Breaking down the 2023 Stanford Men’s Soccer schedule
Stanford men’s soccer is about to begin their 2023 season with their first match happening later this month. Stanford finished 2nd in the Pac-12 last season out of six teams, finishing with a 12-2-6 overall record and a 4-2-4 record in the conference. Stanford is currently ranked #7 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25. With the season starting soon, let’s dive in and look at their schedule.
GoStanford.com: 2023 Stanford Men's Soccer Schedule
Stanford will first have an exhibition at home against Sacramento State on Sunday, August 13th at 3:00 PM PT. Following that exhibition, Stanford will begin regular season play with a homestand against Creighton on August 24th and Georgetown on August 27th. Creighton is ranked #8 in the nation while Georgetown is ranked #17. That's a pair of tough teams coming to The Farm to start the season.
Following their homestand, the Cardinal will hit the road to face San Jose State on Monday, September 4th and UC Irvine on Friday, September 8th. Neither of those programs are ranked, so Stanford will be favored in both matches.
Stanford will then return to The Farm to begin Pac-12 play. They’ll face Washington on Thursday, September 14th and Oregon State on Sunday, September 17th. Washington won the Pac-12 title last year and is ranked #6 in the nation, so that will be a real test for Stanford. Oregon State has received votes in the Top 25, so they too are a solid team.
Stanford will then stay home for an out-of-conference match against Saint Mary’s on Friday, September 22nd. The Gaels are not ranked and have not received any votes. That said, against Stanford last season in Moraga, the Cardinal won 2-0, so it wasn’t a total blowout. Stanford will definitely need to come prepared.
The Cardinal will then hit the road for two more Pac-12 matches at UCLA on Thursday, September 28th and at San Diego State on Sunday, October 1st. UCLA finished 4-4-1 in the Pac-12 last season, but is knocking on the door to be ranked, receiving the most votes of any non-ranked team. So, they should be solid. San Diego State was tied for last place in the Pac-12 last year with a 1-6-3 record, so Stanford should cruise past them.
Stanford will then have a non-conference homestand against a pair of WCC teams: Santa Clara on Monday, October 9th and San Francisco on Thursday, October 12th. Santa Clara went 4-5-6 last season while San Francisco went 7-6-4. Stanford will be favored in both matches, but like Saint Mary’s, these are programs you have to respect.
Stanford will then resume Pac-12 play on the road with matches at Oregon State on Thursday, October 19th and at Washington on Sunday, October 22nd.
Following those two matches, Stanford will be on the road for one more match at Cal. Cal also was tied for last place in the Pac-12 last season with a 1-6-3 record. Stanford should steamroll them as well though with it being a road match, the Golden Bears will be fired up. Stanford did sweep Cal last year, but the match in Berkeley was a 1-0 victory.
Following their trip to Berkeley, the Cardinal will conclude the regular season with three-straight home matches: San Diego State on Thursday, November 2nd, UCLA on Sunday, November 5th, and Cal on Saturday, November 11th. Stanford won their home match against Cal 5-1 last year.
Touching quickly on the team itself, redshirt sophomore midfielder Shane de Flores is coming off a strong season in which he led the team with 20 points (8 goals). With Carlo Agostinelli and Cam Cilley graduated, the next highest returning player in terms of points is sophomore forward Liam Doyle who had 12 points (5 goals). Others are going to have the fill the void left by those departures. Incoming freshman Duncan Jarvie out of Lehi, Utah has experience playing for Real Salt Lake’s MLS Next Pro affiliate, so he’s one who might come in and make his presence felt.
Defensively, junior defenseman Louis Weisdorf, a transfer from Dartmouth, should make an impact while senior defenseman Noah Adnan is coming off a season in which he played the fourth most minutes of anyone on the team, so the Cardinal will have some experience in the back.
In the net, we’ll just have to see what direction for the Cardinal will go after their starting goalkeeper Matt Frank graduated:
Redshirt sophomore Jack Morris and senior Eliot Jones both played two matches last season. Morris played 21 minutes and three seconds and allowed one goal while Jones played 12 minutes and 48 seconds but didn’t allow a goal. Sophomore Rowan Schnebly did not see any action last year, so he’s probably not likely to win the starting job. As for graduate transfer James Swomley, he didn’t play last year, but during his time at Brown, he made several starts, posting a 1.06 goals against average and .816 save percentage in 2019, so he very well might be the front runner to win the job.
As a whole, Stanford projects to have an impressive season. Their ranking speaks for itself. Probably the biggest question mark right now is who will step up alongside de Flores offensively and then who will win the starting goalkeeper spot. These early matches will be huge for the Cardinal in figuring those things out before Pac-12 play begins.
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