Drew_Skundrich_LR_10122017_161Drew_Skundrich_LR_10122017_161
Lyndsay Radnedge/ISIPhotos.com
Men's Soccer

Five Down, Five to Go

No. 6 Stanford (10-2-1, 4-0-1)
at No. 21 Washington (9-4-1, 2-2-1) | Thurs. • 8 p.m. PT
at Oregon State (4-9-0, 1-4-0) | Sun. • 1 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Networks (Thurs.)
Live Statistics • GoHuskies.com (Thurs.) | OSUBeavers.com (Sun.)
Complete Release (PDF)
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LOOKING AHEAD » Atop the Pac-12 standings halfway through the conference season, No. 6 Stanford (10-2-1, 4-0-1 Pac-12) is at No. 21 Washington (9-4-1, 2-2-1 Pac-12) on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. and at Oregon State (4-9-0, 1-4-0 Pac-12) on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. Rich Cellini and Mark Rogondino will have the call from Seattle on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Washington.
 
STANFORD-WASHINGTON SERIES » Stanford is 18-34-6 in 58 all-time meetings with the Huskies dating back to 1974. Last 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. Weeks later, Washington handed the Cardinal its only conference loss, 1-0, on a Justin Schmidt header off a corner in the 92nd minute at Cagan Stadium on Oct. 30. It was Stanford's first home defeat since Nov. 23, 2014 and snapped the program's 21-match home unbeaten streak. On Thursday, goals from Drew Skundrich (54') and Elijah Rice (21') made it a 1-1 draw on The Farm between Stanford and Washington. Stanford is 2-3-2 against the Huskies since 2014 with none of the last five being decided by more than a goal.

STANFORD-OREGON STATE SERIES » The Cardinal is 35-6-5 all-time against the Beavers in a series dating back to 1988, 15-1-3 in the past 19 and 10-0-1 under Jeremy Gunn. The Cardinal hasn't dropped a result to OSU since a 1-0 loss in Corvallis on Oct. 23, 2011. Tomas Hilliard-Arce's winner on Sunday in the 65th minute pushed Stanford's winning streak against the Beavers to 10. A Hilliard-Arce header midway through the second overtime gave Stanford a 1-0 win in its last trip to Corvallis on Oct. 9, 2016.
 
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 had a shutout streak of 820:27 ended with Garrett McLaughlin's goal at 1:58 for SMU on Sept. 7. Stanford would go on to score three unanswered to beat the Mustangs 3-1.
  • McLaughlin's goal ended Stanford's streak of eight consecutive matches without conceding. That scoreless match number is tied for the 11th-longest in NCAA history.
  • The Cardinal still owns an active postseason shutout streak of seven consecutive matches, an NCAA record, and 732:17 of match time.
  • Stanford is the only school to return multiple 2016 All-Americans in 2017 (Hilliard-Arce/Langsdorf).
  • The Cardinal returns nine of its 11 starters from a year ago, all of its goals scored and 91.7% of its assists (33-of-36).

TREE-PEAT » Stanford went 8-1-1 in league action a year ago, setting a school record for Pac-12 wins, and won its third consecutive conference championship (2016, 2015, 2014, 2001). The Cardinal is the second Pac-12 school to win three in a row. UCLA won four consecutive conference crowns from 2002-05. Stanford's Pac-12 record during its three-plus year run of dominance is 25-3-7 (.814).
 
MORE THAN THREE SEASONS OF SUCCESS » The nation's most successful collegiate soccer program over the past three-plus seasons, Stanford is 56-10-12 and leads the nation in winning percentage since 2014 (.795). Wake Forest (.781; 59-14-7) is second and followed by North Carolina (.779; 55-12-10), Maryland (.759; 53-12-14) and Denver (.743; 53-16-7).

AGAINST RANKED » Stanford is 22-14-7 all-time against ranked opponents under Jeremy Gunn, including 15-2-5 in its last 22. The Cardinal is 10-6-2 in true road games against ranked opponents since 2012.
 
GREAT UNDER GUNN » One of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, head coach Jeremy Gunn's teams are 75-25-17 (.714) in his five-plus seasons on The Farm. He owns a career record of 262-86-48 (.722) in 18-plus seasons, a mark which makes him the fourth winningest active coach at the Division I level by percentage. Carlos Somoano of North Carolina is first (.764; 101-24-21), followed by Ray Reid of Connecticut (.751; 432-119-73) and Schellas Hyndman at Grand Canyon (.747; 486-147-53). 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 (Indiana), Bruce Arena (Virginia), Steve Negoesco (San Francisco), Harry Keough (Saint Louis), Gene Kenney (Michigan State) and Bob Guelker (Saint Louis).
 
CONVERTING CHANCES » Stanford's 26 goals through 13 games are its most since it had 32 through the same number of matches in 2002. The Cardinal has scored three or more goals six times already, something it did seven times all of last year and eight times in the championship season of 2015. Stanford, which has 11 goals through five conference matches, hasn't had a better offensive start to a Pac-12 season since 2001 (13). In its conference opener the Cardinal beat San Diego State 5-0, its highest scoring output and largest margin of victory in conference since beating Cal 6-1 on Nov. 9, 2012. In 17 seasons of Pac-12 men's soccer, it was just the second time Stanford had scored five goals in a league game. It was also the Cardinal's largest margin of victory in a shutout since it beat Richmond 6-0 on Sept. 21, 2002.
 
LANGSDORF LEADS » Last year's Co-Pac-12 Player of the Year Foster Langsdorf is menacing defenses again in 2017 and the senior is 24th nationally in total goals (8) and 34th in goals per game (0.62). Langsdorf tallied his third brace of the season in the Cardinal's win at San Diego State, pushed his career goal total to 31 and became the first Stanford player to score 30 or more since Giancarlo Ferruzzi tallied 32 from 1982-85. Now tied for eighth in school history in goals with Chip Jessup (1968-70), Langsdorf is also tied for seventh in the Cardinal record books with 71 career points along with Corey Woolfolk (1997-2000). He's tied for 11th among active players in career goals and is alone in 11th in points. Langsdorf's 15 goals for the Cardinal last year are tied for eighth in program history and were the most for a Stanford player since Willie Guicci had 22 in 1981. Since men's soccer became a Pac-12 sport in 2000, no one has earned multiple Pac-12 Player of the Year awards. Langsdorf currently leads the league lead in both goals and points.
 
BAIRD'S BACK » Paired with Langsdorf up top is Corey Baird, who has missed five games this season due to injury. Baird's 27 career assists are seventh in the Cardinal record books and one shy of a three-way tie for fourth along with Todd Dunivant (1999-2002), Giancarlo Ferruzzi (1982-85) and Jorge Titinger (1980-83). His assist total is also third among all active players, four behind Rider's Jose Aguinaga and one short of Cal's Jose Carrera-Garcia.
 
FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME » For the first time since 2013, someone other than Andrew Epstein is between the pipes for the Cardinal. Redshirt senior Nico Corti has taken over for Stanford's All-American keeper and recorded seven solo shutouts in 13 games, already tied for 12th in program history. He's eighth nationally in goals against average (0.533) and his shutout total is ninth in the country. Entering the year, Corti hadn't allowed a goal in 76 career minutes. He was a part of seven shutouts as a substitute from 2014-16.

NOT JUST SOCCER » Corti, one of 19 Stanford student-athletes majoring in political science, spent last summer interning with the Crime Strategies Unit at the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office where he analyzed the impact of various statewide public policies, including Prop 47, on crime and incarceration rates in Santa Clara County.
 
NCAA RANKS » Stanford is third nationally in assists per game (2.77), eighth in points per game (6.77), 19th in scoring offense (2.00), sixth in shots per game (16.77), fifth in shutout percentage (0.615) and eighth in goals against average (0.529).
 
ROAD WARRIORS » Stanford was unbeaten in road Pac-12 matches last season for the first time and is now 7-0-1 in its last eight league contests away from Cagan, a program record. The Cardinal went seven straight Pac-12 games away from home without a loss across the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Stanford's last road Pac-12 loss was at Husky Soccer Stadium on Nov. 2, 2015 (2-1).
 
TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD » Stanford was honored by United Soccer Coaches on Oct. 5 with the College Team Academic Award for the most recent academic year. The Cardinal posted a cumulative 3.48 GPA during 2016-17, the fourth-best among Division I schools (Denver - 3.58; Memphis - 3.50; Notre Dame - 3.49).
 
SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATES » Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Foster Langsdorf were each named to a list of 10 NCAA men's soccer student-athletes selected as finalists for the 2017 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. Brandon Vincent and Brian Nana-Sinkam have earned Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-America status the past two years.

VOM STEEG WITH U-18'S » Continuing the program's strong ties with U.S. Soccer, freshman Carson Vom Steeg recently returned from Spain with the U-18 Men's National Team for an international camp in Marbella from Oct. 1-10, which included friendlies with Belgium and Russia.
 
SCORE TWICE AND WIN » Stanford has scored two or more goals in 59 of Jeremy Gunn's 117 matches as Stanford's head coach and is 53-0-6 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.
 
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 and also the only one returning multiple All-Americans this year. Stanford also placed a league-best four on the All-Pac-12 preseason team in seniors Corey Baird, Hilliard-Arce, 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 tied Virginia for the national lead.

WHAT'S BACK, WHAT'S NOT » Unlike last season, when Stanford was forced to replace nearly have of its lineup, nine of 11 starters return in 2017, including two All-Americans, three all-region performers and five All-Pac-12 players. Goalkeeper Andrew Epstein, who finished his superb career with a 46-8-11 record and a NCAA-record 0.34 postseason goals against average, graduated from Stanford with his degree in electrical engineering and is working with the Peace Corps in Benin. Brian Nana-Sinkam became the Cardinal's eighth first-round selection when he was chosen with the 22nd overall pick by the Seattle Sounders in January's MLS SuperDraft and is currently playing with Sounders FC2.
 
TOP CLASS » Along with its 13 retuning letterwinners, the Cardinal welcomed the nation's consensus No. 1 recruiting class as freshmen this fall, including four of the nation's top 20 players according to Top Drawer Soccer. Logan Panchot, Charlie Wehan, Jack O'Brien, Arda Bulut and Carson Vom Steeg have all debuted this season. Panchot has started every game primarily at right back while Adam Mosharrafa, who played in that spot last season, has slid over to occupy Brian Nana-Sinkam's old position at center back alongside Tomas Hilliard-Arce.