Spartans to StartSpartans to Start
Men's Soccer

Spartans to Start

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No. 1 Stanford (0-0)
San Jose State State (0-0)
Friday • 5 p.m.
Spartan Soccer Complex • Stanford, Calif.
Live Statistics •Available via SJSUSpartans.com
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What's Ahead

The two-time defending national and three-time defending Pac-12 champions, No. 1 Stanford begins its 2017 season on the road Friday night with a 5 p.m. match at San Jose State. Live stats will available via SJSUSpartans.com and coverage will also be provided on the Cardinal's social media accounts via Instagram (@stanfordmenssoccer), Facebook (Facebook.com/StanfordMSoccer) and Twitter (@StanfordMSoccer).

Promotional Calendar

Stanford's regular-season home opener against No. 14 Creighton on Friday, Sept. 1 will be Cardinal Kids Day and fans can receive up to two free youth tickets with the purchase of a paid adult ticket. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will also receive the t-shirt celebrating the program's back-to-back national championships.


To secure the promotion, fans can visit this link. A full promotional schedule for 2017 can be found by visiting gostanford.com/msocpromotions.

Cardinal Quick Hitters

• Stanford is one of six programs to win back-to-back national championships and was the first to do it in a dozen years. The Cardinal joined Indiana, Virginia, San Francisco, Saint Louis and Michigan State as the only collegiate soccer programs to win two consecutive championships.
• This season the Cardinal will attempt to become just the second program to win three straight NCAA titles (Virginia; 1991-94).
• Stanford on the 2016 title without allowing a goal throughout the entire tournament, becoming just the third program to ever do that (Wisconsin – 1995, San Francisco 1976).
• The Cardinal will head into this season with an active shutout streak of 548:29.
• Stanford is the only school to return multiple 2016 All-Americans in 2017 (Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Foster Langsdorf).
• The Cardinal returns nine of its 11 starters from a year ago, 100% of its goals scored and 91.7% of its assists (33-of-36).
• Stanford has also won Pac-12 titles each of the past three seasons, the program's first conference three-peat since it won four straight University and Club Soccer League championships from 1919-23.

Against San Jose State

The game against San Jose State will be the 41st all-time meeting between the two schools, with the Cardinal owning a 23-12-5 edge in records dating back to 1973. Four different Cardinal  (Baird, Mosharrafa, Langsdorf, Skundrich) scored and No. 24 Stanford notched its first win of 2016 in convincing fashion last Sept. 10, beating San Jose State 4-1. San Jose State is tied with San Francisco as Stanford's sixth most-contested opponent in program history. The Spartans' last win in the series came at the Cal Legacy Classic in Berkeley, Calif. on Sept. 8, 2006 (2-1).

Exhibition Recaps

Stanford used a first-half flurry to win its exhibition opener on Aug. 13. Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Corey Baird and Collin Liberty found the back of the net on a trio of set pieces and the Cardinal beat visiting Portland 3-0. A week later, Stanford beat Pacific in a 2016 NCAA Tournament rematch, 1-0, on a 19th minute goal from Foster Langsdorf.

A post shared by Stanford Men's Soccer (@stanfordmenssoccer) on Aug 15, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT

The Boys are Back • First Meeting of 2017

Season's First Session • Aug. 8

Consensus No. 1

Stanford tops every major national poll to begin the season - United Soccer Coaches, Top Drawer Soccer, Soccer America and College Soccer News

The Cardinal were also the pick in the Pac-12 when the conference announced its preseason coaches poll. Stanford tallied 24 points and four first-place votes and was followed by UCLA, Washington, San Diego State, Oregon State and California.

Watch Lists

All-Americans Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Foster Langsdorf are two of 31 players on the 2017 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Cardinal is the only school in the country with multiple players recognized.

Stanford also placed a league-best four on the All-Pac-12 preseason team in seniors Corey Baird, Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Foster Langsdorf and Drew Skundrich.

Hilliard-Arce was also voted to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI first team, Langsdorf the second team, Skundrich the third  team and Logan Panchot the freshman team. Stanford's four preseason honorees are tied with Virginia for the national lead.

2016 NCAA Champions

• Stanford became the sixth program to win back-to-back national championships and the first to do it in a dozen years when it beat Wake Forest in penalties of the College Cup final following a scoreless 110 minutes.
• The Demon Deacons had match point in the fifth round of penalty kicks, but Andrew Epstein's fifth-round save prolonged the shootout. Stanford's redshirt junior keeper lunged to his left to stop Hayden Partain's championship-winning attempt and swing momentum back to the Cardinal. Sam Werner next put Stanford ahead, 5-4, with a shot up the middle, and Epstein followed with the save of his life, diving to his right to block the try of Wake's Brad Dunwell and secure back-to-back NCAA crowns for the Cardinal.



• The Cardinal did not allow a goal throughout the entire tournament on the way to its second championship, becoming just the third team to win the title while posting at 0.00 postseason goals against average.
• Andrew Epstein was named the College Cup Defensive Most Outstanding Player and Corey Baird, Tanner Beason, Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Brian Nana-Sinkam all made the College Cup All-Tournament Team.

Note: According to Section 7 AR2 of the NCAA Statisticians Manual teams are credited with wins and losses instead of a tie when the national championship ends in penalties.

It's How You Finish

• Stanford, which started its 2016 season 0-1-3, averaged 0.75 goals and gave up 0.83 per game in those four matches finished the year 15-2-2 in its last 19, averaging 1.84 goals per game and with a goals against average of 0.53.
• On the year, Stanford was 39th nationally in scoring offense (1.65 goals per game) and fourth in team goals against average (0.56).

Great Under Gunn

• One of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, Gunn's teams are 65-23-16 (.702) in his five seasons on The Farm.
• He owns a career record of 252-84-47 (.719) in 18 seasons, a mark which makes him the third winningest active coach at the Division I level (by percentage).



• With Stanford's 2016 NCAA title Gunn became the seventh coach in Division I history to win back-to-back national championships along with Jerry Yeagley, Bruce Arena, Steve Negoesco, Harry Keough, Gene Kenney and Bob Guelker.

Seniors Up Top

• Forward Foster Langsdorf scored a career-high 15 goals for the Cardinal in 2016, tied for eighth in program history and the most for a Cardinal since Willie Guicci had 22 in 1981.
• The management science and engineering major finished fourth nationally in total goals, 10th in goals per game (0.65) and led the country in game-winning goals (8).



• Corey Baird led the Cardinal with six assists this season and his 23 in 65 career games rank seventh in Stanford history.
• The junior tied for second in the nation in assists last season with 13. His 23 career assists are 10th among active NCAA players.

Score Twice and Win

• Stanford has scored two or more goals in 53 of Jeremy Gunn's 104 matches as Stanford's head coach and is 47-0-6 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.