Sept. 17, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Stanford men's soccer team opened the Bay Area Classic with a 2-0 victory over Santa Clara Thursday night.
Stanford (3-1-0) - winless in their last six tries against Santa Clara - held the two-goal lead for 57 minutes after Cardinal All-America candidate Bobby Warshaw and junior classmate Daniel Leon struck for early scores.
Santa Clara (2-3-0) now prepares to face No. 7 California in Berkeley Sunday afternoon. The Bears are the top-ranked team in the NSCAA West Region and are coming off a convincing 3-0 road win over USF Thursday in the other Bay Area Classic matchup played in San Francisco.
The Cardinal made the most of its first half opportunities, establishing a lead 13 minutes in when Evan Morgan's interior pass found Warshaw, who chipped the ball over the head of SCU keeper Larry Jackson.
Leon added to Stanford's lead in the 32nd minute, blasting a shot past Jackson after a well-placed cross from Dominique Yahyavi.
"This is a game where you play for a chance or two," said Santa Clara Head Coach Cameron Rast. "Unfortunately we gave them too many early chances. They punished us for it."
Erik Hurtado, who continues to impress on Santa Clara's front line, nearly set up a Broncos' score in the closing moments of the first half only to have a near goal swatted-away by Stanford keeper John Moore. Hurtado and 6-foot 4-inch senior Ross Smith helped Santa Clara increase the pressure in the second half.
"We talked about lifting our attacking level at halftime," said Rast. "We wanted to try and generate some things by committing another player forward. We were just not able to unbalance them enough. They kept two and three players around the ball and really worked hard to make sure nothing was given away."
Santa Clara out-shot Stanford 7-1 following the intermission but would be held scoreless for the second time this season.
The long-standing series between the two Silicon Valley schools now stands at 20-20-7, dating back to 1967.
