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STANFORD, Calif. - Classes don't begin until Monday for Tomas Hilliard-Arce and his Stanford teammates, but the sophomore was already using his head as the Cardinal defeated the visiting USF Dons 3-1 at Cagan Stadium on Friday night.

The Matthews, N.C. native came up his defensive position to twice score goals via the header in the first half, sending the No. 4 Cardinal to its sixth straight victory. Stanford (6-1-0), undefeated at home in 2015 (4-0), has not lost a regular season home matchup since falling to UCLA, 2-1, on November 1, 2013. 

Hilliard-Arce's first strike came in 20 minutes in off a cross from senior Ty Thompson, who received the ball off a broken corner kick. Thompson dribbled down the opposite sideline and sent the ball into the box, with Hilliard-Arce depositing it in the left corner of the net, just past USF (2-5-0) goalkeeper Andre Glasnovic. 

The brace came not 15 minutes later, as Corey Baird sent a looping corner kick into the box, where Hilliard-Arce found himself virtually unmarked. In what was nearly a carbon-copy of his first goal, the 2014 All-Pac-12 second team selection speared the ball past the outstretched arms of Glasnovic into the top shelf in the 36th minute.

Though the Cardinal conceded a goal to David Garrett early in the second half--ending the team's home shutout streak at 316:44--junior Jordan Morris provided some insurance not long thereafter. Off another beautifully placed corner kick from Baird, Morris corralled the ball and struck quickly, finding the right corner of the net in the 59th minute to keep the Cardinal out of striking distance. It would've been Morris' second goal of the game as well if not for an offside penalty late in the first half.

RARE BRACE: Hilliard-Arce's two-goal haul was the first multi-goal game since classmate Corey Baird's brace against UCLA last October 30 in Westwood, and only the second such performance for the Cardinal over the last two seasons. In a sixteen-minute span, Hilliard-Arce matched his goal total from 2014, a campaign in which he played all 19 games.

JEREMY GUNN: (Hilliard-Arce) finished chances wonderfully tonight. We've been looking dangerous on set-pieces: Brian (Nina-Sinkam) has looked dangerous, Tomas has looked dangerous. It's really good to see center-backs get in on the score sheet because it really helps in any game you play. 

COMING OUT STRONG: USF came out halftime with renewed aggression, putting several shots on goal in the first ten minutes of the second half. After David Garrett's goal in the 47th minute, the Dons had several more chances in the box, including a header attempt by Aaron Lombardi (49') and a shot by Sean Bowman (52'). But, much like in the first half, the Dons were unable to keep the pressure on as the half progressed: USF went over 20 minutes between shots in the middle of the second frame as the Cardinal seemed to live on the opponent's side of the field.

JEREMY GUNN II: I think it was all our doing; it was poor attitude on our behalf, and that's something that has to change. I think there was a little bit of complacency and obviously we have to correct that, and I'm sure we will...I don't think it was awful, but it wasn't as good as we need to be.

BAIRD STREAKING: Sophomore midfielder Corey Baird continues to pour in the assists, adding two more against the Dons on Friday evening, bringing his streak of games with an assist to four. The last time a Stanford player recorded an assist in four consecutive games was Roger Levesque (in the first four games of the 2002 season). A 2014 Soccer America Men's All-Freshman first team selection, Baird now has five assists through seven games, exceeding his total from last year (4). Both of his helpers came off corner kicks, a category in which the Cardinal easily outpaced USF (12-3).

JEREMY GUNN III: You talk all sorts of tactics on set-pieces, but it's quite simply good delivery and people trying to get on the end of it, and that's what we succeeded in tonight. Good, quality deliveries by Corey; not only did we score off (two) of them, but we looked like scoring off more of them. We really put them under pressure every time we were able to put balls in the box.

PAC-12 PLAY LOOMS: Stanford concludes its non-conference slate with a home tilt against Davidson at noon on Sunday, after which the Cardinal will have a two-week break until facing cross-bay rival California on October 4 to kickoff its Pac-12 schedule. The reigning conference champions will return home to play Washington and No. 8 Oregon State the following weekend, before going on the road to face traditional powerhouse UCLA and San Diego State. Gunn's group went 6-1-3 in league play last year, with a 3-0-2 record at home.

JEREMY GUNN IV: I think we've been playing very well. Tonight, we had some great offensive output, but we weren't as sharp as we needed to be at the beginning of the game, and we certainly weren't as sharp as we needed to be at the beginning of the second half. That's all down to attitude: We want to make sure we keep that honest, hard-working attitude that’s going to make life more difficult for our opponents.