No. 7 Stanford (15-2-2, 7-1-2 Pac-12)
No. 14 Ohio State (13-6-3, 5-2-1 Big Ten)
Sunday, Nov. 29 • 5 p.m. (PT)
Laird Q. Cagan Stadium • Stanford, Calif.
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What's Next
Pac-12 champion Stanford (15-2-2) hosts a third round NCAA match for the first time since 2002 when Big Ten champion Ohio State (13-6-3) comes to The Farm on Sunday, November 29 at 5 p.m. Kevin Danna and Jordan Angeli have the call on GoStanford.com’s live stream.
History vs. Ohio State
Sunday will be the first meeting between Stanford and Ohio State. The Cardinal is 2-5-2 all-time against teams from the Big Ten, 1-1-0 against Wisconsin and 1-4-2 against Indiana.
Stanford’s last match with a Big Ten foe came against the Badgers on Sept. 7, 2007, in Berkeley (L, 1-0). It’s last Big Ten win came on Nov. 4, 2000 against the Hoosiers, 1-0, also at a tournament in Berkeley.
What Just Happened
Freshman Amir Bashti scored two goals off the bench, his third and fourth of the year, to spur Stanford to a 3-1 victory over visiting Santa Clara in the second round on Nov. 22.
Bashti goal No. 1️⃣. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/YTzBTDmfI4
— StanfordMen'sSoccer (@StanfordMSoccer) November 23, 2015
It was the first multi-goal game for a Stanford player in the postseason since Roger Levesque’s brace on November 30, 2001 in a 3-1 over Portland in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bashti goal No. 2️⃣. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/cQMSJ2NnVT
— StanfordMen'sSoccer (@StanfordMSoccer) November 23, 2015
Bashti is the first Stanford freshman to score in an NCAA Tournament match since December 13, 2002, when Chad Marshall’s header against Creighton in 108th minute sent Stanford to the College Cup final.
Tournament History
The Cardinal is 16-12-3 all-time in the NCAA tournament and 10-2-3 at home, advancing on penalty kicks in two out of those three draws.
Its stretch of three consecutive postseason berths is the second longest in Stanford history behind a six-year run from 1997 to 2002.
| Stanford NCAA Tournament Appearances | |
| Year | Result |
| 2015 | --- |
| 2014 | Second Round |
| 2013 | Third Round |
| 2009 | Third Round |
| 2002 | College Cup Final |
| 2001 | College Cup Semifinal |
| 2000 | Quarterfinals |
| 1999 | First Round |
| 1998 | College Cup Final |
| 1997 | First Round |
| 1992 | First Round |
| 1991 | First Round |
| 1978 | First Round |
| 1962 | First Round |
The Cardinal is in the third round for the second time in the last three seasons, but has not advanced to the quarterfinals since 2002. In Stanford’s last third round match at home, Chad Marshall’s header in the 107th minute won it for the Cardinal, 2-1, against Clint Dempsey and Furman on Dec. 1, 2002.
King of the Pac
Stanford finished its regular season 14-2-2 overall and 7-1-2 in league action, setting a school record for Pac-12 wins.
The Cardinal’s seven-point cushion at the top of the Pac-12 table is the third-largest margin in conference history, only surpassed by nine-point gaps for the champions in 2011 and 2003.
| Pac-12 Men's Soccer Champions | |
| Year | Team |
| 2015 | Stanford |
| 2014 | Stanford |
| 2013 | Washington |
| 2012 | UCLA |
| 2011 | UCLA |
| 2010 | California |
| 2009 | UCLA |
| 2008 | UCLA |
| 2007 | California |
| 2006 | California |
| 2005 | UCLA |
| 2004 | UCLA |
| 2003 | UCLA |
| 2002 | UCLA |
| 2001 | Stanford |
| 2000 | Washington |
Leading The Pac
The Cardinal cleaned up when it came to the conference’s postseason awards announced on Nov. 17. Jordan Morris was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, Brandon Vincent was selected as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Jeremy Gunn earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors.
Morris is Stanford’s third-ever Pac-12 Player of the Year and first since 2001. Ryan Nelsen (2000) and Roger Levesque (2001) took home the award in the first two years of Pac-12 men’s soccer.
Vincent, the 2015 Pac-12 Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, was also the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2014 and is the only person to ever win the award, which was instituted last season.
Gunn also received recognition from his peers as the conference’s best last season. His award in 2015 is the fifth time a Stanford coach has been awarded Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Gunn is the third head man in league history to win back-to-back coach of the year honors.
All-Pac-12
Eight of Stanford’s 11 starters received recognition on various All-Pac-12 squads. Morris, Vincent and Ty Thompson earned spots on the first team, while Corey Baird, Andrew Epstein, Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Foster Langsdorf and Eric Verso were named to the second team.
Fourteen Cardinal were also named to the league’s all-academic teams on Thursday, tying a school record previously achieved twice, in 2010 and 2007.
Sweep
The Stanford women’s soccer program claimed its outright Pac-12 title on November 1. It’s the first time the Cardinal has swept the league’s soccer championships and the first time since 2008 (UCLA) that both the conference’s men’s and women’s soccer titles have been won by the same institution.
| Pac-12 Championship Men's and Women's Soccer Sweeps | |
| Year | School |
| 2015 | Stanford |
| 2008 | UCLA |
| 2005 | UCLA |
| 2004 | UCLA* |
| 2003 | UCLA |
| 2000 | Washington |
*UCLA's women were co-champions in 2004 along with Arizona.
What's at Stake
Stanford’s 15 overall wins are sixth in team history. Only five Cardinal sides have ever won 16 or more games (16 - 1978; 17 - 2002; 18 - 1998 and 2000; 19 - 2001).
| Stanford Single-Season Wins | |
| Year | Total |
| 2001 | 19 |
| 2000 | 18 |
| 1998 | 18 |
| 2002 | 17 |
| 1978 | 16 |
| 2015 | 15 |
| 1979 | 14 |
| 2014 | 13 |
| 1997 | 13 |
| 1982 | 13 |
Confines of Cagan
Stanford is 9-0-2 at home this season and is 18-1-6 in its last 25 matches at Cagan Stadium. The Cardinal has allowed just four goals at home in 2015 for a 0.43 goals against average.
Streaking
Stanford’s 2-1 loss at Washington on November 2 was its first since a season-opening setback at UC Santa Barbara on August 28, a span of 66 days.
| Stanford Unbeaten Streaks | |
| Year(s) | Length |
| 1996-97 | 20 |
| 2015 | 15 |
| 2001 | 11 |
| 1980-81 | 11 |
| 2001 | 10 |
| 1980-81 | 10 |
The defeat snapped Stanford’s 15-match unbeaten streak, the second-longest run in program history, and the program’s 16-match unbeaten streak in conference play, a run which is tied for 17th in NCAA history.
10+ in Three Straight
In just his fourth year at the helm, Jeremy Gunn has already led Stanford to three straight seasons of 10 or more wins, becoming the third coach in program history to accomplish the feat along with Bobby Clark (1996-2000) and Nelson Lodge (1978-83).
Staying Ahead
Always Willing to Help
Stanford is 11th nationally in assists per game (2.05) and 11th in total assists (39) thanks largely to Eric Verso and Corey Baird.
Verso is fifth nationally in total assists (11) and sixth in assists per game (0.58). Baird’s nine assists are 20th in the country and his 0.47 assists per game average is also 20th.
Stanford and SMU are the only teams in the nation that have two different players with at least nine assists.
More Verso
Verso is one of just 19 players in the country with 10 or more assists.
He is the ninth Stanford player since 1980 to reach that number, the fourth since 1985 and the first since 2002. No Cardinal had reached double digits in assists since Roger Levesque (13) and Todd Dunivant (11) in 2002.
| Stanford Players With 10+ Assists Since 1980 | ||
| Player | Year | Assists |
| Ted Rafalovich | 1981 | 17 |
| Ted Rafalovich | 1980 | 16 |
| Roger Levesque | 2002 | 13 |
| Jorge Titinger | 1982 | 12 |
| Eric Verso | 2015 | 11 |
| Todd Dunivant | 2002 | 11 |
| Walter Kingson | 1983 | 11 |
| Matt Moses | 2000 | 10 |
| Giancarlo Ferruzzi | 1984 | 10 |
Morris Magic
The Cardinal welcomed back striker Jordan Morris for its tournament run. The junior missed Stanford’s regular-season finale while with the U.S. Men’s National Team for its first two matches of the 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
Morris has already made an impact with the MNT this year, scoring against Mexico in April and assisting on the game-winning goal against the Netherlands.
He has split time between the senior team, making six appearances with the MNT in 2015, while also earning 11 caps with the U-23s, scoring six goals and tallying four assists. Stanford is 7-0-2 in the past two years when Morris has been gone with U.S. Soccer.
More Morris
A MAC Hermann Trophy candidate, Morris has a career-high eight goals in 14 appearances for Stanford in 2015. In his last 10 games with the Cardinal, the junior has seven goals, three assists and 17 points.
Earlier this season, Morris slotted one past the keeper in five straight collegiate matches, becoming just the second Cardinal to do that since 1987. (Darren Fernandez; September 21 – October 3, 2002).
More Than Just Soccer
Morris, a Type 1 diabetic, also lent 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 was featured in a Times Square display ad the first week of the month.
Times Square treatment. #GoStanford #NDAM #JDRF #T1DLooksLikeMe
A photo posted by Stanford Men's Soccer (@stanfordmenssoccer) on Nov 4, 2015 at 2:19pm PST
It's in the Defense
Stanford is among the nation’s defensive leaders, ranking ninth in team goals against average (0.66).
Continuity has led to Andrew Epstein only being called upon for 46 saves thus far and as a team the Cardinal has made 47, an average of 2.47 per game which is the 10th fewest in the country.
Epstein’s 0.665 goals against average is 13th in the NCAA.
| Nation's Top Defenses | |
| Team | GAA |
| Loyola Chicago | 0.39 |
| Denver | 0.40 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | 0.40 |
| Western Michigan | 0.50 |
| Wake Forest | 0.54 |
| Washington | 0.63 |
| SIUE | 0.64 |
| Kentucky | 0.66 |
| Stanford | 0.66 |
| Coastal Carolina | 0.66 |
Stanford has allowed only 13 goals through its first 19 matches, its stingiest defensive effort since it let in 12 through the first 19 games of 2002.
Stanford’s nine shutouts this season is its most since 2009 (9). Andrew Epstein’s seven solo shutouts are tied for ninth in Cardinal single-season history with Craig Ueland (1977) and Willie Burkhardt (1983).
Destination Stanford
Sir Alex Ferguson made his second visit to campus in the last four months this past week, discussing his reflections and insights on leadership and management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business on Monday, Oct. 19.
A photo posted by Stanford Men's Soccer (@stanfordmenssoccer) on Oct 20, 2015 at 4:07pm PDT
In late July, Ferguson and Manchester United used Cagan Stadium for training during their United States tour. The visit continued a trend of top national sides and clubs utilizing the unparalleled facilities and environment of Stanford for training. The USMNT visited campus for camp before the 2014 FIFA World Cup and within the past two years Stanford has also hosted Italian giant Juventus and English side Norwich City.
All CLASS
On October 26, Brandon Vincent was named one of 10 men’s soccer Senior CLASS Award finalists for his accomplishments in the classroom and community, and on the field.
Checks all the boxes. Vote Brandon for @SnrCLASSAward » https://t.co/OUAu4aKtOu #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/mLgyxN8fdv
— StanfordMen'sSoccer (@StanfordMSoccer) October 28, 2015
Academic All-Americans
Andrew Epstein and Eric Verso were named to the 2015 Academic All-America® Division I third team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Nov. 24.
The two are the fifth and sixth CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in Stanford history and the first since 2010, when Bobby Warshaw and Dominique Yahyavi both landed on the second team.
Good soccer players. Smart too » https://t.co/edcui0HgXf. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/sRqgZzkzNH
— StanfordMen'sSoccer (@StanfordMSoccer) November 25, 2015
Epstein and Verso, along with Drew Skundrich and Ty Thompson, were also CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 selections.