Stanford women beat Oregon State

 CORVALLIS, Ore. – No. 1 Stanford continued a season-long trend of breaking down opponents in the second half, this time with three goals in the final 35 minutes to beat Oregon State, 3-0, in a Pacific-10 Conference women’s soccer opener Friday night.

The victory gave Stanford (12-0, 1-0) its best start in school history.

After being held scoreless for 55 minutes, Christen Press opened the scoring by taking a pass from Lindsay Taylor and slotting in a low shot from the top of the box. Camille Levin followed in the 83rd minute on a one-on-one opportunity and Taylor bent in a free kick from 20 yards to complete the scoring in the 85th minute against the Beavers (8-3-1, 0-1).

Stanford has now outscored opponents 33-5 in the second half, and the match marked the eighth time the Cardinal was tied or behind at halftime.

“Every game in this conference is hard,” said coach Paul Ratcliffe, whose Cardinal team is shooting for its first Pac-10 title since 2002. “We’ve got to play our best and believe we’re going to score and break the ice.”

Press’ goal was her 11th of the season, while Levin scored her first while coming off the bench at halftime and providing a spark in the midfield.

“We’ve just got to take care of business mentally and be ready for every opponent. We’ve got to take each game seriously and play our best. That’s how it’s going to be in the Pac-10.”

The Cardinal got another boost by the appearance of the Stanford band, in town for Saturday’s football game at Oregon State.

Stanford next plays at Oregon on Sunday (1 p.m.) before playing its conference home opener Friday (7 p.m.) against USC.