The result, Stanford’s largest conference win in nearly three years and its seventh shutout of the season, upped the the team’s unbeaten streak to 10 games. The Cardinal (9-1-1, 2-0-1 Pac-12) is 2-0-1 against ranked teams in 2015 and 7-0-4 in its last 11 Pac-12 matches. Stanford has also won six straight games against Oregon State (7-4-1, 2-1-1 Pac-12) and is now 6-0-1 against the Beavers under Jeremy Gunn.
“It was a great performance,” Gunn said. “Oregon State is a very, very good team and has been having incredible success and yet today we were so dominant. I was more pleased about the performance than the result. I thought it was absolutely rock solid defensively and exciting attacking-wise. Results are great to celebrate, but for us it’s how we are playing and what we’re doing [that’s more important] and I thought it was tremendous today.”
TURNING POINT » The Cardinal only needed one and got it from freshman Amir Bashti in the
44th minute. Drew Skundrich made it happen by taking possession at midfield and fighting his way down the right flank. A nifty slip of two defenders at the corner of the 18 freed him up to feed Bashti sitting in front of goal.
JEREMY GUNN » Drew is a great player who battles incredibly hard defensively and adds a wonderful attacking aspect. When we graduated Jimmy [Callinan] last year and had Brandon returning on the left, it was obvious that people were going to try and send us to our right. It’s no coincidence today that the ball got to Drew a lot of the time. What was awesome was that he made great use of the ball and had attacks down the right. Hopefully we’re showing teams, whether they send us left, right or down the middle, that we are going to have solutions.
DOMINATING WEEKEND » Stanford, which played Washington to a scoreless draw on Friday night, completely controlled all 200 minutes of action at Cagan this weekend. The Cardinal outshot the Huskies and Beavers 48-16, put 22 of those 48 shots on frame (.458) and won 18 corners to its opponents’ six. The efforts culminated with Sunday’s thumping of OSU, Stanford’s largest conference victory since a 6-1 result at Cal on November 9, 2012.
JEREMY GUNN II » Those were two absolutely quality performances. Friday night I don’t think we were unlucky, we were just close. We did so many things right and if we’d scored the winner we would have come away and said, ‘what a complete game.’ But between the two games, there were so many positives and so many good performances that the players have to be very proud of how they performed this weekend. These games are tough.
ADDING TO IT » Brandon Vincent converted his third penalty of the season in the 53rd minute to extend Stanford’s lead. He’s a perfect three-for-three from the spot this season and five-for-five in his career. The goal, his 10th in 68 games played, was also his ninth in the Cardinal’s past 30 matches.
LANGSDORF NETS HIS FOURTH » Some pretty combination work in the box in the 57th resulted in Foster Langsdorf’s fourth goal of the season. Eric Verso crossed the ball to the back post, where Sam Werner controlled and chipped back in front to Langsdorf. The sophomore headed it home to tie Jordan Morris for the team lead in goals.
CONTROLLING CAGAN » Stanford moved to 6-0-1 at home this season with Sunday’s win and is 15-1-5 in its last 21 matches at Cagan Stadium. In 2015, the Cardinal has allowed just one goal on The Farm and has a miniscule home goals against average of 0.14.
STREAKING » Stanford hasn’t lost since a season-opening setback at UC Santa Barbara. Its 10-match unbeaten streak is the longest since the Cardinal went 11 straight without a loss in 2001.
SHUTOUTS » Stanford’s seven shutouts this season in just 11 games matches the team’s total from all of 2014. The Cardinal hasn’t had more than seven clean sheets since 2009 (9).
JEREMY GUNN III » We have to stick to our roles. The players know they have jobs to do no matter the score line. When you’ve had a dominating performance and the score line isn’t out of sight, you still have to keep it tight because all they need is one good clearance and one of their strikers can be in on goal. We have to make sure people stay accountable and stay disciplined so you don’t give the opponent opportunities to get back in. The boys stuck to the task this weekend.
UP NEXT » The Cardinal heads south next weekend for matches at UCLA (Friday) and San Diego State (Sunday). Stanford, which tied then-No. 1 UCLA in Westwood last October 30 (2-2) behind a brace from Corey Baird, has earned just three points at UCLA since 1980 on a trio of draws (2014, 2007, 2006).
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