STANFORD, Calif. – No. 16 Stanford advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night after defeating Missouri State 3-1 at Cagan Stadium. The match marked Stanford’s 21st time appearing in the NCAA Tournament and the second consecutive season the team has advanced to the third round.
The win was the Cardinal’s 10th of the year as the team improved to 10-3-5.
“It was such a tough game,” said the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “I’m just so proud of how our team defended tonight.”
The game was physical and contested from the start. The two teams combined for 29 fouls across the 90 minutes and seven yellow cards.
“I felt that Missouri State played fantastic, they were so good on the ball,” added Gunn. “We just couldn’t really get going tonight. We couldn’t get the fluent nature of our game going tonight and as a result, Missouri State had a lot of the ball.”
The Bears struck first, scoring the opener in the 8th minute.
“I think as a team, we know we could’ve played better on the ball, but I thought we were magnificent with our rock-solid defending,” said Gunn. “As a team, we really worked hard defensively and fought for each other in what was a really tough game.”
Stanford responded, as Zach Bohane netted a spectacular free kick goal to tie the game in the 17th minute. It was the sophomore’s eighth goal of the season.
“On the positive side, we give up an early goal…
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