Two Nonconference Tilts at Home

No. 25 Stanford (1-1-3)
Harvard (2-1-1)
Saturday, Sept. 16 • 8 p.m.
Laird Q. Cagan Stadium • Stanford, Calif.
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Complete Release (PDF)
Television •Pac-12 Bay Area
Live Statistics •Available via GoStanford.com

LOOKING AHEAD » No. 25 Stanford (1-1-3) plays its final nonconference home matches this weekend when it hosts Harvard (2-1-1) and Omaha (2-1-3) at Cagan Stadium. The Cardinal and Crimson meet on Friday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. with Rich Cellini and Christopher Sullivan calling the game on Pac-12 Bay Area. The Mavericks are in town on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. and that encounter will be available via a free live stream on GoStanford.com with Kevin Danna and Ted Enberg taking fans through the action.
 
HISTORY VS. HARVARD » Stanford is 6-1-0 all-time against Harvard and 2-0 against the Crimson at home. In the teams' last meeting on Sept. 23, 2011, the Cardinal needed just one goal and got it in the 42nd minute when Eric Anderson sent in a long cross off a free kick that found the head of Adam Jahn. Harvard's only win in the series came in Boston on Sept. 4, 2010 (2-1).
 
HISTORY VS. OMAHA » The Cardinal and Mavs have met once before, in the second match of 2014, a 2-1 Stanford win on August 31 in Nebraska. Following an extended delay due to storms in the area, Eric Verso thundered home the game winner in the 95th minute. The victory sparked a seven-game winning streak for the Cardinal heading into conference play.
 
LOOKING BACK TO LAST WEEK » Stanford notched its first win of the 2016 campaign in convincing fashion, routing San Jose State 4-1 last Saturday night. Four different Cardinal - Corey Baird, Adam Mosharrafa, Foster Langsdorf, Drew Skundrich - scored and Stanford put four on the board for the fifth time under fifth-year head coach Jeremy Gunn.
 
2015 REWIND » One of the program's stated goals every year is to "play as many games as it can" and the Cardinal did that in 2015. Stanford's magical season was capped with the program's first national championship in its 100-plus year history when it routed Clemson, 4-0, at Sporting Park in Kansas City on Dec. 13. The Cardinal scored the most goals in an NCAA final since 1996 and won by the largest margin since 1975, tying for the highest margin in College Cup history. The win extended the school's streak of at least one NCAA team championship to an ongoing record 40 years and was Stanford's 108th NCAA team title (now at 109 following women's tennis' 2016 championship). Stanford became the fifth school to capture men's and women's Division I soccer titles, following the Cardinal women in 2011. Jeremy Gunn became one of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, following his 2005 crown at Fort Lewis.

CONFINES OF CAGAN » Stanford was unbeaten at Cagan Stadium in 2015 (10-0-2), is 20-1-8 in its last 29 matches on The Farm, and has not dropped any of its last 15 at home. The program's goals-against average at home since 2014 is a miniscule 0.58.
 
LOGGING MILEAGE » Stanford's win on Saturday was its first match of the year that was decided in 90 minutes. Among teams that have played five times this season, the Cardinal's 523:47 minutes on the field are second to Michigan's 530:00. Stanford played four double-overtime matches in the span of 10 days to start its season, a streak of overtimes which hadn't happened for the program since 1998. The Cardinal had five games go longer than 90 minutes all of last year.
 
PACKED » Over 1,900 tickets have already been distributed for Friday's game against Harvard and that number is sure to rise. The match is part of the university's BeWell program, which aims to "guide and empower the Stanford community to live healthy lifestyles and create a vibrant culture of wellness." Those employees that complete an online assessment are eligible for promotional tickets to six Stanford sporting events throughout the year.
 
ATTENDANCE MARKS » There have been nine crowds of more than 2,000 people to watch a men's soccer game at Cagan Stadium, topping out with 2,919 for a regular-season match against Cal on October 9, 2011. If the 2,000 mark is surpassed on Friday, it will be only the second regular-season, nonconference match to hit the number. Two thousand fans saw Santa Clara beat the Cardinal on Sept. 24, 2004. Stanford's 1-0 win over Harvard at home on Sept. 23, 2011 was viewed by a crowd of 1,799.

Largest Men's College Soccer Crowds at Stanford

CAPITAL ONE CUP » At halftime on Friday, representatives from Capital One will present Stanford with the men's Capital One Cup. Fueled by an NCAA championship in soccer and six top-10 finishes, Stanford captured its first Capital One Cup on the men's side as the nation's most successful athletics program during the 2015-16 campaign. The Capital One Cup is awarded annually to the best men's and women's NCAA Division I athletics programs for their cumulative on-field performance across multiple sports. Stanford totaled 126 points, edging runner-up North Carolina (108) and third-place Ohio State (80). It's also the fourth Capital One Cup trophy to be awarded to a Stanford athletics program, as the Cardinal took home its third title on the women's side in 2015. For winning the Capital One Cup, captains Brian Nana-Sinkam and Drew Skundrich along with head coach Jeremy Gunn represented Stanford at the 2016 ESPYS on July 13 in Los Angeles. The cup will also be presented during the second timeout of the first quarter at Saturday's football game against USC.
 
CHECKING THE POLLS » Stanford checked in at No. 25 in the NSCAA Top 25 on Tuesday. In a preseason polling of the nation's coaches, the Cardinal was picked as the country's No. 1 team, collecting 20 first-place votes and 579 points. The Cardinal went 18-2-3 a season ago, including a 7-1-2 mark in Pac-12 play, to earn its second consecutive conference title. It tied the school record for fewest losses in a season, tied the second-highest win total in program history and set a Stanford record for league wins.
 
TOUGH ROAD » Stanford's past and future opponents this season have combined to go 33-19-11 (.611) through the season's first three weeks, the 14th-toughest mark in the country and second in the Pac-12 behind Cal's .656 opponent win percentage (33-14-14).
 
NEW LOOK, SAME STANFORD » A process-oriented bunch, Stanford heads into 2016 with the task of replacing five starters from a year ago, including MAC Hermann Trophy winner Jordan Morris and two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Brandon Vincent. Those two, along with Slater Meehan, Ty Thompson and Eric Verso, accounted for 53 percent of the Cardinal's goals (23-of-43), 48 percent of its assists (23-of-48) and 52 percent of its points (69-of-134) last season.
 
GREAT UNDER GUNN » One of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, Jeremy Gunn's teams are 51-21-14 (.674) in his four-plus seasons on The Farm, including 32-6-9 (.777) since 2014.  He is one of only three coaches in program history to lead Stanford to three straight seasons of 10 or more wins along with Bobby Clark (1996-2000) and Nelson Lodge (1978-83). In guiding the Cardinal to consecutive conference championships, Gunn was awarded Pac-12 Coach of the Year and NSCAA Far West Region Coach of the Year honors in both 2014 and 2015. He owns a career record of 238-82-45 (.714) in 17+ seasons, a mark which makes him the third winningest active coach at the Division I level (by percentage).

Winningest Active Coaches (Entering 2016)

SKUNDRICH SCORES » Junior co-captain Drew Skundrich has tallied the first three goals of his career in Stanford's first five matches and leads the team in scoring. Skundrich has been able to up his offense with a move to the central midfield. He was a stalwart right back during Stanford's championship run in 2015, starting all 23 games.
 
RECORD WATCH » Redshirt junior Andrew Epstein is working his way into the conversation with some of Stanford's all-time best goalkeepers. His 15 career solo shutouts are two shy of tying Chris Helling (1986-89) for sixth in school history and his career goals against average (0.75) would be second only to Adam Zapala's 0.63 from 1997-2000. His 125 career saves are four short of tying Drew Hutchins (2010-13) for 10th in the Cardinal record books and his 4,443:12 minutes in goal are already fifth all-time.
 
TOP TEN » Jeremy Gunn is included on Top Drawer Soccer's recently-unveiled list of the 10 best men's Division I college coaches along with Jared Embick (Akron), Sasho Cirovski (Maryland), Bobby Muuss (Wake Forest), Elmar Bolowich (Creighton), Brian Wiese (Georgetown), Pete Fewing (Seattle), Dave Giffard (VCU), Tim Vom Steef (UC Santa Barbara) and Greg Maas (Utah Valley).
 
DESTINATION STANFORD » In late July, Liverpool used Cagan Stadium for training during its 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 three years Stanford has also hosted Manchester United, Italian giant Juventus and English side Norwich City.
 
USMNT » In the past two years, a pair of Gunn's players have capped for the USMNT in Jordan Morris and Brandon Vincent. In November 2014, Morris became the first active collegian since 1995 to receive a cap for the U.S. Men's National Team when he came on in the 76th minute in a friendly against Ireland in Dublin. On April 15, 2015 in San Antonio, Texas, Morris started and scored for the United States against Mexico, becoming the first college player to score for the USA since September 1992. Vincent was pulled away from the MLS Combine after just one day when he was added to the U.S. Men's National Team roster for its January 2016 training camp in Carson, Calif. by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The 2015 College Cup Defensive Most Outstanding Player earned his first MNT cap on Feb. 5 when he came on for the second half of a 1-0 win against Canada at StubHub Center.

A lot can happen in a month. @_bvincent joins @jordanmorris1319 with @ussoccer. Added to roster for #USMNT January camp. #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Men's Soccer (@stanfordmenssoccer) on Jan 8, 2016 at 2:58pm PST

MORE U.S. SOCCER TIES » Amir Bashti is a veteran of the U.S. system as well and most recently played with the U-19s at the 33rd International U-20 Men's COTIF Tournament in Valencia Spain. He was also with the U-20s at the Dallas Cup in late March and was part of a U-20 January training camp in Miami, Florida, at which the U.S. won two matches against local club teams. Last September, Bashti missed a pair of matches when he traveled with the U-20s to Serbia for the Stevan Vilotic-Cele Tournament. Last August, Corey Baird and Tomas Hilliard-Arce joined Brandon Vincent for the first College Identification training camp at the U.S. National Training Center. The camp was comprised of 28 collegians called by U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Andi Herzog.