Local sports digest: Stanford men’s soccer team rolls past Oregon State

This Friday is the Bruins’ Breast Cancer Awareness match, with fans wearing pink gaining free admission to the contest. Opening kickoff is scheduled at 6 p.m. In addition, Twitter updates will be available @uclawomensvb.

For the sixth straight week, the Bruins gained points in the AVCA rankings and maintained their position at 12th in this week’s poll.

Stanford returns home to host top-ranked UCLA on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.in its first home competition since September 20. Other ranked or receiving votes teams on the Bruins’ schedule include #8 Hawai’i, #26 San Diego, #27 Ohio, #33 Long Beach State and #37 SMU.

Though the scoring opportunities seemed non-existent during the game’s first 90 minutes, Cal’s offense took a turn for the better in the second half. The Bruins are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 meetings in Stanford and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 meetings overall.

The Bruins have won 60 straight matches when hitting.

What it means for WSU: The Cougars have improved immensely since the last time …

To say this Pac-12 season has been a bit wacky would be, well, an understatement.

Coming into the game, Epstein averaged 1.78 saves per game, best for second-lowest in the nation.

What’s left: At Stanford, California, Colorado, at Oregon State, Washington State at Utah, at USC.

How it Happened: The Ducks took the first set off the Cardinal behind a fast start from freshman Lindsey Vander Weide who led the team with 17 kills while hitting.

Stanford, which fell to 3-3 against ranked opponents, held a 4-2 advantage in penalty corners, but was outshot, 9-7, by the Wolverines (10-3). The Stanford Cardinal ground game is averaging 209.8 yards per contest, and Christian McCaffrey leads the way with 601 yards and one touchdown.

The Pac-12 North appears to be down to a two-team race. “We know if we keep going at them and going at them, we’ll eventually crack them down”. Junior linebackers Kyle Haley and Ricky Ortiz set career highs with five tackles each and senior defensive end Lavonte Barnett had a sack.

Amir Bashti scored his first collegiate goal at the close of the first half, Brandon Vincent and Foster Langsdorf added tallies in the second, and the No. 3 Stanford men’s soccer team dominated No. 16 Oregon State in a 3-0 win at Cagan Stadium on Sunday. 242 as a team.

Record: 4-2, 1-2. Freshman Tyler Spriggs is second (2.51) and senior Nikki Attea ranks third (2.48) to go with a team-best 19 aces.

A game after recording a career-high.

SERIES HISTORY: UCLA leads Stanford, 45-38-3. The teams played just once in 2014, with the Wildcats posting a sweep in Malibu on September 26.

The 15th-ranked Cardinal has established a nice rhythm offensively after struggling in a 16-6 loss to Northwestern in the season opener.

By the time Oregon and Washington play in Seattle on Saturday, it will have been 4,367 days since the Huskies last beat the Ducks. Although Cal once again maintained possession for most of the half, Oregon State’s defense would not budge.

What’s left: At Colorado, Washington State, at Washington, at USC, Utah, at Arizona State.