Stanford scored its first when Collin Liberty took a quick throw in in front of the Cardinal bench and played it short to the feet of Bashti at the near corner of the box. The senior stopped, turned onto his left and lofted in a cross Panchot, who found himself free at the far post and deposited his header past Cameron Hogg.

“I thought it was a great way to start conference,” Stanford coach Jeremy Gunn said. “We passed and moved the ball the best we have all season and coupled that with some clinical finishing. It’s a clean sheet and three goals against a team that had been in a really good run of form and putting away their opponents quite easily. Now it’s more Pac-12 soccer and next game up.”

Sophomore midfield Logan Panchot was first with a header in the 55th, Zach Ryan made a blazing run down the left side to score 83 seconds later and Amir Bashti closed the series with an upper-90 laser in the 66th.

Once the Stanford men's soccer team scored its first goal, it didn’t stop. The Cardinal used three successive strikes early in the second half to put away San Diego State in the Pac-12 Conference opener for both schools, 3-0, on Thursday.

The only real goal-scoring opportunity in the first half came from Derek Waldeck in the 35th minute when he tried to curl in an attempt from the top left corner of the box that sailed past the post.

“In the first half [our work wasn’t translating into enough chances, but once we got that first goal you saw the collective confidence rise a little bit,” Gunn said. “People looked comfortable and we added some great ones. We’ve had twice as many shots on other days and it has been a struggle to score, but that’s the game. No matter what role you had tonight you have to be happy with the overall outcome. It was good defending, but great work on the ball that won it for us and then clinical finishing on top of that.”

In the 65th minute it was Bashti who answered the bell, taking control from two Aztecs at midfield and bolting up the center of the pitch. No SDSU player came out to stop the ball and once Bashti arrived just outside the box he cracked his fourth of the year to the upper left corner, leaving Hogg no chance.

Ryan extended the lead shortly after when he jostled with a San Diego State (4-3-1, 0-1-0 Pac-12) defender just past the midline. The redshirt freshman knocked his man off the ball and the proceeded to steak down the sideline. Once he reached the corner of the 18, Ryan cut inside and scored his third of the season at the near post.

"It was an incredibly entertaining match from start to finish. UCLA is a great team and we're always pleased to get a result against them," said Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe. "Catarina showed tonight what a special player she is. Only she can score those goals, and the second one was just pure magic."

Andrew Thomas was largely untested save for a 53rd-minute stop when Illai Shvika went far post, but the Stanford keeper dove on the ground and gathered it in with his left hand.

The Cardinal (9-0-1, 2-0-0 Pac-12) extends it program-record unbeaten streak to 32 games with its 20th straight win in Pac-12 play. Alison Jahansouz (7-0-1) made four saves to earn the win, and Stanford had to fight back after the Bruins (5-3-1, 0-2-0) took the lead in the 12th minute.

Stanford men open soccer conference play with a victory