On Tuesday, No. 3 Stanford men’s soccer defeated UC Riverside at home by a final score of 3-0. Stanford junior midfielder Zach Bohane, redshirt sophomore defender Palmer Bank, and sophomore forward Duncan Jarvie scored for the Cardinal while redshirt sophomore Rowan Schnebly was the winning goalkeeper for the Cardinal. Stanford improves to 5-1-0 overall while UC Riverside falls to 1-4-0.
BOX SCORE: UC Riverside at Stanford-Tuesday, September 10th
“It’s a really good performance overall,” Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said after the match. “I think we talk about, you see over in Europe you have a champions league hangover when you go on a big trip and then you’re not ready for the next game and so it was a quick turnaround, but I thought we had a great attitude throughout the game. I thought overall everything about it was really really solid. I mean to play in a game and only give up two shots the entire game, that’s fantastic and then we created good chances.
“I thought we played well in the first half and we were just lacking the goal. We’d hit the post, we’d had a couple near misses, and so couldn’t complain too much and then at halftime it was let’s keep doing the good things that we’re doing, but just make sure we’re just continuously backing up play. Because they got a really exciting striker Lukic. If you give him an inch of daylight he’s gonna be very very dangerous as he showed.
“And so, I thought we were just very impressive with a really complete performance. We were rock solid defensively, we created lots of chances, and at the end it’s a great 3-0 victory with a big margin and daylight, but that’s what soccer’s often like. You gotta keep landing the body blows until you get one and then it can open up for you.”
The first half was tight as neither team was able to score. Stanford had corner kicks at 15:10, 24:39, 31:11, 33:03, and 40:17, outshooting UC Riverside 7-1. UC Riverside’s lone shot of the half was at 14:15 while their lone corner kick came at 20:40. Stanford felt like they should have already been on the scoreboard, but with their stellar defense, they at least hadn’t given the Highlanders much opportunities to take the lead.
“Yeah, I mean, we just have a team thing where we all defend,” Palmer Bank said of their defense. “It’s not just the defenders. The strikers are defending, the midfielders are defending, and then obviously the defenders are defending. So it really starts from the top to the bottom and we just work together as a team. We know that if we can prevent other teams from scoring that we’re gonna score a few. So, that’s always our goal and our mindset going into a game.”
In the second half, Stanford would eventually open the floodgates. After corner kicks at 47:19 and 59:15, Zach Bohane was able to get the first goal of the match at 61:18. Bohane found the top left of the goal off his right foot thanks to an assist from Alex Chow and Will Reilly. With a 1-0 lead, Stanford knew they still had more work to do to put the Highlanders away.
“Oh yeah, I mean that was a fantastic goal, wasn’t it?” Gunn said. “I thought we got trapped in the corner and our players were just really composed and Alex and Will were just composed on the ball and just managed to find Zach in a little inch of daylight and of course he had a lovely body movement to sell the player and get open and then a shot that any left-footed player would be proud of. He absolutely emphatically buried it. It was a great strike.”
Stanford would score their second goal soon thereafter on a set piece as Palmer Bank scored his first career goal at 71:46 as he found the top center of the goal off an assist from Noah Adnan and Shane de Flores. With a 2-0 lead, Stanford was feeling more confident.
“Oh fantastic,” Gunn said of Bank scoring his first career goal. “He’s been absolutely rock solid. He’s been amazing and again I thought both Palmer and Fletcher were really dominant down the left again and when he was in his first year here I thought he’s gonna score goals off set pieces and he’d made me look bad so far, so I’m very happy that he’s finally opened up the account and hopefully we can continue on with that.”
“Yeah, we were practicing set pieces all week long and a great ball from Shane and then a header, across the box from Noah,” Bank recalled. “And I was just at the right place at the right time and headed it off the cross bar and it went in. Super excited for my first collegiate goal and hopefully many more to come.”
The third goal for Stanford came at 86:07 right off a corner kick that happened at 85:35. Thanks to an assist from Alfonso Tenconi-Gradillas and Liam Doyle, Duncan Jarvie found the bottom right of the goal off his right foot. With a 3-0 lead and less than five minutes to go, Stanford could really taste the sweet nectars of victory.
In the end, Stanford would win by a final score of 3-0. After a tight first half, they were able to pull away and get the job done with a comfortable outcome.
“Yeah, we felt like we created just a ton of chances the first half and it was just a matter of time,” Bank said. “And then as soon as we got one in the second half by Zach, just a beautiful goal, then the door just opened and we were able to put a couple more in. So, yeah. Super exciting.”
This win for Stanford comes after an intense 3-2 road victory they had over Clemson to open up ACC play. Clemson was ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time and gave Stanford all they could handle. To follow up Friday’s huge win over Clemson with a home win against UC Riverside is great for Stanford as it shows their ability to not fall prey to a trap game.
“It’s three points on the road in conference, which we’ve known forever being in such a tough conference in the past that that’s tough to do,” Gunn said of beating Clemson. “And so it’s a great way to start the conference. But obviously it’s first blood, but there’s lots ahead and lots of hard work ahead for sure.”
“Yeah, I think the key to winning Clemson is just going in with the right attitude,” Bank said. “We talked together before the game what we need to do and we know if everyone is on the same page, we can do something special together. So I think our mentality and attitude going into that one was right. But going into this next one here at Stanford against Riverside we know that we need to carry that through and continue on this weekend against Notre Dame.”
Going back to Palmer Bank, he’s had a lot of fun playing alongside his twin brother Fletcher. To score his first career goal and do so with his brother playing with him makes the moment all the more special.
“Yeah, obviously it’s just super special anytime we take the field together,” Bank said of playing with his brother. “Yeah, we have a special connection on the left side. So, I like to find him a lot. Overlap, combine; yeah we just like to make magic together.”
Up next to Stanford is a road match at No. 23 Notre Dame on Saturday, September 14th at 4:00 PM PT. That will air on ACCNX.
“Yeah, we talked that we can just play any team anywhere, anytime, any place” Bank said of facing the Irish. “So yeah, we just shift our focus on to Notre Dame. We know that they’re a good team, our next ACC match and we really want to take care of business this weekend. So we’ll have a lot of fun tonight, but definitely gonna shift our focus towards this weekend.”
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