LOS ANGELES – No. 5 Stanford defeated UCLA 1-0 on Sunday afternoon, completing the weekend sweep in Southern California over it’s conference rivals. Shane de Flores netted the difference maker in the 71st minute, helping the Cardinal claim all three points and move into second place in the conference standings.
Stanford moves to 9-1-4 and 3-1-3 in conference matches, while UCLA falls to 8-5-1 and 3-3-1 in Pac-12 contests. Stanford’s victory ended a three-game winning streak for UCLA, a run in which the Bruins had kept a clean sheet in each match.
“What an emphatic way to complete a great weekend,” said The Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “It was a very tough game today.”
The Cardinal flexed its offensive muscle early, maintaining much of the possession right from the first whistle. Despite the offensive efforts, however, through the first 45 minutes, the match remained scoreless.
“I thought UCLA played extremely well in the first half, they passed and moved the ball so much better than they did in the match on The Farm earlier this year,” said Gunn. “So it was tough going in the first half, and I didn’t really think we played our best soccer during the first period, it was a bit of a struggle.”
Throughout the first half, it was an evenly balanced contest statistically, with only three total shots registered, two for Stanford and one for UCLA.
“We made some adjustments at halftime and felt we got on the ball a lot…
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