STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford men’s soccer standouts Corey Baird, Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Brandon Vincent have been called by U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team head coach Andi Herzog to Carson, California for a College Identification training camp running from August 5-8 at the U.S. National Training Center.
The camp, which is comprised of 28 collegians, will allow the United States coaching staff to scout a new crop of players as the team continues preparations ahead of October qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
"It will be great to work with this group and have a look at them,” Herzog said. “We have brought college players in and have seen them go on to have success with the senior team. Jordan Morris was an example of that this year. This camp is another chance to build our pool of talented players.”
Stanford’s three selections to the camp are tied with Maryland for the most in college soccer. Only five schools, including the Cardinal, are sending multiple student-athletes to Carson.
Baird and Hilliard-Arce, both rising sophomores, were two of the country’s best freshmen in 2014. Both made Soccer America All-Freshman squads, Baird was on the NSCAA/Continental Tire All-Far West Region Second Team and Hilliard-Arce made that organization’s All-Far West Region Third Team.
Baird appeared in all 19 games a season ago, making 14 starts in the midfield. He finished tied for third on the team with four goals to go along with four assists and was responsible for Stanford's only multi-goal game of the year, putting home both for the Cardinal in its 2-2 draw at UCLA on October 30.
He also assisted Austin Meyer's overtime winner in the 103rd minute at California on November 16, which clinched Stanford's first Pac-12 Championship since 2001. Baird tallied eight points on three goals and two assists in the Cardinal’s last five regular-season matches to close with three straight weekly awards. He was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on November 3 and November 10 and earned a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on November 18.
As a freshman, Hilliard-Arce started all 19 matches on Stanford’s back line while adding a pair of goals. The Cardinal’s Pac-12 championship defense allowed just 17 goals, its lowest total since 2007, and led the league with a 0.85 goals against average. Stanford topped the league in goals against average for the first time since 2002 (0.61) and finished 38th in the nation in that category.
Vincent returns to The Farm for his senior campaign after captaining the Cardinal to its best season in a decade in 2014. He was named an NSCAA/Continental Tire First Team All-American along with teammate Jordan Morris, making Stanford the only school returning a pair of first team All-Americans in 2015.
Vincent was also the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year, an All-Pac-12 first team selection and earned his second consecutive Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention nod. Precipitated by a move to left back prior to the season, Vincent exploded offensively while championing Stanford’s stout defense. He led the team and was tied for 13th in the conference with six goals after entering 2014 with just one goal in his first 38 career matches.
Along with Morris and incoming freshman Amir Bashti, who has been in camp three times with the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team over the past year, Stanford now boasts five players involved with U.S. Soccer at various age levels.
The Cardinal hosts exhibitions against CSU Bakersfield (August 17) and Santa Clara (August 22) before starting the 2015 season on the road at UC Santa Barbara on Friday, August 28. Stanford’s regular-season home opener takes place the following Friday (September 4) against Northeastern at 7 p.m.