STANFORD, Calif. – Four Stanford men's soccer players were recognized when Top Drawer Soccer unveiled its Best XI teams on Thursday.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Andrew Epstein and junior defender Tomas Hilliard-Arce were selected to the TDS Best XI first team, junior forward Foster Langsdorf landed on the TDS Best XI third team and freshman midfielder Jared Gilbey was named to the TDS Freshman Best XI first team.
Epstein, who earlier in the morning was also named an NSCAA Scholar First Team All-American, made two consecutive penalty kick saves in the College Cup Final to lead the Cardinal to its second straight national championship as part of a headline grabbing redshirt junior campaign. The electrical engineering major did not allow a single goal throughout the entire NCAA tournament and Stanford became the third program to win a title while posting a 0.00 postseason goals against average.
Epstein lowered his career postseason goals against average to 0.34, an NCAA record, and Stanford extended its postseason shutout streak to seven games dating back to 2015, another NCAA record. Stanford's keeper was named the College Cup's Defensive Most Outstanding Player and finished his season seventh in the country in goals against average (0.571).
He was also voted an NSCAA Second Team All-American on Dec. 9 and in late November became the second Stanford player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I first team honors, joining Taylor Graham (2002).
A MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist and the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Hilliard-Arce anchored a Cardinal defense that finished fourth nationally in goals against average (0.56) from his spot at center back. Stanford's goals against average tied for the second-best mark in program history and its 13 shutouts also tied for third in the country and were its most since 2000 (16).
Also a 2016 All-Pac-12 first team selection, Hilliard-Arce was a set-piece threat and finished second on the team in goals (4) and fourth in points (10). Since his arrival on campus in 2014, Stanford is the winningest program in the country by percentage with an overall record of 46-8-11 (.792).
Langsdorf's career-high 15 goals this season tied for eighth in program history and were the most for a Cardinal since Willie Guicci had 22 in 1981.The management science and engineering major ended his junior season fourth nationally in total goals, 10th in goals per game (0.65) and led the country in game-winning goals (8).
Gilbey played in 22 matches this season and tallied three assists. After entering the starting lineup against San Jose State on Sept. 10, Stanford rebounded from a 0-1-3 start to go 15-2-2 in those 19 games with Gilbey in the eleven.