No. 21 GCU goes toe to toe with No. 9 Stanford

Thursday, August 20

Stanford, Calif.

7:30 PM

Grand Canyon

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Stanford

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Grand Canyon	0	1	1
Stanford	0	2	2

Photo by: John Lozano

8/20/2026 10:27:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Lopes' Hanni tallies 1st goal in 2-1 road loss to start Davies era

By: Nick Macdonald

STANFORD, Calif. – With a pair of nationally ranked teams closing out opening day of the Division I men's soccer season, No. 21 Grand Canyon battled to a 2-1 loss at No. 9 Stanford 2-1 on Thursday night in northern California.

The match pitted two of last season's Sweet 16 teams, marking GCU's third consecutive contest against a nationally ranked opponent.

News and notes

Senior forward Sabri Hanni scored the Lopes' first goal of the season in the 62nd minute, receiving an assist from freshman forward Alhassan Alhassan.
The match saw 31 shots, ending in a 16-15 advantage for the Lopes. Each squad finished with five shots on net.
The first half ended at 0-0, followed by three goals in the second half's first 26 minutes.

"Extremely proud of the group and very excited with this team and how we played tonight," Davies said. "Tonight was a top 25 match with two good teams and felt we could of got more from the game. This team will keep getting better and better but the identity and mentality of this group is already starting to show."

GCU fired six shots through the opening 20 minutes, the first coming off Alhassan's in the eighth minute. The Ghana native recorded the Lopes' first shot on goal of the season at the 18-minute mark, sending a cross from left to right post that caught the goalkeeper and deflected out.

Lopes senior captain Jorge Lopez found his space two minutes later and sent a bending, right-to-left shot toward the upper right-hand corner of the goal, but it sailed just high.

With GCU outshooting Stanford 6-2 in that span, the Lopes ended the half with seven shots while GCU fifth-year goalkeeper Beltran Fernandez recording one save.

Stanford broke the scoreless draw in the 50th minute. GCU's attack pushed back in the 58th minute, seeing junior Raul Vazquez send a shot from 15 yards out that was saved by the Cardinal goalkeeper's outstretched right hand.

Stanford drove the length of the pitch and had a shot on goal of its own one minute later, with Fernandez recording a one-handed save to keep the Cardinal lead at 1-0.

The Lopes equalized in the 62nd minute via Hanni, who took a pass from Alhassan in the middle of the box and used his left foot to hit a low, line-drive strike into the net. The assist marked Alhassan's first point of his collegiate career.

HANNI!! EQUALIZER!!!

All tied after senior Sabri Hanni's 1st goal of the season 💥 ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/PoPSjmDMPI
— GCU Men's Soccer (@GCU_MSoccer) August 21, 2026

Stanford answered in the 71st minute to regain the lead at 2-1, scoring the last of three goals in the second half's first 26 minutes.

GCU's attack nearly found another equalizer in the 82nd minutes, when freshman forward Ife Nkabu headed a shot on frame through traffic, but it was saved by the Cardinal keeper.

GCU stays on the road to play at Sacramento State at 5 p.m. Sunday. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.