No. 13 Stanford vs. Cal State Fullerton
Thursday, August 29 • 7:00 p.m. PT | ACCNX
UP NEXT » Stanford returns to action against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday evening at Cagan Stadium. Fullerton enters the game at 0-2, dropping its first two games of the season against Marshall and Xavier. The Cardinal owns a 7-4-3 record (.607) against Fullerton since 1975. The latest matchup between the Cardinal and the Titans was a 1-1 draw on The Farm in 2006.
CARD DROPS DEFENSIVE BATTLE » Stanford fell to Denver on Sunday opened the season with a 2-1 win over San Jose State. Will Reilly scored the first goal of the season, scoring a rebound off a saved penalty and Zach Bohane scored the game-winner to secure the victory. The win was also Jeremy Gunn’s 150th in charge of Stanford and his first win in his 13th season on The Farm.
SEASON OPENING WIN » The Cardinal opened the season with a 2-1 win over San Jose State. Will Reilly scored the first goal of the season, scoring a rebound off a saved penalty and Zach Bohane scored the game-winner to secure the victory. The win was also Jeremy Gunn’s 150th in charge of Stanford and his first win in his 13th season on The Farm.
INAUGURAL ACC SEASON » Stanford kicks off it’s inaugural ACC season this year, completing its move from the Pac-12. The ACC will feature 15 men’s soccer programs, nine more conference opponents than the Cardinal had in its previous conference. Stanford will compete for ACC supremacy against Boston College, California, Clemson, Duke, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. The new-look ACC features 15 men’s soccer programs this season with the addition of California, SMU and three-time national champion Stanford. Eleven of the ACC’s 15 programs competed in the NCAA Tournament last year.
STANFORD IN THE RANKINGS » The Cardinal moved to No. 13 in this week’ United Soccer Coaches rankings and to No. 6 in the TopDrawerSoccer rankings. To open the season, Stanford was picked as the No. 5 team in the country by United Soccer Coaches and No. 4 by TDS. Stanford finished the 2023 season with the same ranking. The Cardinal returns the majority of its 2023 NCAA Tournament quarterfinal squad that went 11-4-5 and took down the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Marshall.
TOPDRAWER SOCCER PRESEASON BEST XI » Zach Bohane was named the No. 1 player in the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason 100, and was also named to the TDS Preseason Best XI. Shane de Flores joined Bohane on the Preseason Best XI teams, earning a spot on the second team. Bohane returns to college soccer as one of the most dynamic attackers in the country. He had eight goals and 11 assists for 27 points a season ago, and will look to continue leading Stanford from the front. De Flores adds even more firepower to an already potent Cardinal offense. The redshirt junior forward was second on the team with 22 points last season, coming from seven goals and eight assists.
ACC IN THE RANKINGS » Six ACC teams are ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll, including three in the top 10. Both totals are the most of any conference: Clemson (1), Pitt (3), Syracuse (7), Stanford (13), Louisville (15) and North Carolina (17).
CHAMPIONSHIP CONFERNECE » Eight active ACC programs have won at least one national championship, the most of any conference. The 15 active ACC schools have combined for 20 titles.
DOMINANT COACHING » Six active ACC head coaches have won D-I national championships as a head coach: Mike Noonan (Clemson), Carlos Somoano (UNC), Jay Vidovich (Pitt), Jeremy Gunn (Stanford), Ian McIntyre (Syracuse) and George Gelnovatch (Virginia). NC State’s Marc Hubbard won a Division II national title in 2013.
PRESEASON ALL-ACC » Zach Bohane was named Stanford’s first-ever Preseason All-ACC selection. The junior has already looked sharp this preseason, tallying the game-winning goal against Cal Poly in Stanford’s third and final preseason exhibition.
RETURNING PLAYERS » The Cardinal returns nine of its 11 starters, losing graduating seniors Mark Fisher and Ryan Dunn. The returning contingent includes Rowan Schnebly, Dylan Hooper, Noah Adnan, Palmer Bank, Fletcher Bank, Zach Bohane, Will Reilly, Shane de Flores, and Jackson Kiil who all started more than half of Stanford’s games last season.
NEWCOMER CARDINAL » Stanford welcomes eight new players to the team, including four freshmen, two graduate transfers, and two walk on players. Joe Moyer, Eric Frintu, Alex Chow, and Jordan Victor make up the newest class of Stanford players. Louis Sterobo from Saint Mary’s and Nik White from Harvard are using their final year of elegibility to compete as graduate transfers. Stanford also added Trevor Islam and Lazslo Bollyky, two walk on players, to the roster.
POSTSEASON REGULARS » The 2023 NCAA Tournament second round match against Missouri State marked Stanford’s 10th appearance in the NCAA tournament in the last 11 seasons and its 21st NCAA tournament appearance overall. The Cardinal has made seven College Cups, most recently in 2019, along with five College Cup Finals and three NCAA Championships (2015-17).
CONFERENCE PROWESS » Nine ACC teams earned bids to the 2023 NCAA Championship, most of any conference in the 2023 tournament. Stanford (Quarterfinals) and SMU (Third Round) also competed in the 2023 tournament. 2023 marked the 11th straight season in which the ACC placed the most teams in the tournament and the 23rd consecutive season that at least five league teams earned a bid.
BALANCED ATTACK » 16 players registered a point in 2023, leading the Cardinal to 43 goals and 55 assists through 20 matches. Zach Bohane led the way with 27 points on eight goals and 11 assists while Shane de Flores was second with 22 points coming from seven goals and eight assists. Bohane’s 27 points were the most for a Cardinal since Foster Langsdorf’s 34 in 2017, and his 11 assists were the most for a Stanford player since 2015 (Corey Baird & Eric Verso - 13).
TEAM FIRST MENTALITY » Stanford had three players ranked nationally in the top-45 in assists per game, led by Zach Bohane at sixth (0.61). Fletcher Bank finished 29th (0.47) while Shane de Flores was 45th (0.42). The three players were also in the top-five in assists per game in the Pac-12, with Bohane leading the conference.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE » Rowan Schnebly led Stanford to three consecutive shutouts during the 2024 preseason. The Cardinal defense held its opponents scoreless and earned a goal differential of +4 during its three exhibitions. Last season, Schnebly allowed 13 goals in his 15 starts last season, pacing the conference in goals against average while sitting second in total goals against, and is fifth in save percentage. The redshirt freshman keeper finished 8-3-4 on the season. Schnebly and fellow keeper Jack Morris combined to record seven shutouts on the season, most recently at No. Marshall in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
SETTING THE STANDARD » Stanford’s offense was among the best in the nation in 2023, averaging 2.89 assists per game for the third-best mark in the NCAA. The Cardinal also ranked third in total assists (55), sixth in total points (141), seventh in points per game (7.42), ninth in goal differential (+26), ninth in scoring offense (2.26), 10th in total goals (43), and 18th in won-lost-tied percentage (0.711).
A DOMINANT RUN » Under Jeremy Gunn, Stanford has solidified its place among college soccer’s elite. No team has won more NCAA titles since 2006 than the Cardinal (3). The Cardinal has won six of the last eight Pac-12 championships, including five straight titles from 2014-18.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE » Stanford is one of just two programs to win three straight NCAA titles (2015-17). Virginia won four in a row from 1991-94. It is also one of seven to win at least three national championships along with Saint Louis (10), Indiana (8), Virginia (7), San Francisco (4), UCLA (4) and Maryland (4). Stanford went 52-7-10 (.826) during its three-year championship run.
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 ten 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 150-48-46 (.716) in his 12 seasons on The Farm and he owns a career record of 337-109-77 (.721) in 23 seasons, a mark which makes him the eighth-winningest active coach at the Division I level (by percentage). Gunn’s 337 career wins rank seventh among all active coaches currently at the Division I level.