STANFORD, Calif. – If you're looking to make a splash in your first televised game of the season, scoring three times in just over 11 minutes is a good way to start. Stanford cracked balls in the back of the net early and often at Cagan Stadium on Tuesday night, utilizing some brilliant attacking play to knock UC Santa Barbara on its heels from the opening whistle and eventually defeat the visiting Gauchos, 4-1, in the Cardinal's first of 10 games on the Pac-12 Networks.
First it was freshman defender Tomas Hilliard-Arce, who used his 6-foot-1 frame to head home an Austin Meyer corner at the 6:31 mark. Next it was Bobby Edwards at 9:12 on another flawless setup from Meyer, who played the ball in from midfield to the boot of Eric Verso. Verso gathered and found a wide open Edwards not more than five yards in front of the goal, which allowed the redshirt senior to easily deposit his second strike of the season. The opening onslaught was capped by the timely positioning of Slater Meehan, as the junior found himself all alone in the middle of the field when Meyer's corner was punched out. He sent his first career tally past the keeper utilizing a nifty volley struck from 25 yards with just 11:15 gone by.
"They were incredible finishes," Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn said. "It was the same mentality that we've been coming out with [all season], trying to get into teams, but the finishing was absolutely clinical tonight. We did so many things well. The guys were brimming with confidence from the great strikes and it filled them with even more energy rather than taking their foot off the gas."
Game. Over. @StanfordMSoccer used an early flurry of goals to take down the Gauchos, 4-1, on The Farm. #STANvsUCSB pic.twitter.com/7d0yIqPOgd
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) September 10, 2014
Stanford's (3-1-0) four goals were its most since finishing the 2012 season with a 6-1 victory at California (Nov. 9). Perhaps more impressively, each of the Cardinal's four scores was put home by a different player and only one (Edwards) had previously had a goal to his name in 2014.
"We finished some unbelievable chances, but we also created a lot of other good ones as well," Gunn added. "When you really look at where they all came from you had just about everything, which is going to make it very tough to stop us. We played the simple pass out of trouble tonight and then were able to play some wonderful attacking pieces with great passing and movement that was very difficult to handle."
The Cardinal's fourth and final goal came early in the second half and was the second of Brandon Vincent's career. With the ball on his right boot, the junior settled into some open space just outside the 18-yard box on the near side after receiving a pass from Corey Baird. No one aggressively challenged the junior so he casually curled one top shelf, far post, in an impossible spot for UCSB goalkeeper Josh McNeely.
It was one of Stanford's more efficient efforts in recent memory. Not only was the output impressive, but of the Cardinal's five shots on frame, four found their way past McNeely. Total shots were even, 13-13, as were corners, 3-3.
Ludwig Ahl had the Gauchos' (1-2-1) lone goal in the 30th minute, working his way up the center of the pitch and solidly hitting a 20-yard drive from near the top of the box.
"Against a great team with the weapons they have and the fact that they'll take chances, you're not going to sit and relax at 3-0 because you know they're capable of scoring," Gunn said. "They have some phenomenal players and they're a dangerous team."
If one had to pick Stanford's most impressive facet of a match that had many, it may have been the Cardinal's set pieces, as Austin Meyer's services led either directly or indirectly to three goals.
"He's been working hard at it," Gunn added of the redshirt senior midfielder. "We had some fantastic deliveries tonight. We ask ourselves at the beginning of the game, 'Can we be in the plus column off set pieces?' It was one of those nights where we managed to do a lot of things well and that was just another of them."
Stanford will have a bit of an extended break, next taking the pitch on Friday, Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. against SIU Edwardsville in what will be the first meeting between the two schools.