On Friday, #8 Stanford men’s soccer defeated St. Mary’s 4-0 in a home match at Cagan Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Zach Bohane (13:03), redshirt senior midfielder Mark Fisher (43:45), sophomore midfielder Will Cleary (49:44), and senior defender Noah Adnan (75:32) each scored for the Cardinal while junior midfielder Will Reilly had three assists.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal with 3 saves in 81:45 played while junior goalkeeper Jack Landreth was the losing keeper for the Gaels, giving up four goals while also having six saves. Stanford redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Jack Morris came in to replace Schnebly for the final 8:15. Stanford improves to 5-1-1 overall while St. Mary’s falls to 5-2-2.
BOX SCORE: St. Mary’s at Stanford
“I thought we were in an irresistible mood tonight,” Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said after the match. “St. Mary’s have been having a really good season and so it’s definitely a game that, a really exciting prospect and our players, they were just in the mood tonight and we were just too much on the night. We passed and moved the ball so well, created good chances and so I was really impressed with the attitude tonight and the execution and so I felt that from the very beginning we were just unstoppable tonight.”
This match was one way traffic for the Cardinal all night long as they got three corner kicks and four shots within the first eight minutes of the match. They were doing a great job of putting pressure on the Gaels. That pressure soon resulted in an early goal as Zach Bohane found the bottom left of the goal off his left foot thanks to an assist by Will Reilly at the 13:03 mark. It was now a 1-0 lead for Stanford.
“Yeah, we really wanted to get on the front foot early in this game,” Fisher said. “We knew we could dominate, but we knew it was gonna be a fight early. So, definitely wanted to push them back when territory and get shots on goal.”
Stanford continued to apply the pressure as Jackson Kiil got a shot at the 21:08 mark. Thing were also getting chippy as St. Mary’s and Stanford both were getting called for fouls. At the 25:45 mark, Cade Cowan of St. Mary’s was called for a yellow card. Both teams were trying to get more physical.
At the 29:27 mark, Bohane fired a shot to the bottom center of the net that was saved by Landreth. Stanford was continuing to apply the pressure, hoping to get another goal before halftime.
After a second yellow card against St. Mary’s at the 33:12 mark, this time on Gaige Gibbs, Stanford got a corner kick at the 33:20 mark but was unable to score off of it thanks to an offsides. After three more fouls called against Stanford, the Cardinal finally got another corner kick at the 43:37 mark. This led to a goal as Mark Fisher scored at the 43:45 mark, finding the top left of the goal off an assist from Will Reilly. This made it a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal, a lead they carried into halftime.
“Yeah, set piece goal, corner coming off the left,” Fisher recalled about his goal. “Got a nice run, good pick, jumped up in the air and marked and hit it home.”
In the second half, Stanford continued to play aggressively as they got corner kicks at the 46:35 and 49:01 marks. Shortly after their second corner kick of the second half, Stanford scored again as Will Cleary found the bottom right of the goal off an assist from Will Reilly at the 49:44 mark. It was now a 3-0 lead for the Cardinal.
For the next little while, both teams were called for fouls while Stanford was out for their fourth goal. Cleary fired a shot at the 63:04 mark, but it was saved by Landreth. Right after that at the 63:18 mark, Stanford had a corner kick but wasn’t able to convert it into a goal. However, Stanford would get a corner kick again at the 74:48 mark, which led to their fourth and final goal of the night at the 75:32 mark. This time, it was Noah Adnan finding the bottom left of the goal off his right foot courtesy of an assist by Zach Bohane.
Stanford would walk out with a 4-0 victory, though they were seeking a fifth goal right up until the final second of the match as Liam Doyle had a shot get blocked at the 89:59 mark. Talk about no mercy!
For Stanford, this was a much-needed win. They were coming off a loss to Oregon State and a tie against Washington, so this was very much a get it right match for them. They were aggressive from the opening of the match and didn’t let their foot off the gas. That was something they wanted to accomplish coming into this match and they did that very well.
“A hundred percent,” Gunn said when asked if their aggression was intentional coming in. “Honestly, on the last Sunday, I thought we were good at the beginning of the game but were lacking just five percent. We weren’t slouches, just five percent and we just, the team was there for the taking and we were doing well, but we weren’t clinical and aggressive, whereas tonight, we went at them at the beginning and it was too much for our opponent.
“You look back on the last weekend, it was very frustrating and very disappointing results-wise. Thursday, we were in a really tough battle and it was, a tie is a fair result. Sunday, it’s a frustrating result because I felt we weren’t doing enough to be in position to win the game and we just didn’t finish it off and so I don’t think we had to panic about our performances, we’re just frustrated about results and often performance leads to result. When you’re playing really good games in soccer, it’s close.
"And so, last weekend I think it’s frustrating and disappointing on the result. Not so much on the performance, but I did feel what was great tonight, we wanted to be unstoppable tonight at the beginning and the team did that. We got on the front foot and then we’re done enough to get ahead, but 2-0 they were getting into the game a bit and passing the ball, getting happier, but they still weren’t getting looks at goal. So, once we got in front today, we kept in front I thought and that was a really good all-around performance that I was really pleased with.”
While the offense was excellent, the defense was also really good for Stanford. Rowan Schnebly was fantastic in the net, doing a great job of not allowing St. Mary’s to score any easy goals. Just all-around, this was a stellar outing by the Cardinal.
“I keep saying that we got two fantastic goalkeepers,” Gunn said. “I don’t like chopping and changing all the time, but I just felt that Rowan, he’s been working hard and it’s really close and let’s give him the go tonight and so I thought he had a really good solid game, but it was also a game where there wasn’t as much to do.”
“Super happy for Rowan,” Fisher added. “Get the clean sheet while he was in. Great distributing, good shot stopper, yeah so really good for him.”
Regarding St. Mary’s, clearly not the outcome they wanted. They came to win or at least draw and instead got blown out. They were somewhat victims of facing a Stanford team that was fired up after a couple frustrating outings, so that certainly didn’t help. Had Stanford not come in having won their past couple matches, maybe things would have gone a bit better for them.
“Yeah, just don’t take your foot off the gas,” Fisher said of what the message was from Gunn at halftime. “You never know what the coaches are telling them at half, so they could change their tactics, they come at us harder, so just ready for a fight again. You gotta restart the game and earn the right to play.”
Up next for Stanford is a trip to So Cal. They’ll face UCLA on the road on Thursday at 5:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks before facing San Diego State on Sunday. Both will be Pac-12 matches as the Aztecs compete in the Pac-12 in men’s soccer. Stanford will return to play a home match at Cagan on Monday, October 9th against Santa Clara. That will begin at 6:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
“Yeah, last weekend was disappointing,” Fisher said. “We didn’t play amazing, but we didn’t play great, either. It was good to get back in the wins, good to play our brand of soccer again and really see games through.”
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