Aug. 22, 2002

Walnut Creek, Ca - Stanford, which won its first Pacific-10 Conference men's soccer title in 2001 and advanced to the NCAA Final Four, has been picked by the Pac-10 men's soccer coaches to repeat as conference champions.

The Cardinal received 34 points, edging out second place UCLA (21 points) by three points. Stanford received four of the first place votes, while the Bruins garnered the other two. Rounding out the poll was Washington in third place, followed by California, Oregon State, and Pac-10 newcomer Fresno State.

Stanford won the 2001 Pac-10 Conference championship with a 6-1-1 ledger. Finishing second was UCLA with a 3-2-1 conference mark. Washington was third with a record of 4-4-0 in Pac-10 play. Stanford, UCLA, Washington and California all entered the NCAA Tournament with both Stanford and UCLA advancing to the third round, and only the Cardinal reaching the semifinals.

Five seniors will serve as the backbone of this year's team. The list includes goalkeeper Andrew Terris, forward Roger Levesque, defender Todd Dunivant, defender Taylor Graham and midfielder Johanes Maliza.

Five of Stanford's top scorers return from last year's 19-2-1 team. Those five scorers accounted for 38 of the team's 56 goals.

Stanford opens the 2002 season on August 31 against Sacramento State. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Harry Maloney Field.

The following are the results of the Pac-10 Conference pre-season men's soccer coaches poll (points 6-5-4-3-2-1) with first place votes in parentheses

1. Stanford (4) 34

2. UCLA (2) 31

3. Washington 24

4. California 18

5. Oregon State 10

6. Fresno State 9