Christen Press and Lindsay Taylor scored within 1:39 of each other in the second half to lift No. 1 Stanford to a 2-0 victory over No. 13 Santa Clara in a match the Cardinal dominated Sunday before 1,201 at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
Press moved into a tie for career goals in school history with her header.
Stanford (9-0-2) outshot the Broncos, 26-1, while extending its home winning streak to 27 and its series win streak to four over Santa Clara (7-3-2).
Press scored her 14th goal of the season at 77:26 on a short header in front of the goal after being served by overlapping defender Rachel Quon.
The goal was the 59th of Press’ career, tying her with Sarah Rafanelli.
Moments later, Taylor drew a foul just outside the penalty area and struck a free kick outside the Santa Clara wall and inside the right post at 78:55 for her fourth goal of the season.
Stanford has not lost a nonconference regular-season match at home since losing to the Broncos on Sept. 30, 2006, having gone unbeaten in 19 matches since.
The Cardinal begins conference play Friday against USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Men’s water polo
The Stanford men’s water polo team finished sixth in the SoCal Invitational as a result of its 13-9 loss to California.
The Cardinal returns to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action Saturday afternoon with a home match against defending national champion USC.
Fourth-ranked Stanford beat Long Beach State, 9-8, in a third-round consolation bracket match at the SoCal Tournament Sunday morning Spieker Aquatics Center in Los Angeles.
Junior Jacob Smith led the Cardinal with five goals, including the game-winning penalty shot with 1:45 left in the contest.
Junior goalie Brian Pingree recorded 11 saves in goal for Stanford (6-3), which meets California later Sunday for fifth place. The Bears downed Pacific, 15-3.
Menlo School grad Ben Hohl scored twice to help No. 2 UCLA advance into Sunday’s semifinal with a 13-11 victory over Pacific on Saturday.
Former Knights’ star Mike Merlone recorded a combined 13 saves in Princeton’s first two games of the Invitational, both losses.
Sacred Heart Prep grad Michael Wishart recorded nine saves in Santa Clara’s 14-11 win over St. Francis COllege and added another nine saves in a loss to Cal.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics