No. 23 Stanford (3-1-3)
at San Francisco (2-5-0)
Friday, Sept. 23 • 7 p.m.
Negoesco Stadium • San Francisco, Calif.
Purchase Tickets
Complete Release (PDF)
Stream • TheW.tv
Live Statistics •Available via USFDons.com
LOOKING AHEAD » No. 23 Stanford (3-1-3) concludes its nonconference slate at San Francisco (2-5-0) on Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. The match at Negoesco Stadium will be streamed live on TheW.tv with Charles Wollin handling play-by-play and Joe Dugan adding analysis.
HISTORY VS. SAN FRANCISCO » Stanford is 14-19-6 all-time against the Dons, but is 7-0-1 in the last eight. USF's most recent victory came on Sept. 16, 2007 in double overtime (2-1) at the Bay Area Classic in Santa Clara, Calif. In its last visit to The Hilltop on Oct. 24, 2014, Stanford closed out the nonconference portion of its schedule with a 3-0 decision. Goals were scored by Brandon Vincent (32'), Jimmy Callinan (54') and Jordan Morris (70'). Last season, the Cardinal won 3-1 behind a brace from Tomas Hilliard-Arce. The Matthews, N.C. native came up his defensive position to twice score goals via the header in the first half, sending the then No. 4 Cardinal to what was its sixth straight victory. Morris also added a set-piece goal of his own, scoring a header off a corner from Corey Baird in the 59th minute.
LOOKING BACK TO LAST WEEK » Stanford continued its run of dominance at home with a pair of victories over Harvard (3-1) and Omaha (4-0) at Cagan Stadium. Foster Langsdorf scored four of the Cardinal's seven goals in the two games and Tanner Beason tallied the first two goals of his career. Stanford is 22-1-8 in its last 31 matches on The Farm, and has not dropped any of its last 17 at home. The program's goals-against average at home since 2014 is a miniscule 0.58.
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.
CHECKING THE POLLS » Stanford moved up to No. 23 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.
PASSING AND MOVING » Crisp passing and consistent ball movement has characterized the Cardinal offense during its three-game winning streak. Stanford has scored 11 goals in its last three games and at least three in each victory. The program hadn't put home three or more goals in three straight games of the same season since doing it on six consecutive occasions in 2001. That year, Stanford beat Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 9 (3-1), Dartmouth on Sept. 28 (4-0), Fresno State on Sept. 30 (4-0), San Jose State on Oct. 4 (4-1), Saint Mary's on Oct. 7 (4-1) and San Francisco on Oct. 12 (3-1). More recently, the Cardinal finished the final two games of its 2012 campaign with 4-0 and 6-1 wins over San Diego State and Cal before beginning 2013 with a 3-3 draw against No. 2 Maryland.
AMERICAN FOR GOALS » Junior forward Foster Langsdorf bagged the first two braces of his career over the weekend, scoring twice each in wins over Harvard and Omaha. His six goals this season lead the team, are second in the Pac-12 and 11th in the nation. Langsdorf is also 15th in the nation in points (13) and puts two shots on goal per game, the 11th best mark in the country. He is one goal shy of tying his career high of seven, set last season in 23 games.
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 53-21-14 (.682) in his four-plus seasons on The Farm, including 34-6-9 (.786) 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 240-82-45 (.715) 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)
| Coach | Years | Record | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Reid, UConn | 27 | 414-109-70 | .757 |
| Carlos Somoano, North Carolina | 5 | 76-19-16 | .757 |
| Jeremy Gunn, Stanford | 17 | 237-81-42 | .717 |
| Steve Sampson, Cal Poly | 6 | 75-24-24 | .707 |
| Jamie Clark, Washington | 8 | 100-36-21 | .704 |
SKUNDRICH SCORES » Junior co-captain Drew Skundrich has tallied the first three goals of his career in Stanford's first seven matches and is second on 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.
STOCKPILING CHANCES » Stanford has continually put itself in a position to score in 2016 and has put 42.7 of its attempts on frame this season. The Cardinal is sixth in the nation in shots per game (17.71) and sixth in shots on goal per game (7.57). Stanford is one of 37 teams in the country averaging at least two goals per game. It is tied for 27th nationally in that category (2.00).
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 (0.74) would be second only to Adam Zapala's 0.63 from 1997-2000. His 127 career saves are two short of tying Drew Hutchins (2010-13) for 10th in the Cardinal record books and his 4,606:36 minutes in goal are already fourth all-time.
SCORE TWICE AND WIN » Stanford has scored two or more goals in 46 of Jeremy Gunn's 88 matches as Stanford's head coach and is 40-0-6 in those games. The Cardinal hasn't lost when scoring at least two goals since Nov. 11, 2010, when it fell 3-2 at Cal.
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 photo posted by Stanford Men's Soccer (@stanfordmenssoccer) on Jan 8, 2016 at 2:58pm PST
MLS » Four of Jeremy Gunn's players at Stanford are currently on MLS rosters. Jordan Morris in 2016 and Aaron Kovar in 2014 signed with the Seattle Sounders as Homegrown Players, Brandon Vincent was the fourth overall pick of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft by the Chicago Fire and Adam Jahn was recently traded to Columbus Crew SC by the San Jose Earthquakes, which drafted him with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft. Off of last year's national championship team, Vincent was a 2016 MLS All-Star and Morris was just came in at No. 3 on MLSsoccer.com's list of its 24 Under 24 series, which ranks the 24 best Major League Soccer players under the age of 24. The two-time Stanford All-American and 2015 MAC Hermann Trophy winner, Morris has exploded for 10 goals so far in his first pro season, only the fifth rookie to do that in league history. He also has five game-winning goals, an MLS rookie record.