Stanford Takes Streak South

What's Next

The No. 3 Stanford men’s soccer team (9-1-1, 2-0-1) heads to Southern California this weekend for matches against UCLA (6-5-0, 2-1-0) on Friday, October 16 (8 p.m.) and San Diego State (5-4-2, 0-3-0) on Sunday, October 18 (11:30 a.m.).

Sunday’s game in Westwood will be carried live on Pac-12 Networks with Christian Miles and Cobi Jones on the call.

Weekend Recap

Stanford stretched its unbeaten streak to 10 with a draw and win last weekend on The Farm. The Cardinal played No. 17 Washington to a scoreless draw on Friday, as the Huskies’ 6-foot-7 Ryan Herman made a career-high 11 saves.

On Sunday, Stanford dispatched No. 16 Oregon State, 3-0, for its largest conference win since a 6-1 result at Cal on November 9, 2012.

History vs. Opponents

Stanford is 6-39-8 in 53 all-time meetings with the Bruins dating back to 1973.

Last season, the two played to a pair of draws, 1-1 at Stanford on Oct. 12 and 2-2 in Westwood on Oct. 30 behind a Corey Baird brace. Prior to those results, the Cardinal hadn’t earned a point against UCLA since it defeated the Bruins, 2-1, on The Farm on Oct. 15, 2010, which was also the date of Stanford’s last victory in the series.

The Cardinal has earned three points at UCLA since 1980 from draws on Oct. 30, 2014 (2-2), Oct. 12, 2007 (0-0) and Oct. 27, 2006 (1-1). Each of Stanford’s six wins in the series have come at home.

Stanford is 12-11-7 all-time against the Aztecs in a series dating back to 1976, 5-0-2 in the past seven and unbeaten under Jeremy Gunn. The Cardinal hasn’t dropped a result to SDSU since a 1-0 loss in San Diego on Sept. 30, 2011.

On a Roll

Stanford hasn’t lost since a season-opening setback at UC Santa Barbara. Its 10-match unbeaten streak is the longest since the Cardinal went 11 straight without a loss in 2001. The Cardinal is also unbeaten in its last 11 conference matches dating back to last season, going 7-0-4 over that stretch.

It's in the Rankings

Stanford currently sits at No. 3 in the NSCAA Top 25 and has been in the top five for each of the past five weeks. It’s the Cardinal’s first four-week stretch among the nation’s top five since 2001-02. Beginning on September 10, 2001, Stanford held on to a top-five ranking for 18 consecutive polls, including six weeks at No. 1.

The Cardinal is No. 11, and tops in the Pac-12, in the official RPI released by the NCAA on Monday. Stanford finished fourth in RPI a season ago, its best in the final report of a season since ending 2002 No. 3 using the NCAA’s official formula.

It's in the Defense

Stanford is among the nation’s defensive leaders, ranking fourth in both team goals against average (0.43) and shutout percentage (0.64). Continuity has led to Andrew Epstein only being called upon for 22 saves thus far and as a team the Cardinal has made 23, an average of 2.09 per game, which is the sixth fewest in the country. Epstein’s 0.441 goals against average leads the Pac-12 and is seventh in the NCAA.

Stanford has allowed only five goals through its first 11 matches, its stingiest defensive start to a season since it only let in three over the same span in 2000. Earlier this year, the Cardinal put together a shutout streak of 469:38, the program’s longest since 2007 (575:51). Its current run is at 259:00.

Stanford’s seven shutouts this season in just 11 games matches the team’s total from all of 2014. The Cardinal hasn’t had more than seven clean sheets since 2009 (9).

Stanford has allowed only five goals through its first nine matches, its stingiest defensive start to a season since it only let in five over the same span in 2004.

Always Willing to Help

Stanford is 39th nationally in assists per game (1.64) thanks largely to Corey Baird and Eric Verso. Baird has six total assists and is 12th in the country in average (0.55) while Verso has five overall and is 31st in the NCAA in average (0.45). Baird has at least one in five of the Cardinal’s last eight matches.

Langsdorf Goal vs. Oregon State

"That's the one" »

Posted by Stanford Men's Soccer on Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Morris Magic

Stanford’s dynamic striker is back after missing Stanford’s last three matches while helping the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team at the 2015 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship. The U.S. U-23’s swept through group play behind three goals from Jordan Morris, who has scored six total for the U.S. U-23 team this year.

The United States finished third at the tournament, setting up a March playoff with Colombia for the right to attend the 2016 Olympics.

Stanford is 6-0-2 in the matches Morris has missed due to responsibilities with U.S. Soccer over the past two seasons.

Morris, a Type 1 diabetic, is also lending his support to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) “T1D Looks Like Me Campaign” for National Diabetes Awareness Month (NDAM) in November. Among a number of different pieces to the awareness push, Morris will be featured in a Times Square display ad the first week of the month.

Using Their Heads

Stanford isn’t dominating just on the pitch. The Cardinal was honored with the NSCAA Team Academic Award on September 23 and the program’s APR (996) is No. 1 among the nation’s five top-ranked teams.

#3 in the D1 MSO poll + @NCAA APR award + @NSCAACollege GPA award = @StanfordMSoccer. http://t.co/b9P3QPNUS0 pic.twitter.com/QSmRwjfvFf

— NCAA Research (@NCAAResearch) September 30, 2015

On September 15, the Cardinal took advantage of its positioning in a global center for innovation and tech development and visited Facebook, meeting with staffers and getting a tour of campus.

Facebook Visit

Right in our backyard »

Posted by Stanford Men's Soccer on Monday, September 21, 2015