Focused Forward

No. 9 Stanford (9-2-4, 6-0-1 Pac-12)
vs. Oregon State (4-6-3, 0-3-2 Pac-12)
Thursday, Oct. 27 • 5 p.m.
Laird Q. Cagan Stadium • Stanford, Calif.
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Complete Release (PDF)
Television • Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Bay Area/Pac-12 Oregon
Live Statistics •Available via GoStanford.com

LOOKING AHEAD » No. 9 Stanford (9-2-4, 6-0-1 Pac-12) closes out its regular-season home schedule with a chance to clinch its third consecutive Pac-12 title when it hosts Oregon State (4-6-3, 0-3-2 Pac-12) at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27 and No. 16 Washington (10-4-0, 3-2-0 Pac-12) at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30. J.B. Long will handle play-by-play duties for both matches on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area. Kyndra de St. Aubin will add commentary against the Beavers and Aly Wagner will be in the booth providing her analysis against the Huskies.
 
SENIOR DAY » Prior to Sunday's match, the Cardinal will honor its three seniors - Adrian Alabi, Trevor Hyman and Brian Nana-Sinkam. Stanford has experienced an unprecedented level of success the past four seasons, posting a 50-14-14 overall record, including a 22-7-8 mark in the Pac-12, winning a pair of conference championships and the program's first NCAA crown.

HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION » On Sunday, Stanford Athletics will be getting in the Halloween spirit with costume contests and trick-or-treating on campus. From 3-5 p.m. on Maloney field, Stanford fans sixth grade and under can bust out their costumes early and trick-or-treat with student-athletes from all teams for free! Keep the fun times rolling with a costume contest at halftime. Youth tickets to the game are $5 for any children in costume.
 
WHAT'S AT STAKE » With 19 points and a 6-0-1 record, the Cardinal begins its homestand eight points clear of second-place San Diego State and 10 ahead of third-place Washington, which has two games in hand on the rest of the league. A Stanford win coupled with a Washington loss at Cal would clinch the Cardinal's third consecutive Pac-12 championship. The Huskies and Bears play at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon in Berkeley. Two Stanford wins in its last three games would also do the trick, regardless of what happens elsewhere in the league.

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A photo posted by Stanford Men's Soccer (@stanfordmenssoccer) on Nov 12, 2015 at 8:10pm PST

NEVER AT HOME » The Cardinal has never captured any of its three Pac-12 championships at home. In 2001 it clinched its first conference title with a 3-1 win at Oregon State on Nov. 18. Thirteen years later on Nov. 16 it was a 3-2 victory in double overtime at Cal that returned Stanford to the top of the Pac. Last season, Stanford secured a share of the league crown with a 2-0 win at Oregon State on Oct. 31 and won it outright while on a bye when Washington and San Diego State played to a 1-1 draw on Nov. 6. 
 
HISTORY VS. OREGON STATE » The Cardinal is 33-6-5 all-time against the Beavers in a series dating back to 1988, 13-1-3 in the past 17 and 8-0-1 under Jeremy Gunn. The Cardinal hasn't dropped a result to OSU since a 1-0 loss in Corvallis on Oct. 23, 2011. A Tomas Hilliard-Arce header midway through the second overtime gave Stanford a 1-0 win at Oregon State earlier this season.
 
HISTORY VS. WASHINGTON » Stanford is 18-33-5 in 56 all-time meetings with the Huskies dating back to 1974. On Oct. 6, Andrew Epstein made a monumental save early in the second half, Amir Bashti bagged the winner in the 78th minute and the Cardinal beat UW, 1-0, to secure its first win in Seattle since 2006.

17th career clean sheet for Andrew Epstein. Tied for seventh in school history.#GoStanford https://t.co/mqPfwfD60X

— Stanford M Soccer (@StanfordMSoccer) October 7, 2016

LOOKING BACK TO LAST WEEK » Stanford went on the road and collected four points in Southern California, drawing with San Diego State on Thursday, Oct. 20 (1-1) and beating then-No. 24 UCLA on Sunday, Oct. 23 (3-2). The Cardinal's win in Westwood eliminated the Bruins from the league title chase and was the program's second consecutive victory at UCLA. Prior to last season, Stanford had never won on the road against the Bruins.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS » Stanford, the back-to-back Pac-12 champion, is gunning to become the second program to win at least three consecutive conference titles. UCLA took the league crown for four straight seasons from 2002-05. The Cardinal went 7-1-2 in conference in 2015, setting a school record for Pac-12 wins en route to the championship. Stanford's seven-point cushion at the top of the Pac-12 table last year was the third-largest margin in conference history, only surpassed by nine-point gaps for the champions in 2011 and 2003. Stanford, 19-2-6 (.815) in league action since 2014, is 27-11-9 (.670) in Pac-12 play under Jeremy Gunn the past four-plus years.
 
NEARLY PERFECT IN THE PAC-12 » The Cardinal has raced out to a 6-0-1 mark in conference play, outscoring its opponents 13-4. Stanford had never started its conference schedule better than 2-0 in records dating to 1973. The program wasn't affiliated with a conference in 1990 or 1991 and game-by-game results are unavailable for the 1975 season. Stanford is unbeaten in its last eight conference matches dating back to last season (7-0-1).
 
CONFINES OF CAGAN » Stanford was unbeaten at Cagan Stadium in 2015 (10-0-2), is 25-1-8 in its last 34 matches on The Farm, and has not dropped any of its last 20 at home. The program's goals-against average at home since 2014 is a miniscule 0.55.
 
COMING TOGETHER » Stanford, which started its season 0-1-3, averaged 0.75 goals and gave up 0.83 per game in those four matches. Since Sept. 10, the Cardinal has gone 9-1-1, is averaging 2.27 goals per game and has posted a goals against average of 0.73 in those 11 outings. On the year, Stanford is 23rd nationally in scoring offense (1.87 goals per game) and 25th in team goals against average (0.74).

IN THE POLLS » The Cardinal dropped out of the polls on Sept. 27 for the first time in two years, but has worked its way back up the polls during its winning streak. Stanford, the nation's preseason No. 1 team, is currently No. 9 in the NSCAA top 25 and the top-ranked squad in the Pac-12. The Cardinal is also No. 6 in the official NCAA RPI released on Monday.
 
VS. RANKED » Stanford is 17-13-5 all-time against ranked opponents under Jeremy Gunn, including 10-1-3 in its last 14. The Cardinal is 8-5-4 at home against ranked opponents since 2012.
 
BAIRD ASSISTS » Corey Baird has tallied five assists in Stanford's last four matches and has 22 in 57 career games to tie Walter Kingson (1980-83) for seventh in Stanford history. The junior tied for second in the nation in assists last season with 13, but didn't record one in Stanford's first 11 outings this year. His 22 career assists are tied for eighth among active NCAA players.
 
RECORD WATCH » Redshirt junior Andrew Epstein is working his way into the conversation with some of Stanford's all-time best goalkeepers. His 19 career solo shutouts are third 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 152 career saves are eighth in the Cardinal record books and his 5,360:36 minutes in goal are already fourth all-time. Epstein owns a career record of 40-7-10 (.789) and is tied for 10th among active players in solo shutouts. His 0.751 goals against average this season is currently 30th in the country.
 
SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE » On Oct. 7, senior co-captain Brian Nana-Sinkam was one of 30 NCAA men's soccer student-athletes selected as a candidate for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award, which recognizes seniors that have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Stanford has done well recently as far as the Senior CLASS Award is concerned. Last season, Brandon Vincent was named a Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American in addition to being selected as the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

AMERICAN FOR GOALS » Forward Foster Langsdorf has a career-high nine goals through the first 15 games of his junior campaign, a total which leads the team, is tied for first in the Pac-12 and 20th in the nation.
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT GOALS » Jordan Morris led Stanford with 13 goals a season ago. The Cardinal has not had two players post 10+ goal campaigns in back-to-back years since 2000 and 2001. Scott Leber (13) and Corey Woolfolk (12) combined for 25 of Stanford's 68 scores in 2000 and Roger Levesque followed that up with 14 goals in 2001.
 
NEW LOOK, SAME STANFORD » A process-oriented bunch, Stanford headed 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 59-22-15 (.693) in his four-plus seasons on The Farm, including 40-7-10 (.789) 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 246-83-46 (.717) 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 four goals of his career this season and is second on the team in both goals and points (10). Skundrich has been able to up his offense with a move to the central midfield, the position at which he was recruited coming out of Lancaster, Pa. He was a stalwart right back during Stanford's championship run in 2015, starting all 23 games.
 
SCORE TWICE AND WIN » Stanford has scored two or more goals in 49 of Jeremy Gunn's 96 matches as Stanford's head coach and is 43-0-6 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.