BERKELEY, Calif. – Cam Cilley launched an incredible volley against California to lead No. 5 Stanford to a 1-0 win over California on Saturday. Stanford finishes the regular season 11-2-5 and 4-2-4 in conference contests while the Bears wrap up their season at 3-8-6 and 1-6-3 in Pac-12 matches.
“It’s a great way to end the regular season with a victory over our cross-bay rivals,” said The Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “What an amazing goal to win the game.”
The Cardinal jumped in front in the 17th minute after Shane de Flores fired a throw-in into the box, and Keegan Hughes headed it up in the air. Cam Cilley found the ball as it fell back toward the pitch and delivered a thumping strike to volley it straight into the top corner of the goal.
It marked Cilley’s fifth goal of the season, the second-most on the team. He now has 15 points this season, just behind Shane de Flores’ 17.
“Cam hadn’t managed to score in his career until this year, and now he’s scoring some absolute corkers,” add Gunn. “Really happy and excited for him, it was a goal worthy of winning any competition.”
Following the goal, the rest of the Big Clasico was a hotly contested game with both teams battling hard until the final whistle. Over the course of the match, California recorded 12 shots while Stanford had 15 attempts.
The game was even in most statistical categories, as each team had five corner kicks, nine fouls, and one yellow card.
“In the game, I thought we played really well in the first half,” said Gunn. “I felt the second half was a bit of a struggle, it was a scrappy game. We’d always love to play beautifully, and love to be in charge of the ball, but I’m ok that we were put into a tough situation and had to fight.”
The Cardinal took the lead into the break and worked hard to hold its advantage through to the end of the game. Matt Frank made three saves on the day and earned the clean sheet, his ninth shutout of the season.
“While we weren’t playing our best in the second half, the great thing was we were still rock solid defensively and not giving Matt much to do,” said Gunn. “Great shutout win for the end of the regular season, and now we’ll be excited to see what fate has in store for us on Monday.”
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