When Jeremy Gunn took over the Stanford men's soccer program in 2012, his first task was to create relentlessness.
The team would play hard and aggressive and sacrifice for each other for 90 minutes. To play for Gunn, there is no fear of contact or effort.
Foster Langsdorf arrived two years later as the embodiment of such a player, energetic and uncompromising with a love of the game and a nose for the goal. Langsdorf has become the face of a program on the verge of a collegiate soccer dynasty.
An overtime goal in last year's NCAA tournament illustrated why. Tomas Hilliard-Arce withstood a collision with the Virginia goalkeeper to head the ball across the goalmouth, where Langsdorf darted through traffic for a diving header at the foot of a defender. The 1-0 victory continued Stanford's path to a second consecutive national championship.
The sequence said everything about the fearless play that Gunn expects, that Stanford provides, and that Langsdorf excels at. Stanford has won three consecutive Pac-12 titles and Langsdorf is close to becoming the first two-time Player of the Year in conference history. He is a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, recognizing those exceling in athletics, academics and community service, and is a 2016 second-team All-American.
But when asked if he was one of the best players in the country, Langsdorf scoffed.
"I'm not even the best player on my own team," he said, listing others, including co-captains Hilliard-Arce and Drew Skundrich.
Langsdorf does not dribble through a defense to create chances or often fire from distance. But he knows the game, where to position himself and how to rise to the occasion. Of his 33 collegiate goals – one short of the Pac-12 career record -- 16 have been game-winners. He is the first at Stanford to score at least 10 goals in back-to-back seasons since Jim Talluto in 1990-91, and leads the Pac-12 in goals (10), points (23), and game-winners (4).
In the post-Jordan Morris era, Langsdorf has been vital to maintaining Stanford's success, even as he sees a championship repeat as tenuous.
"The best team doesn't always win," he said. "I don't know if my coach would get mad at me for saying this, but we weren't the best team last year. We had the best defense in the country, but I'm not necessarily sure if that made us the best team."
Relentlessness, or "Nails" as the team prefers, means that the best skills or the best collection of players don't necessarily determine victory.
In the first half of last year's NCAA semifinal, North Carolina crossed to an open player in front of the goal, only for Corey Baird to hustle back and get a toe on the ball from behind, a split second before a sure goal. Stanford won the scoreless match on penalty kicks.
"We could have lost if Corey hadn't tracked back and blocked that cross," Langsdorf said. "He was playing forward and he saw this guy making a late run. If he hesitated and thought, I'm a striker, I don't need to follow him, we wouldn't have won."
Langsdorf takes nothing for granted. Certainly not his success or the team's. He refuses to think about possible Title No. 3 without considering UCLA and San Diego State this week, and the matches after.
Fabulous career for Foster. Not done yet.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/pwJd0gEoTO
— Stanford M Soccer (@StanfordMSoccer) October 25, 2017
"I just enjoy playing soccer," he said. "Some days I feel kind of sad that this is all coming to an end and I wonder what's afterward. And other days, I'm happy that it's coming to an end because I think it's been such a long journey. But most days I'm nervous. I tend to stress myself out and think, 'What if we just blew these last several games and never scored again?'"
Not likely, but there is a fragility to a title quest. Langsdorf is prepared for failure, but optimistic of success. Either way, he won't stop until it's over. Relentless.