<!ferris> Nov. 4, 1997
No. 10 Stanford Closes Regular Season at Santa Clara
Broncos Represent Final Tune-Up for Postseason
Season Wrap-up: The 10th-ranked Stanford men's soccer team (13-2-2) closes out its 1997 regular season slate this Sunday, November 9, when it takes on Santa Clara at SCU's Buck Shaw Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The game will mark the final tune-up for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Game the following Sunday (November 16) against either Cal State Fullerton or UCLA.
Last Week: The much anticipated showdown between the top two teams in the nation lived up to expectations as top-ranked Indiana dealt then-second-ranked Stanford its first loss of the season, 2-1, in the opening match of the Cal-adidas/Legacy Classic at USF's Negeosco Stadium. The win halted the Cardinal's school-record unbeaten streak at 20 games. Stanford took the early lead as sophomore Brandon Garinger (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich HS) took a forward cross from junior defender Eric Vandevelde (La Canada, CA/Loyola HS) and knocked it into the far post at the 15:20 mark. The Cardinal held off the steady Indiana attack for much of the first half on six saves by freshman goalkeeper Adam Zapala (Cupertino, CA/Bellarmine Prep). The Hoosiers finally broke through with less than five minutes remaining in the first stanza to tie the game at one apiece. The Cardinal created a number of opportunities to take back the lead throughout the second half, but were unable to get anything through. The Hoosiers came through with the game-winner in the 76th minute. Stanford closed out the tournament with a 1-0 loss to USF at Cal's Memorial Stadium. After a sluggish first half, the Cardinal came through with their best second half performance of the season, but again were unable to find the back of the net. The Dons scored the winning goal with just four minutes remaining in the game. The back-to-back losses were the team's first since the final two games of the 1995 season, the year prior to Cardinal head coach Bobby Clark's arrival.
Stanford in the Charts: Despite falling to Indiana and USF, Stanford maintained a spot in the nation's Top 10, checking in this week at No. 10 in the NSCAA/Umbro Top 25 poll, No. 9 in the Soccer America Top 20 and No. 7 in the Soccer News Top 25. The Cardinal have been ranked for a school-record nine consecutive weeks.
"The Streak" Remembered: As mentioned before, Stanford's 20-game unbeaten streak came to an end against Indiana. Prior to the loss to the top-ranked Hoosiers, the Cardinal had not lost since October 20, 1996, a 2-1 decision to then-second-ranked Cal. The streak included wins over Cal Poly SLO, Saint Mary's (twice), California, #8 Washington, Sacramento State, UC Irvine (twice), #16 Wisconsin, Chico State, UC Santa Barbara (twice), UNLV, Cal State Northridge, San Jose State (twice) and Santa Clara, and ties with #22 Dartmouth and Oregon State. Rankings are at the time of the game.
During "The Streak", Stanford:
- Posted a 18-0-2 record.
- Outscored its opponents 44-6, including 31-3 this season.
- Recorded 14 shutouts, including 12 this season.
- Established school records for the longest winning streak overall (14) and within a season (9), and the longest un- beaten streak overall and within a season (15). The 14 game winning streak was the longest running streak in the nation at the time.
- Tied the school record for shutouts in a season with 12.
- Climbed from no national ranking to No. 2 in the country (the highest ranking ever by a Cardinal squad) and to the
- No. 1 spot in the Far West Region (also a school first).
Re-Writing the Record Book: In addition to the records already broken, the '97 squad is on pace to break several other single-season team and individual records, including: wins, highest winning percentage, fewest losses, most shutouts, fewest goals allowed and lowest goals-against average. Zapala is on pace to break the individual single-season school records for fewest goals allowed and lowest goals-against average. His individual accomplishments are further noted below in "The Best in the Nation" segment. Stanford's 13 wins rank tied for third in school history. Below are the top single-season win totals in school history:
Rk. Year Record
1. 1978 16-6-0
2. 1979 14-5-2
3. 1997 13-2-2
1982 13-5-3
4. 5 squads ('81, '83, '85, '88, '91) tied with 12 wins
The Best in the Nation: Freshman goalkeeper Adam Zapala has been brilliant in his inaugural season at the collegiate level. As mentioned before, he currently leads the nation in goals-against average, posting a meager 0.34 mark. Below are the top five goalies in the nation in GAA:
Rk. Name (School) Games GA Min. GAA
1. Adam Zapala (Stanford) 17 6 1596 0.34
2. Bill May (Washington) 15 7 1437 0.44
3. Dani Braga (St. John's) 14 7 1213 0.52
4. Matt Nyman (Dartmouth) 11 5 1046 0.43
5. Ronnie Pascale (Furman) 12 6 875 0.62
Zapala's 0.34 goals-against average is well on pace to setting another school record. The current single-season GAA mark is held by Austin, who recorded a 0.59 GAA in 1985. Only three goalies in Stanford history have recorded a GAA lower than 1.00 (minimum 900 minutes in goal). With at least two games remaining, he has already set the school record for shutouts in a season with 12, topping Austin's total of 10 in 1985. Austin required 19 complete games in goal to achieve the record.
Cardinal Honors: Several Cardinal players have received honors for their outstanding play this season. Below is the list of awards garnered thus far:
MPSF Player-of-the-Week Soccer America Team-of-the-Week
A.J. Sauer (Sept. 8) Jamie Clark (Sept. 21 and Oct. 14)
Adam Zapala (Sept. 22) Shan Gaw (Oct. 21)
Jamie Clark (Oct. 13)
Stanford-Nike Invitational All-Tournament Team
Jamie Clark, Shan Gaw, Dan Wytock and Adam Zapala
Saint Mary's College "Fall Soccer Classic" Offensive MVP
Jamie Clark
Cal-adidas/Foot Locker Legacy Classic All-Tournament Team
Jamie Clark, Shan Gaw and Adam Zapala
Statistically Speaking: Forward A.J. Sauer currently leads the team with 18 points on nine goals. His point total ranks 14th in the Far West Region and fourth in the MPSF Mountain Division while his nine goals place him in a tie for eighth in the region and second in the division. Freshman forward Corey Woolfolk (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer HS), the 1996 Mr. Soccer in the state of Michigan, ranks second on the squad with 13 points on four goals and five assists. His 13 points rank tied for ninth in the division while his five assists stand tied for fourth in the division. Junior midfielder Simon Elliott (Wellington, New Zealand/Victoria University) ranks third on the squad with 11 points on three goals and five assists. His 11 points rank 13th in the division while his five assists stand tied for fourth in the division. As a team, Stanford leads the entire MPSF in team goalkeeping (0.34) and ranks fifth in team scoring (88 points).
Head Coach Bobby Clark: Clark is in his second year at the helm of the Cardinal program and since taking over, he has guided the Cardinal to a 23-6-6 (.743) mark. In his inaugural season, Clark led Stanford to a 10-4-4 record, the Cardinal's first winning season since 1992. For his efforts, he was named the MPSF's Mountain Division Co-Coach-of-the-Year. Clark began his collegiate coaching career at Dartmouth in 1985 and before leaving in 1994, he directed the Big Green program to three Ivy League titles, two NCAA Tournament quarterfinal appearances and eight winning seasons in nine years. He was twice named NCAA Region I Coach-of-the-Year. In his 10-plus seasons as a head coach, Clark has amassed an impressive 103-46-19 (.670) record. Before entering the coaching ranks, Clark was a professional player in Scotland from 1962-82 and competed on three (1970, '74 and '78) of Scotland's World Cup campaigns.
NSCAA/Umbro Division I Top 25 Poll
November 3, 1997 Rank School Record Points 1. Indiana 18-0-0 340 2. St. John's 14-2-2 302 3. Washington 12-2-2 296 4. Southern Methodist 13-2-0 292 5. UCLA 15-2-0 271 6. American 11-3-3 265 7. Duke 14-4-0 247 8. South Carolina 12-2-1 209 9. Virginia 11-3-3 205 10. STANFORD 13-2-2 199 11. Dartmouth 8-2-3 135 12. Maryland 12-4-1 121 13. Clemson 9-4-3 111 14. Southwest Missouri St. 11-3-3 108 15t.Marquette 11-4-3 77 15t.Creighton 12-4-1 77 17. Rider 12-5-1 47 18. Florida International 13-5-1 45 19. Gonzaga 13-4-0 41 20. William & Mary 11-3-2 38 21. Connecticut 11-6-1 29 22. St. Francis (N.Y.) 14-4-1 25 23. Saint Louis 11-4-3 24 24. UNC Charlotte 11-5-2 14 25. Rutgers 11-6-2 8 Soccer America Top 20 Poll November 3, 1997 Rank School Record 1. Indiana 18-0-0 2. UCLA 15-2-0 3. Southern Methodist 13-2-0 4. Washington 12-2-2 5. South Carolina 12-2-1 6. Duke 14-4-0 7. St. John's 14-2-2 8. Virginia 11-3-3 9. STANFORD 13-2-2 10. American 11-3-3 11. Clemson 9-4-3 12. Creighton 12-4-1 13. Maryland 12-4-1 14. Air Force 13-2-0 15. New Mexico 13-5-0 16. Southwest Missouri St. 11-3-3 17. UNC Charlotte 11-5-2 18. Saint Louis 11-4-3 19. Gonzaga 13-4-0 20. William & Mary 12-3-2 1997 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Standings Mountain Division Overall W L T PCT HOME AWAY W L T PCT HOME AWAY NEUT STK *Stanford 3 0 1 .875 2-0-0 1-0-1 13 2 2 .824 6-0-1 4-0-1 3-2-0 L2 Washington 3 1 0 .750 2-1-0 1-0-0 12 2 2 .813 5-2-0 6-0-1 1-0-1 W4 California 2 2 0 .500 1-0-0 1-2-0 10 6 1 .625 4-2-1 3-2-0 3-2-0 L1 Oregon State 1 2 1 .375 0-1-1 1-1-0 4 11 2 .294 2-6-2 2-5-0 0-0-0 L3 CS Sacramento 0 4 0 .000 0-2-0 0-2-0 3 12 0 .200 2-6-0 1-5-0 0-1-0 W2 * Mountain Division Champion Pacific Division Overall W L T PCT HOME AWAY W L T PCT HOME AWAY NEUT STK Cal State Fullerton 3 1 0 .750 3-1-0 0-0-0 10 8 0 .556 6-3-0 2-4-0 2-1-0 W1 UCLA 3 1 0 .750 1-0-0 2-1-0 15 2 0 .882 7-0-0 5-1-0 2-1-0 W2 Cal Poly SLO 2 2 0 .500 2-0-0 0-2-0 5 10 0 .333 3-2-0 1-8-0 1-0-0 L2 Cal State Northridge 2 2 1 .500 2-2-1 0-0-0 4 10 1 .300 4-4-1 0-3-0 0-3-0 W2 UC Irvine 1 3 1 .300 0-1-1 1-2-0 6 7 4 .471 4-1-3 1-5-1 2-0-0 W1 UC Santa Barbara 1 3 0 .250 0-2-0 1-1-0 4 13 1 .250 1-5-0 3-6-0 0-1-1 W1