Sept. 22, 1997

No. 12 Cardinal off to Best Start in School History

Record-Setting Week: The 12th-ranked Stanford University men's soccer team continued its hot streak this past week with victories in all three of its games, improving to a perfect 7-0-0 on the season. The seven straight wins out of the gate represents the best start in team history, surpassing the 6-0 start by the 1988 squad. The Cardinal opened the week, and their 1997 home season, with a 3-1 triumph over Chico State, breaking the school record for consecutive victories with 10. The 1980 and '81 squads combined to post the previous record of nine. Stanford then headed to the East Bay to participate in the Saint Mary's College "Fall Soccer Classic". The Cardinal proceeded to win their second tournament of the year with shutout wins over #16 Wisconsin (2-0) and UC Irvine (3-0). Stanford won the UNLV/Coors Light Classic earlier this season. With the wins, the Cardinal extended their nation-best win streak to 12 games.

Cardinal Climbing: Stanford made large gains in this week's national polls. The Cardinal climbed 11 spots to #12 in the NSCAA/Umbro Top 25, the highest ranking the Cardinal have acheived this season. Stanford rose in the Soccer America Top 20 poll as well, climbing four spots to #13. The complete polls follow on the next page.

Next Up: Stanford will return to action this Friday, September 26, when they play host to Cal State Sacramento at 5:00 p.m. at New Maloney Field. The game will mark the Cardinal's 1997 conference opener. The Cardinal lead the overall series with the Hornets 11-4-2. In their lone meeting last season, the two teams tied 2-2 in Sacramento. Stanford head coach Bobby Clark will be going for his 100th career victory.

The Streak: The Cardinal not only broke the school record for consecutive wins, but it topped the school record for consecutive games without a loss as well, which includes ties. Following is a breakdown of the top streaks in school history (1973-present). The years marked with an asterisk (*) represent the "consecutive games without a loss" streaks in school history.

        Year     Streak  Final Record
    1.  1996-97    12    -
        1980-81*   11    -
    3.  1985-86*   10    -
    4.  1980-81     9    -
    5.  1991*       8    12-4-5
        1979*       8    14-5-2
        1977*       8    10-8-2

The Streak Cont.: The streak includes wins over UC Irvine (twice), Wisconsin, Chico State, UC Santa Barbara (twice), UNLV, Cal State Northridge, San Jose State (twice), Santa Clara and Saint Mary's. Stanford has outscored its opponents 29-5 during the span, posting seven shutouts. The Cardinal have not lost since October 20, 1996 (a 2-1 loss to then-#2 Cal).

Honorees: One of the primary factors in Stanford's success has been outstanding team defense and the play of goalkeeper Adam Zapala, a freshman from nearby Cupertino, Calif. (Bellarmine Prep). Zapala currently ranks third in the country with a 0.29 goals against average. He has allowed just two goals on the season while posting five shutouts. This past week, Zapala recorded nine saves, two shuouts and a 0.33 gaa. For his efforts, he was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player-of-the-Week. He became the second Cardinal this season to be so honored, joining junior co-captain A.J. Sauer, who claimed the award two weeks ago. Also receiving honors this past week was junior defender Jamie Clark. Clark, who scored his first goal of the season in the 2-0 win over Wisconsin, was named the Offensive MVP of the Saint Mary's College "Fall Soccer Classic".

Head Coach Bobby Clark: Clark is in his second year at the helm of the Cardinal program. In his inaugural season, Clark led Stanford to a 10-4-4 mark, the Cardinal's first winning season since 1992. For his efforts, he was named the MPSF's Mountain Division Co-Coach-of-the-Year. In 10-plus years as a collegiate head coach (nine at Dartmouth College), Clark has posted an impressive 99-46-17 record (17-4-4 at Stanford) and is just one win shy of 100 career victories. Prior to arriving at The Farm, Clark spent two years as head coach of the New Zealand National team. In his nine seasons as head coach at Dartmouth College, he led the Big Green to three Ivy League titles and two NCAA quarterfinal appearances. He was twice named NCAA Region I Coach-of-the-Year. 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 teams.

NSCAA/Umbro Division I Top 25 Poll
September 22, 1997
    School                 Record  Points
 1. Indiana                 7-0-0   440
 2. St. John's              6-0-1   406
 3. Washington              5-0-2   387
 4. Duke                    6-1-0   379
 5. SMU                     4-1-0   334
 6. UCLA                    7-1-0   299
 7. James Madison           7-0-0   298
 8. Virginia                4-1-2   281
 9. UNC Greensboro          5-2-0   244
10. Maryland                5-1-1   236
11. Massachusetts           3-1-1   198
12. Stanford                7-0-0   152
13. Florida Interntl.       4-2-1   137
14. Pittsburgh              3-0-3    98
15. Boston University       4-2-1    96
16. Creighton               4-3-1    90
17. William & Mary          5-1-0    84
18T.Bowling Green           4-3-0    71
18T.Portland                5-1-0    71
20. South Carolina          4-1-1    70
21. California              4-1-1    57
22. Saint Louis             4-2-2    31
23. Univ. of San Diego      5-1-1    27
24. Virginia Commonwealth   6-0-0    14
25. UNC Charlotte           4-2-1     8

Soccer America Top 20 Poll
September 22, 1997
    School                  Record
 1. Indiana                 7-0-0   
 2. St. John's              6-0-1
 3. Washington              5-0-2
 4. SMU                     4-1-0
 5. Duke                    6-1-0
 6. Virginia                4-1-2
 7. South Carolina          4-1-1
 8. UCLA                    6-1-0
 9. N.C. State              5-1-0
10. Maryland                5-1-1
11. Portland                5-1-0
12. James Madison           7-0-0
13. Stanford                7-0-0
14. UNC Greensboro          5-2-0
15. California              4-1-1
16. Massachussetts          3-1-1
17. William & Mary          5-1-0
18. Virginia Commonwealth   6-0-0
19. Creighton               4-3-1
20. Georgia Southern        5-1-0

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Standings

                        Mountain Division                   Overall 
                        W   L   T    PCT    HOME    AWAY    W   L   T   PCT     HOME    AWAY    NEUT   STK  
Washington              1   0   0  1.000    0-0-0   1-0-0   5   0   2   .857    2-0-0   2-0-1   1-0-1   W2  
Stanford                0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   7   0   0  1.000    1-0-0   3-0-0   3-0-0   W7
California              0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   4   1   1   .750    2-1-1   1-0-0   1-0-0   L1  
Oregon State            0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   2   4   1   .357    2-2-1   0-2-0   0-0-0   L2
CS Sacramento           0   1   0   .000    0-1-0   0-0-0   1   7   0   .125    1-5-0   0-1-0   0-1-0   L1
                        Pacific Division                    Overall     
                        W   L   T   PCT     HOME    AWAY    W   L   T   PCT     HOME    AWAY    NEUT   STK
UCLA                    0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   6   1   0   .857    1-0-0   3-0-0   2-1-0   W3
Cal State Fullerton     0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   4   3   0   .571    2-1-0   0-2-0   2-0-0   L2
Cal Poly SLO            0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   3   5   0   .375    1-0-0   1-5-0   1-0-0   W2
UC Irvine               0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   1   3   2   .333    1-0-1   0-3-1   0-0-0   L3
UC Santa Barbara        0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   1   5   1   .214    0-1-0   1-3-0   0-1-1   L1
Cal State Northridge    0   0   0   .000    0-0-0   0-0-0   1   6   0   .143    1-2-0   0-2-0   0-2-0   L3

Stanford University Men's Soccer