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Sept. 8, 1997
Stanford Off to 3-0-0 Start
The Cardinal Win UNLV Tourney; Run Win Streak to Eight
Stellar Start: The Stanford University men's soccer team opened the '97 campaign right where they left off last season. After reeling off five straight wins to close out the '96 season, the Cardinal have jumped out of the gate with three straight wins, running their win streak to eight games. The winning streak is the second longest in team history, just one shy of the nine-game streak that bridged the 1980 and '81 squads. After opening with a come-from-behind 2-1 triumph over area rival San Jose State in Spartan Stadium, the Cardinal posted back-to-back shutouts over Cal State Northridge and UNLV to capture the 13th Annual UNLV/Coors Light Invitational.
Next Up: Stanford returns to the field on Friday, September 12 when it travels to UC Santa Barbara to take on the Gauchos at 7:00 p.m. The Cardinal will then return to The Farm for their 1997 home opener on Monday, September 15 against Chico State. It will be the Cardinal's first regular season game at their new facility, "New Maloney Field".
The Streak: As mentioned before, the Cardinal's current eight-game win streak is the second longest in team history. Below are the top streaks in Stanford's recorded history (1973-Present):
Year Streak Final Record
1. 1980-81 9 -
2. 1996-97 8 -
3. 1978 7 16-6
4. 1988 6 12-9-1
1979 6 14-5-2
1977 6 10-8-2
The streak includes wins over San Jose State (twice), UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, Cal State Northridge and UNLV. Stanford has outscored its opponents 20-4 during the span, posting four shutouts.
Sauer Soars: Junior midfielder/forward A.J. Sauer played a large role in Stanford's perfect start. After a slow start against the Spartans, in which he was unable to get off any shots on goal, Sauer caught fire in the UNLV tournament. He tallied the Cardinal's first two goals in a 4-0 route of Cal State Northridge and ended a defensive battle against the host Rebels with a game-winning 10-footer in the 80th minute to give Stanford a 1-0 victory. His two goals against the Matadors marked the second two-goal performance of his career. The last came in '96 against Cal State Hayward. For his efforts this past week, Sauer was named MPSF Player-of-the-Week. Sauer's three goals leads the MPSF Mountain Division while his six points ties him for the division lead with Washington's Rees Bettinger.
Freshman Sensation: Freshman forward Corey Woolfolk, Michigan's "1996 Mr. Soccer" as a high school senior, has made an immediate impact on the Cardinal program. Coming off the bench in each of Stanford's three games, Woolfolk recorded one goal and three assists. His five points represents the second best total on the squad (behind only Sauer) and the third-best mark in the MPSF. He wasted little time in making his presence felt, notching his first assist on junior Eric Vandevelde's game-winner in the season-opening 2-1 win over SJSU. Woolfolk posted the first goal of his collegiate career against CSUN, giving Stanford a 3-0 lead. He earned his third assist on Sauer's game-winning goal over UNLV. Woolfolk was named one of the top two recruits in Region II by Soccer America. As a senior at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., Woolfolk garnered NSCAA All-America and Gatorade Regional Player-of-the-Year honors.
Dominating Defense: The Cardinal defense has stifled opponents thus far. After allowing San Jose State nine shots on goal (one finding the back of the net in the 18th minute of the contest) in the first half of the opening game, the defense allowed just five shots on goal over the next five halves, none of which made it past goalkeeper Adam Zapala. The freshman from nearby Cupertino, Calif. won the starting job just prior to the start of the season and has proved a wise choice. In his first three games at the collegiate level, Zapala has logged two shutouts, a meager 0.33 goals against average and 11 saves. Over the eight-game win streak, opponents have managed just four goals.
The Opponents: Stanford leads the overall series with UC Santa Barbara 8-4-1. At Santa Barbara however, the teams have been dead-even, each claiming two victories while tying once. In the last meeting, Stanford defeated UCSB 3-1 behind the play of then-sophomore midfielder Jamie Clark, who scored all three of the Cardinal goals. UCSB enters the week 1-1 on the season and will face Westmont College prior to its meeting with Stanford. Chico State enters its game with Stanford 0-1 on the season, falling 1-0 to Oregon State. Chico State and Stanford have met just three times with the Wildcats leading two games to one.
Head Coach Bobby Clark: Clark is in his second year at the helm of the Cardinal program. In his inaugural season, Clark led Stanford to a 10-4-4 mark, the Cardinal's first winning season since 1992. For his efforts, he was named the MPSF's Mountain Division Co-Coach-of-the-Year. In 10-plus years as a collegiate head coach (nine at Dartmouth College), Clark has posted an impressive 95-46-17 record and is just five wins shy of 100 career victories. Prior to arriving at The Farm, Clark spent two years as head coach of the New Zealand National team. In his nine seasons as head coach at Dartmouth College, he led the Big Green to three Ivy League titles and two NCAA quarterfinal appearances. He was twice named NCAA Region I Coach-of-the-Year. Before entering the coaching ranks, Clark was a professional player in Scotland from 1962-82 and competed on three (1970, '74 and '78) of Scotland's World Cup teams.
1997 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Standings
Mountain Division Overall
W L T PCT HOME AWAY W L T PCT HOME AWAY NEUT STK
Washington 1 0 0 1.000 0-0-0 1-0-0 2 0 1 .833 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-1 W1
Stanford 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 3 0 0 1.000 0-0-0 2-0-0 1-0-0 W3
California 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 2 0 1 .833 2-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 W4
Oregon State 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 1 2 0 .333 1-0-0 0-2-0 0-0-0 W1
CS Sacramento 0 1 0 .000 0-1-0 0-0-0 0 3 0 .000 0-3-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 L3
Pacific Division Overall
W L T PCT HOME AWAY W L T PCT HOME AWAY NEUT STK
UCLA 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 3 0 0 1.000 1-0-0 0-0-0 2-0-0 W3
UC Irvine 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 1 0 1 .750 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 W1
CS Fullerton 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 2 1 0 .667 2-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 W2
UCSB 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 1 1 0 .500 0-0-0 1-1-0 0-0-0 W1
Cal Poly SLO 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 1 2 0 .333 1-0-0 0-2-0 0-0-0 W1
CS Northridge 0 0 0 .000 0-0-0 0-0-0 0 3 0 .000 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-2-0 L3