Nov. 8, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford men's soccer closes out the 2012 regular season Friday afternoon, traveling across the bay for a 1:30 p.m. match at California. The match will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

The Cardinal (8-8-1, 4-4-1 Pac-12, 13 points) can clinch third place, and a top-half finish on the Pac-12 table with a win or draw against the Golden Bears (8-6-3, 3-4-2 Pac-12, 11 points). Heading into Friday's match the Cardinal is unbeaten in its last three meetings with the Golden Bears, boasting a 2-0-1 mark including a 2-0 win at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium back on Oct. 4.

Stanford has enjoyed a fine run of form over the last month's worth of matches, with a record of 5-3-1 since Sept. 30. Sophomore forward Zach Batteer has scored all six of his goals this campaign over this stretch, including a brace in the Cardinal's previous win over the Golden Bears.

Senior forward Adam Jahn has scored five of his team-leading 10 goals and assisted on two others since Sept. 30, as the Cardinal offense has ratcheted up the pressure, most recently bagging four goals in last Saturday's 4-0 win at San Diego State.

Not to be outdone, the Cardinal defense has posted four clean sheets over its past nine matches, most notably a 1-0 shutout of then-No. 25 UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 26. Goalkeeper Drew Hutchins has record three of the shutouts and played 85 minutes of last Sunday's 4-0 blanking of the Aztecs. Over these past nine matches he has posted a goals-against average of 0.96.

California has been on a good stretch itself, recovering from a three-match slide from Sept. 30-Oct.12 to go 2-1-2 entering Friday. The Golden Bears are coming off of a 1-1 draw with No. 5 UCLA and are led by five goals apiece from Tony Salciccia and Stefano Bonomo. In net, Kevin Peach has had a hand in five shutouts with a goals-against average of 1.14