STANFORD, Calif. – Foster Langsdorf and Corey Baird connected for the second consecutive match and No. 13 Stanford earned its fourth straight shutout win with a 1-0 victory over San Jose State at Cagan Stadium on Thursday night.
The Cardinal (4-1-0) hits the road for its final non-conference match away from The Farm at SMU (2-1-2) in Dallas on Sunday (7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT). Stanford returns home to face San Francisco (2-3-0) on Friday, September 18 (7 p.m.) and Davidson (2-0-1) on Sunday, September 20 (noon). Mini plans and single-game seats are available by visiting gostanford.com/tickets or calling 800-STANFORD.
TURNING POINT: Baird fed Langsdorf in the 27th minute of Sunday's win over VCU and found the Cardinal forward yet again in the 33rd minute on Thursday. Following a takeaway at midfield, Baird dribbled toward the center of the pitch and played it right at Langsdorf's feet with a through ball to the top of the six-yard box between the Spartan's Uriel Ayala and Mikhail Wingate-Pearce. Langsdorf beat Emmanuel Espinoza to the near post for his second strike in as many games.
JEREMY GUNN: Foster is maturing wonderfully. His touch is so clean [and] what's really changed for him has been his decision-making: knowing when to soak the ball up, when to give the ball off first time, when to hold it up and look for the second-time or third-time pass. And his position play keeps improving. Tonight's goal was another great pass from Corey and Foster opened up off the defender's shoulder. He has the right attitude. He's very hard-working and he's getting smarter and smarter.
'I LOVE YOU MOM': Following his goal, Langsdorf approached a Pac-12 Networks camera and mouthed the words "I love you mom" to mother Laura. "She always says I don't say it enough," Langsdorf joked in a postgame interview.
EVERYBODY: Stanford fired off a season-high 22 shots against San Jose State (1-2-0). In the 37th minute, Amir Bashti stole the ball in the attacking third and passed ahead to Jordan Morris, but Morris' flick over the keeper hit the post. In the 41st, Drew Skundrich played the ball up the right flank to Bryce Marion. Marion shook his defender and crossed the ball through to Sam Werner. Werner's attempt from the top of the 18 sailed high. A flurry of activity early in the second nearly netted Stanford's second goal. A Baird corner in the 64th found the head of Tomas Hilliard-Arce, but skimmed over the crossbar.
SLANTED STATS: The Cardinal outshot San Jose State 22-7 and had eight corners to the Spartans' one. Thirteen of Stanford's 15 players who saw the field got off at least one attempt. Goalkeeper Andrew Epstein and redshirt freshman Adam Mosharrafa, who came on in the 88th minute were the only two not to attempt a shot.
SHUTOUT STREAK: Stanford, which last year led the Pac-12 in goals against average for the first time since 2002, has won four straight matches without allowing a goal. The Cardinal's shutout streak is currently at 408:12, its longest since midway through the 2007 season (575:51).
JEREMY GUNN II: When we first started [at Stanford] it was all defend, defend, defend because the other team had the ball. To be honest, we are getting shutouts as much because we're playing so much good soccer and having so much possession as it is incredible defending. People think possession means chances. It's a different deal for us because possession really helps us not have to defend as much. We've been in charge in games, we've been on the ball a lot and we have not been called upon as much [to defend]. That being said, when we have been called upon, the defenders and the goalkeeper have done their jobs.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cardinal is 12-1-4 in its last 17 matches on The Farm. Over that time, Stanford has outscored its opponents at home, 29-10, and not allowed more than one goal in any of the 17 contests.
WELCOME BACK: Stanford welcomed back two key cogs coming off duties with U.S. Soccer. Jordan Morris, who missed Sunday's win over VCU, returned to the Cardinal after coming on for Jozy Altidore in the 57th minute of the U.S. Men's National Team's 4-1 loss to Brazil in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Tuesday night. It was the junior's sixth USMNT cap. Freshman Amir Bashti made his home debut for Stanford as well after missing the past two matches. He had been with the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team at the Stevan Vilotic-Cele Tournament in Serbia.
JEREMY GUNN III: Amir is a very tricky player and has some special abilities. He has been on a long, tough, grueling trip with lots of flights, but he's another exciting addition. We're getting to a stage in the program where hopefully we have lots of people wondering who we should be playing rather than who we shouldn't. It's great when we have healthy competition with talent all over the field.