No. 6 Stanford (11-2-4, 7-1-1)
vs. California (6-9-2, 2-7-0) | Thurs. • 6 p.m.
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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LOOKING AHEAD » With a share of its fifth consecutive Pac-12 title already in hand, No. 6 Stanford (11-2-4, 7-1-1) concludes its regular season at home against Cal (6-9-2, 2-7-0) on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. Troy Clardy and Kelly Gray have the call on Pac-12 Networks.
WHAT'S AT STAKE » Stanford clinched at least a share of the Pac-12 crown with its 1-0 victory at UCLA on Sunday evening and eliminated the Bruins from the championship chase in the process. The Cardinal is on 22 points through nine Pac-12 matches and can win the conference championship outright with a win or draw on Thursday night. Oregon State is in second with 19 points and has one game remaining at Washington on Friday.
STANFORD-CAL SERIES » Stanford is 32-22-9 in 63 all-time meetings with the Bears dating back to 1973. The Cardinal is 9-0-1 in its last 10 games against Cal with four coming in overtime. Stanford is unbeaten at home against Cal dating back to 2010 (5-0-2).
HALF-DECADE OF DOMINANCE » Stanford's 2018 conference title will sit on the mantle alongside championships from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2001. The Cardinal is the first Pac-12 school to win five in a row. UCLA won four straight from 2002-05. Jeremy Gunn is the only coach in league history to win more than two consecutive Pac-12 titles as UCLA's four-year run was split evenly between Tom Fitzgerald and Jorge Salcedo.
SWEEP » The Stanford women's soccer program claimed its outright Pac-12 title on Nov. 2 with a 2-0 win at Cal. It's the fourth consecutive season the Cardinal has swept the league's soccer championships. Before 2015 it hadn't happened since 2008 (UCLA).
KING OF THE PAC » The Cardinal's Pac-12 record during its five-year run of dominance is 37-4-8 and its overall record since 2014 is 76-12-15.
CARDINAL QUICK HITTERS »
- Stanford cemented its dynasty with yet another clinical postseason performance in 2017. On a sequence that began with a throw-in deep in opponent territory, Sam Werner stripped an Indiana player with one touch and stabbed a right-footed shot under the crossbar on his next, at 102:03, to beat the Hoosiers 1-0 and give Stanford the second three-year championship run in NCAA history.
- Stanford is just the second program to win three straight NCAA titles. Virginia won four in a row from 1991-94. It is also the seventh program to win at least three national championships along with Saint Louis (10), Indiana (8), Virginia (7), San Francisco (4), UCLA (4) and Maryland (3).
- Stanford went 52-7-10 (.826) during its three-year championship run.
- The Cardinal did not allow a goal throughout the entire 2017 tournament for the second straight year and upped its NCAA-record postseason shutout streak to 12 - a stretch of 1,214 minutes and 20 seconds. The only other programs to go through a postseason without allowing a goal are Wisconsin (1995) and San Francisco (1976).
CONVERTING CHANCES » Stanford's passing and movement in the final third has kicked into high gear since entering league play. The Cardinal, which had scored seven goals in its first seven matches of the season, has put in 21 thus far in nine conference games. Stanford is first in the conference and 44th in the country in scoring offense (1.71 goals per game) and 10th nationally in assists per game (2.29). The Cardinal is averaging 2.33 goals per game in conference, nearly one goal better than any other Pac-12 team (Oregon State - 1.67/Washington - 1.56).
DEFENSE WINS » With 10 shutouts this season, the Cardinal is seventh in the nation in goals against average (0.550) and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew Thomas is seventh individually in that category (0.551). Amazingly enough, before clean sheets at San Diego State and UCLA Stanford had given up a goal to its opponent in its five previous conference matches, its longest such streak since 2013. The Cardinal's goals against average the first nine games of the season was a nation-leading 0.21. Since the calendar turned to October (eight games) it has been 0.94.
CENTER BACK? » Redshirt junior co-captain Tanner Beason, a central defender by trade, has scored all six of his goals this season in the last eight games to go along with three assists. He leads the Pac-12 in goals (6) and points (15) in conference matches and was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for this second time this season on Tuesday morning.
FRESHMAN FORWARD » Redshirt freshman striker Zach Ryan is tied for third in the Pac-12 with eight goals this season, a number that is tied for sixth among freshmen in program history (records since 1979). Willie Guicci scored 20 times as a freshman in 1979 and Jorge Titinger 12 in 1980. Matt Janusz (2001), Ryan Collins (1991) and Todd Rafalovich (1982) are next on the list with nine, followed by Rhett Harty (1988) with eight.
BASHTI COMES UP BIG » Amir Bashti is enjoying a stellar senior campaign that has already seen him post career highs in goals (7) and assists (6). Bashti is tied for fifth in the league scoring, is third in points (20) and tied for fourth in assists.
SHUTOUT STREAK SNAPPED » Stanford had an active shutout streak of 974:15 before Georgetown scored on Sept. 3, the longest stretch in program history. Ethan Lochner's 65th-minute tally was the first goal the Cardinal had surrendered since a Brian Iloski penalty kick for UCLA on November 2, 2017, a span of nine matches. It was also Stanford's first goal allowed from open play since October 19, 2017 at Washington when Kyle Coffee headed in a cross (1,208:02). The Cardinal's nine-match streak of not allowing a goal from November 5, 2017 to August 31, 2018 is tied for the eighth-longest in NCAA history.
BOUNCING BACK » The Cardinal's loss to Pacific on Sept. 20 (1-0) was its first in 363 days. That result ended Stanford's program-record unbeaten streak at 21 consecutive matches and also snapped its 12-match home unbeaten run. The defeat was Stanford's first since Sept. 23, 2017 at Saint Louis (2-0) and its first home loss since Sept. 9, 2017 against Tulsa (2-0). Stanford still has not been beaten in two consecutive matches in the same season since 2012, Jeremy Gunn's first year as head coach.
NEW LOOK, SAME STANFORD » A process-oriented bunch, Stanford headed into 2018 with the task of replacing seven starters from a year ago, including the conference's career goal scoring leader Foster Langsdorf and 2017 Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Year Tomas Hilliard-Arce. Those two, along with Corey Baird, Nico Corti, Bryce Marion, Drew Skundrich and Sam Werner led Stanford to three national championships, four Pac-12 titles, a 65-10-13 overall record (.813) and 30-3-7 (.838) conference mark in their four years on The Farm. They combined for 71 percent of Stanford's scoring last season (34 of 48) and are all playing professionally. (Nico Corti – RGVFC; Foster Langsdorf – Timbers FC2; Tomas Hilliard-Arce – LA Galaxy; Bryce Marion – RGVFC; Corey Baird – Real Salt Lake; Drew Skundrich – Bethlehem Steel FC; Sam Werner – Israel). The Cardinal has started at least four freshmen in 11 matches this season.
GREAT UNDER GUNN » One of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, head coach Jeremy Gunn has led a team to the College Cup final four times in the past seven seasons. He and Virginia's Bruce Arena (1991-94) are the only coaches to win three consecutive NCAA men's soccer championships. His teams are 95-27-22 (.736) in his seven seasons on The Farm and he owns a career record of 282-88-53 (.729) in 20 seasons, a mark which makes him the fourth winningest active coach at the Division I level and the 18th winningest coach all-time (both by percentage). Gunn and his staff were named the 2017 National Staff of the Year by United Soccer Coaches and he also secured the first national men's coach of the year award handed out by Top Drawer Soccer.
KENNEDY PROMOTED » On August 22, third-year assistant Oige Kennedy was promoted to associate head coach. Working primarily with the Cardinal's keepers, Kennedy's first two years on The Farm were hugely successful. In 2017, Nico Corti put together the best statistical season for a goalkeeper in Stanford men's soccer history. He finished second in the country in both goals against average (0.386) and solo shutouts (14), set Pac-12 records in both categories, a school record in goals against average and tied the school record in solo shutouts. A year prior, Andrew Epstein made two consecutive penalty kick saves in the College Cup final against Wake Forest to lead the Cardinal to its second straight national championship. That season, Epstein was named the College Cup's Defensive Most Outstanding Player, a United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American, CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American and finished seventh in the country in goals against average (0.571). Corti (0.00) and Epstein (0.34) are first and second in NCAA history in career postseason goals against average and just the fifth and sixth keepers in college soccer history to go through an entire postseason without allowing a single goal.
THE CAPITAL OF COLLEGE SOCCER » Last season Stanford became the first Division I school to win national titles in both men's and women's soccer in the same season. Stanford has won more NCAA titles (117) than any other school and owns an active 42-year stretch with at least one NCAA team championship dating back to 1976-77.
SCORE TWICE AND WIN » Stanford has scored two or more goals in 75 of Jeremy Gunn's 144 matches as head coach and is 68-0-7 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.