Oct. 20, 1997

No. 4 Stanford to Close Out 1997 Home Season

Stanford keeper Adam Zapala leads the nation in goals against average

The Stretch Run: Having concluded the 1997 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season, which saw the 4th-ranked and undefeated Stanford men's soccer team clinch its first-ever Mountain Division title, the Cardinal now enter the season's stretch run and will close out their '97 home campaign this week with its final two home contests of the regular season. Stanford (11-0-2) will battle Saint Mary's on Thursday, October 23 at 4:00 p.m. and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Sunday, October 26 at 2:00 p.m. Stanford has not lost at home in more than a year, a span of 10 games. During that time, the Cardinal have posted a 8-0-2 mark. The last home defeat came on October 13, 1996, a 1-0 loss to Washington.

Last Week: Stanford, one of only two unbeaten Division I teams in the nation (the other is top-ranked Indiana at 15-0-0), captured the MPSF Mountain Division title and extended its unbeaten streak to 18 games with a 3-1 win over Bay Area rival California on The Farm. The win delivers the Cardinal to the MPSF Championship game, which will be hosted by the Pacific Division winner on Sunday, November 16. The two division winners will battle for the conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. If the season were to end today, Stanford would face Cal State Fullerton. The complete MPSF standings follow on the next page. With the win over Cal, the '97 squad, which still has five games remaining in the regular season, have already topped the '96 squad's win total of 10.

"The Streak": As mentioned before, Stanford is currently riding an 18-game unbeaten streak. The Cardinal have not lost since October 20, 1996, a 2-1 decision to then-second-ranked Cal. The streak includes wins over California, #8 Washington, Sacramento State, UC Irvine (twice), #16 Wisconsin, Chico State, UC Santa Barbara (twice), UNLV, Cal State Northridge, San Jose State (twice), Santa Clara and Saint Mary's, and ties with #22 Dartmouth and Oregon State. Rankings are at the time of the game.

During "The Streak", Stanford has:

Posted a 16-0-2 record, including 8-0-1 at home
Outscored its opponents 37-6, including 24-3 this season
Recorded 12 shutouts, including 10 this season
Established school records for the longest winning streak overall (14) and within a season (9), and the longest unbeaten streak overall (18 and counting) and within a season (13 and counting)
Climbed from no national ranking to No. 4 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: highest winning percentage, fewest losses, most shutouts, fewest goals allowed and lowest goals-against average. Freshman goalkeeper Adam Zapala is on pace to break the individual school records for fewest goals allowed, most shutouts and lowest goals-against average. His individual accomplishments are further noted below in "The Best in the Nation" segment.

The Best in the Nation: Freshman goalkeeper Adam Zapala (Cupertino, CA/Bellarmine Prep) has been brilliant in his inagural season at the collegiate level. With at least five games remaining, he has already tied the school record for shutouts in a season with 10, equaling Tom Austin's total in 1985. Austin required 19 complete games in goal to achieve the record. Despite giving up a goal against Cal, a game in which he also recorded a season-high five saves (three diving), Zapala stills holds a firm grip as the nation's leader in goals-against average - a phenomenal 0.22. Below are the top five goalies in the nation in GAA:

    Rk. Name (School)             Games GA  Min.    GAA
    1.  Adam Zapala (Stanford)      13   3  1236    0.22
    2.  Bill May (Washington)       14   7  1347    0.47
    3.  Matt Nyman (Dartmouth)      10   5   956    0.47
    4.  Dani Braga (St. John's)     13   7  1123    0.56
    5.  Brandon Taylor (Detroit)    11   5   797    0.56

Zapala's 0.22 goals-against average is well on pace to setting another school record. The current single-season 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).

Climbing the Charts: Stanford climbed in the polls for the fifth consecutive week, making gains in all three national polls. In the NSCAA/Umbro Top 25 poll, the Cardinal rose to spots to No. 4. As mentioned before, it is the highest ranking ever by a Cardinal squad and the highest-ever by a Bobby Clark squad. During Stanford head coach Bobby Clark's nine-year tenure at Dartmouth, the Big Green reached the Top 10 at different times each of his last four years. In 1990, Clark's squad reached as high as No. 7 and finished the year at No. 8. The Cardinal also climbed from No. 6 to No. 4 in the Soccer News Top 25 poll. In the Soccer America Top 20 poll, Stanford made its largest gain of all, jumping from No. 7 to the consensus No. 4 position.

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
A.J. Sauer (Sept. 8)
Adam Zapala (Sept. 22)
Jamie Clark (Oct. 13)

Soccer America Team-of-the-Week
Jamie Clark (Sept. 21 and Oct. 14)

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

Statistically Speaking: Forward A.J. Sauer (Spring, TX/Klein Oak HS) currently leads the team with 14 points on seven goals. His point total ranks tied for 13th in the Far West Region and tied for fourth in the MPSF Mountain Division while his seven goals place him in a tie for ninth in the region and second in the division. Junior midfielder Simon Elliott (Wellington, New Zealand/Victoria Univ.) and freshman forward Corey Woolfolk (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer HS), the 1996 Mr. Soccer in the state of Michigan, both rank tied for second on the squad with 10 points on three goals and four assists. Their 10 points each rank tied for 11th in the division while their four assists stand tied for third in the division. As a team, Stanford leads the entire MPSF in team goalkeeping (0.22) and ranks fifth in team scoring (65 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 21-4-6 (.774) 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.

Series Records: The meeting between Stanford and Saint Mary's will be the 22nd in a series which began in 1971. The Cardinal hold a 15-5-1 series advantage over the Gaels, including 7-2-1 at home. The meeting with Cal Poly SLO will be the 11th in a series which began in 1981. The Cardinal lead the Mustangs 6-2-2 overall and 4-1-1 at home.

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   11  0   2  .923  4-0-1  4-0-1   3-0-0   W1
Washington      2   1   0  .667  1-1-0  1-0-0   10  2   2  .786  4-2-0  5-0-1   1-0-1   W2
California      2   2   0  .500  1-0-0  1-2-0    8  4   1  .654  4-1-1  2-2-0   2-1-0   L1  
Oregon State    1   1   1  .300  0-1-1  1-0-0    4  8   2  .357  2-6-2  2-2-0   0-0-0   W2
CS Sacramento   0   4   0  .000  0-2-0  0-2-0    1 12   0  .077  1-6-0  0-5-0   0-1-0   L6

* Mountain Division Champion

                Pacific Division                Overall     
                W   L   T   PCT  HOME   AWAY    W   L   T   PCT  HOME   AWAY    NEUT    STK
CS Fullerton    3   1   0  .750  3-1-0  0-0-0    8  6   0  .571  5-2-0  1-3-0   2-1-0   L1
UCLA            3   1   0  .750  1-0-0  2-1-0   12  2   0  .857  4-0-0  5-1-0   2-1-0   W1
Cal Poly SLO    2   2   0  .500  2-0-0  0-2-0    5  8   0  .385  3-1-0  1-7-0   1-0-0   W2
CS Northridge   2   2   1  .500  2-2-1  0-0-0    3 10   1  .250  3-4-1  0-3-0   0-3-0   W1
UC Irvine       1   3   1  .300  0-1-1  1-2-0    3  6   4  .384  3-0-3  1-5-1   0-0-0   L1
UCSB            1   3   0  .250  0-2-0  1-1-0    2 11   1  .179  0-5-0  2-5-0   0-1-1   L4

NSCAA/Umbro Division I Top 25 Poll

October 20, 1997

Rank  School            Record  Points
 1. Indiana             15-0-0  420
 2. Southern Methodist  11-1-0  386
 3. Duke                12-2-0  384
 4. STANFORD            11-0-2  354
5t. American             8-2-3  322
5t. St. John's          10-2-2  322
 7. Washington          10-2-2  271
 8. Maryland            10-2-1  261
 9. North Carolina State 9-3-0  221
10. UCLA                12-2-0  219
11. Creighton           10-3-1  213
12. Virginia             9-2-3  198
13. Dartmouth            6-1-3  196
14. South Carolina       8-2-1  123
15. William & Mary      10-2-1  100
16. Pittsburgh           7-3-4   91
17. Marquette            9-3-3   73
18. Portland             9-4-1   63
19. James Madison       10-3-1   45
20. Saint Louis          8-4-3   42
21. Vermont             10-2-2   32
22. Cornell              5-2-3   27
23. Furman              10-3-0   16
24. Notre Dame           8-5-2    6
25t.Air Force           10-1-0    3
25t.Temple               9-4-2    3


Soccer America Top 20 Poll
October 20, 1997

Rank  School            Record
 1. Indiana             15-0-0  
 2. Southern Methodist  11-1-0
 3. Duke                12-2-0
 4. STANFORD            11-0-2
 5. UCLA                12-2-0
 6. Virginia             9-2-3
 7. Washington          10-2-2
 8. North Carolina State 9-3-0
 9. Maryland            10-2-1
10. South Carolina       8-2-1
11. American             8-2-3
12. Creighton           10-3-1
13. St. John's          10-2-2
14. Georgia Southern    12-1-2
15. Dartmouth            6-1-3
16. Clemson              7-4-3
17. Air Force           10-1-0
18. William & Mary      10-2-1
19. Furman              10-3-0
20. James Madison       10-3-1

Stanford University Men's Soccer