DURHAM, N.C. – Three second-half scores powered No. 14 Stanford to a 3-2 road win at Duke on Saturday night, the Cardinal’s first ACC victory of the season.
Stanford (8-2-1, 1-2-1 ACC) had traveled to North Carolina in an uncharacteristic spot, coming off a consecutive home losses to Notre Dame and Virginia, and needed to show its characteristic resolve to avoid the program’s first three-match losing streak since 2012.
Trailing by two in the second half, the Cardinal delivered, scoring twice in a span of 37 seconds in the 58th minute to make it a match.
“At halftime we had a decision to make whether we were going to feel sorry for ourselves or were we going to keep going, keep playing, keep probing and continuing to play the great soccer that we've been playing over the last few games,” said Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn.
Jack Pymm chipped in a penalty for to pull the first back, and then Alex Chow hammered in a half volley from the top of the box to completely swing momentum for Stanford. A Cardinal cross was cleared away by the head of a Duke (4-7-0, 0-4-0 ACC) defender, but not nearly well enough, and Chow pounced on it with his left boot.
“It was a huge lift to get the first goal in the second half,” Gunn added. “And we could see that we were growing in confidence as the game went along. I think any team would've been proud of tying the game up and going away with a point, but what we saw was a fearless performance. We kept up the tempo and continued to put Duke on the back foot.”
The winner was an own goal off a Stanford corner in the 77th minute. Pymm’s inswinger to Aidan Reilly was cut off by a Blue Devil defender, the ball bouncing off his back and into the net.
Save the two goals allowed, it was a dominant performance for the Cardinal. Stanford had 21 shots to Duke’s four, nine of them on goal, and nine corner to the Blue Devils’ one.
Stanford could have easily scored multiple times in the opening half. In the 20th minute Chow hammered a rocket off the post from inside the box, and in the 25th minute Trevor Islam fired one off almost the exact same spot on the left post after a cross from Chow.
Duke was successful on its first shot of the night, opening the scoring in the 11th minute when Jack Ottley went far post from the top right corner of the box. Ethan Congleton was also successful on a penalty in the 45th minute that was awarded following a lengthy review.
“Giving up a goal in the first half was a bad setback,” said Gunn. “We stayed composed and really look like we would be finding a way back into the game, so to give away a penalty late in first half was a real gut punch. But I'm proud of the way the team responded. By the end of the game, I truly felt that our team deserved the victory.”
Stanford next returns to Cagan Stadium for its penultimate home match of the season when it hosts No. 9 Clemson on Sunday, October 11 at 6 p.m.
“Going into the season with so many fresh faces, I never expected anything to be easy and once again we were in a tremendous soccer match where we managed to create enough chances to win the game,” Gunn concluded. “Now we get the first break of the season where we can rest up, regroup and get ready to host Clemson.”