The nation’s No. 1 ranked Stanford women’s soccer team (12-0-1, 5-0 Pac-12) beat Oregon State (2-11-0, 1-4) 3-0 on Saturday to remain undefeated.
The Cardinal did all of their damage in the first half, jump-started by sophomore midfielder Belle Briede. She won a tackle in the attacking third and headed toward goal before she was brought down on the right edge of the box. Senior defender Tegan McGrady curled in a left-footed beauty on the ensuing free kick for her first goal of the year to put the Cardinal on the scoreboard.
Briede was able to get her own score in the 22nd minute on a scramble in front of the net. Sophomore forward Civana Kuhlmann sent in a cross from the right side that was first touched by sophomore midfielder Kiki Pickett before Briede slid in for the finish. Five minutes later senior midfielder and captain Jordan DiBiasi scored her fourth goal of the year on a diving header off a free kick taken by sophomore forward Catarina Macario.
The game was the second in a two-game road trip to Oregon, the team’s first away games in conference play. After the game, DiBiasi said that the team entered the game wanting to “set a tone and score some goals early,” after what she viewed as an unsatisfying performance against Oregon (7-4-1, 1-3-0) last Thursday. Whereas in the Oregon game it took Stanford until overtime to find the back of the net, the Cardinal were able to execute on their game plan and had no such problems against the Beavers.
Stanford dominated the game statistically, outshooting the Beavers 19-0 in the first half alone. Junior Lauren Rood replaced senior Alison Jahansouz in the net for the second half, saving the one shot the smothered Oregon State offense was able to get off. This was a theme throughout the night, as the Cardinal reached into their depth to make six total substitutions. Impressively, the level of play was maintained even with the substitutes, who were able to add 17 shots in the second half while tallying eight of their 10 corner kicks.
“[The depth is] what makes our team so special and so dangerous,” DiBiasi said. “There’s so many people that can contribute, there’s not eleven of us … there’s 29 of us, and it takes all 29 to do well this season and to hopefully repeat and win a national championship.”
In a game where Stanford recorded 36 shots to continue to pace the nation in shots per game, opposing goalkeeper Lindsay Lamont was forced to be brilliant for Oregon State, saving an absurd 12 of the Cardinal’s 15 shots on goal.
This was the team’s seventh shutout for the season to extend their unbeaten streak to 35 games, stretching back to last season. The Cardinal return to action on Saturday in Tempe at Arizona State (6-5-1, 1-3-1).
Contact Daniel Martinez-Krams at danielmk ‘at’ stanford.edu