Aug. 29, 2012

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STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford heads out on the road this weekend for a pair of games as part of the College of Charleston Tournament. The Cardinal faces the host Charleston on Friday at 4:30 p.m., PT, and then No. 22 Furman on Sunday at 9:00 a.m., PT.

Both games this weekend will be webcasted on a subscription basis and available through live stats. The links are at the top of the page.

Stanford is off to a 1-0 start for the first time since 2003 after going on the road and beating San Francisco last weekend. Aaron Kovar scored in the second minute in what ended up being the only goal of the contest. Drew Hutchins earned the shutout in goal for the Cardinal.

Stanford is beginning to receive some attention nationally as it has slid into the also receiving votes section of the NSCAA national poll. This week, Stanford received four votes and ranks 40th in the country. The Cardinal is also one of the 48 teams in the NCAA tournament according to the weekly rankings from TopDrawersoccer.com. Stanford is ranked 31st nationally by those rankings.

This week, Stanford will travel to Charleston to take part in the Nike / Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic. It will be the first ever trip for the Cardinal men's soccer team to Charleston, S.C.

Friday night's game will match 0-1 College of Charleston against the Cardinal. Charleston lost its opener 1-0 at South Carolina last weekend. The Cougars finished 5-8-5 a year ago and had just one win in conference. The top returning scorers for Charleston are Troy Peterson and Sean de Silva. Peterson had six goals and an assist a year ago, while de Silva had four goals and five assists. Kees Heemskerk returns in net for the Cougars after playing every minute of last season.

Sunday, Stanford will face No. 22 Furman in its first matchup versus a ranked team this season. Furman is 2-0 after defeating both Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb by a score of 3-0. The Paladins have evenly distributed the offense so far with six different goal scorers. Furman went 14-4-0 a year ago and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Charlotte, a team coached by now Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn.

Stanford is 1-0 all-time against Furman, having defeated the Paladins in the third round of the NCAA tournament back in 2002. The Cardinal won that game in double overtime and went on to play in the NCAA Final that season. The 2002 Furman team was led by All-American Clint Dempsey who has developed into perhaps the top player for the U.S. National Team.

It is a big weekend for the Cardinal as it tries to navigate a difficult stretch of four road games to begin the season. Stanford will face No. 12 UC Irvine next Friday before returning home for a stretch of six-straight games at Cagan Stadium.