Across the Bay SundayAcross the Bay Sunday
Jim Shorin/Stanford Athletics
Men's Soccer

Across the Bay Sunday

No. 8 Stanford (8-2, 2-0)
No. 24 California (7-2, 2-0) | Sun. • 3 p.m. PT
Edwards Stadium • Berkeley, Calif.
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • CalBears.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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LOOKING AHEAD » No. 8 Stanford (8-2, 2-0 Pac-12) is at No. 24 Cal (7-2, 2-0 Pac-12) on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. for a match broadcast on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area with Troy Clardy and Christopher Sullivan on the call.
 
STANFORD-CAL SERIES » Stanford is 29-22-9 in 60 all-time meetings with the Bears dating back to 1973. The Cardinal is 6-0-1 in its last seven games against Cal with each win by a one-goal margin and four coming in overtime. Stanford has also been victorious in three straight in Berkeley. This will be the first game between the rivals with both schools ranked since Nov. 16, 2014 when No. 3 Stanford beat No. 15 Cal 3-2 on Nov. 16, 2014 behind Austin Meyer's winner in the 103rd minute, which lifted the Cardinal to its first league title since 2001. Last season at Cal and with its conference championship already secured, Foster Langsdorf headed home the winner in the 98th minute to deliver the Cardinal its school-record eighth league victory (2-1). Trevor Long's 56th-minute goal for the Golden Bears was the last score Stanford would concede the entire season as it would hold its five postseason opponents scoreless en route to the national championship.

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 23-3-6.
 
BEEN AWHILE » Stanford's 2016 Pac-12 title was its 14th conference championship, but completed the first three-peat since it won four straight University and Club Soccer League (UCSL) championships from 1919-22. The Cardinal also won UCSL titles in 1915 and 1916, the California Intercollegiate Conference in 1931, the Northern California Intercollegiate Soccer Conference in 1962 and 1963 and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 1997.
 
THREE SEASONS OF SUCCESS » The nation's most successful collegiate soccer program over the past three seasons, Stanford is 54-10-11 and leads the nation in winning percentage since 2014 (.793) along with North Carolina (.793; 55-11-9). Wake Forest is third (.773; 56-14-7) and followed by Maryland (.753; 51-12-14) and Denver (.747; 51-15-7).
 
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 73-25-16 (.711) in his five-plus seasons on The Farm. He owns a career record of 260-86-47 (.721) 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 (.771; 101-23-20), followed by Ray Reid of Connecticut (.750; 430-119-73) and Schellas Hyndman at Grand Canyon (.748; 484-146-52). 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 21 goals through 10 games are its most since it had 29 through the same number of matches in 2002. 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 sixth nationally in total goals (8) and eighth in goals per game (0.80). 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 eighth in the Cardinal record books with 70 career points, one shy of Corey Woolfolk (1997-2000). He's tied for 10th among active players career goals and 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 is back in the lineup after missing four games earlier 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 second among all active players, three behind Rider's Jose Aguinaga.
 
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 five solo shutouts in 10 games. He's 16th nationally in goals against average (0.606) and his shutout total is 17th 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 (2.80), seventh in points per game (7.00), 16th in scoring offense (2.10), 11th in shots per game (15.90), 10th in shutout percentage (0.60) and 14th in goals against average (0.600). The Cardinal is one of two programs in the country in the top 16 in both scoring offense and team goals against average (Indiana).

ROAD WARRIORS » Stanford was unbeaten in road Pac-12 matches last season for the first time and is now 6-0-1 in its last seven league contests away from Cagan, which has tied the program record. The Cardinal went seven straight Pac-12 games away from home without a loss across the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
 
TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD » Stanford was honored by United Soccer Coaches on Thursday 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, Foster Langsdorf and Drew Skundrich were each named to a list of 30 NCAA men's soccer student-athletes selected as candidates for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award, which recognizes seniors that have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Among many notable achievements for the trio, Skundrich volunteers at the Veterans Hospital in Palo Alto in its rehab center shadowing physical therapists and helping U.S. military veterans throughout their rehab process following traumatic brain injuries or amputations. The human biology major also volunteers in the physical therapy clinic at Stanford, observing and helping Cardinal student-athletes recover from their injuries. 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 left for Spain after Stanford's win at UCLA to join the U-18 Men's National Team for an international camp in Marbella from Oct. 1-10, which includes friendlies with Belgium and Russia.
 
SCORE TWICE AND WIN » Stanford has scored two or more goals in 58 of Jeremy Gunn's 114 matches as Stanford's head coach and is 52-0-6 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 are tied with 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, Arda Bulut, Jack O'Brien and Carson Vom Steeg have all debuted this season. Panchot has started every game 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.