeared to add additional insurance in the 87th minute with a drive from the right side of the box, but the goal was ultimately disallowed following VAR review due to a handball.
Stanford's 32 shots marked its most in a game since 2014, when the Cardinal recorded 35 attempts in a 1-1 double-overtime draw against California. Jack Pymm had an especially prolific night with 13 shots, the most by a Stanford player since at least 1989. Pymm also added six shots on goal, which hadn't been done since at least 2001.
The Cardinal faces another ranked opponent in No. 18 San Diego on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT on ACC Network Extra. The Toreros opened their season with victories over top-ranked Washington and Liberty. Tickets for Thursday's match are available here.Â