STANFORD, Calif. – For the second time in as many weeks, Stanford men’s soccer freshman Corey Baird was voted Pac-12 Player of the Week for his performances in games from Nov. 3-9.
Baird helped Stanford cap off its final regular-season homestand with a pair of wins over No. 3 Washington and Oregon State. He recorded a shot in the 2-0 win against the Huskies. Against the Beavers, the freshman assisted on the game’s first goal, putting the Cardinal up 1-0. In the 84th minute, after OSU had tied it up, Baird found the ball in space at midfield. Sprinting up the left, through OSU’s defense and into the box, he unleashed a left-footed blast to the far post and finished for his second game-winning goal of the year. The win moved Stanford into first place in the Pac-12 standings.
Baird’s winner was the fourth goal of the season for the freshman and third in the Cardinal’s last four games. The honor is his second this year and is Stanford’s 20th all-time player of the week selection.
The Cardinal is undefeated in its last eight games (5-0-3), No. 2 in the nation in RPI and has risen to the top of the Pac-12 table following those victories over Washington (2-0) and Oregon State (2-1). With 18 points, Stanford (12-2-3, 5-1-3) is one point clear of UCLA (10-4-4, 5-2-2) and two ahead of Washington (12-4-1, 5-3-1) with just one game remaining for all three. The Cardinal travels across the bay next Sunday for a match at Cal (10-5-1, 4-4-1) at 1 p.m. with its first Pac-12 title since 2001 on the line.