Oct. 10, 2000

This Week's Action

Stanford faces a pair of Bay Area rivals at home this week, as the Cardinal hosts West Coast Conference foe Santa Clara on Thursday before returning to Pac-10 action on Sunday against California.

The Clark File

Head coach Bobby Clark, in his fifth season at the helm of the Cardinal, has posted a 62-19-12 (.731) record on The Farm. The 1997 NSCAA Far West Region Coach of the Year has a 144-61-25 (.680) mark in 13 years overall, the first nine as the head man at Dartmouth. With Stanford's 5-0 win at Saint Mary's on Sept. 26, Clark passed Sam Koch and moved into fourth place on the Cardinal's all-time victory list. Stanford's 5-0 win over Seton Hall on Sept. 29 gave Clark his 60th career victory, making him only the fourth coach to record 60 victories on The Farm. On the international level, Clark was the head coach of the New Zealand National Team from 1994-96, compiling a 21-12-3 record while working with the Senior, Olympic, Under-20 and Under-17 squads. For his efforts, Clark was awarded the 1995 Jim McCullen Trophy, given by the New Zealand national media to the person who contributed the most to New Zealand soccer. Clark also served as head coach of the Bulawayo Highlanders of the Zimababwe (Africa) super league for the 1983-84 season and previously was a staff coach for the Scottish Football Association. As a player, Clark enjoyed a distinguished professional career as a goalie for the Aberdeen F.C. (Dons) in the Scottish League from 1965-1982. Clark was also a member of the Scottish National Team that advanced to the finals of the 1978 World Cup Tournament in Argentina.

Stanford in the Polls

Of the four major polls, Stanford holds the No. 4 spot in three of them: Soccer America, SoccerTimes.com and the College Soccer Online media poll. The Cardinal is ranked No. 11 by the NSCAA. Connecticut (9-1-1) is the new consensus No. 1 in all four polls.

Slaying the Giant

On Sunday, Stanford rebounded from its first loss of the year to post a 1-0 victory over top-ranked and previously unbeaten UCLA at New Maloney Field. Sophomore forward Johanes Maliza scored the only goal of the match, heading in a cross from senior midfielder Sean Sylvis at the 60:13 mark. Stanford held a 21-7 advantage in shots, although UCLA goalkeeper D.J. Countess made 11 saves. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Adam Zapala posted four saves as the Cardinal recorded its ninth shutout in 11 games. The victory was Stanford's first over UCLA since 1987, however, the Cardinal defeated the Bruins in penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie in a 1992 MPSF playoff game.

First Loss of the Season

Two days prior to Stanford's victory over UCLA, the Cardinal suffered its first defeat of the year, falling to Washington 2-1 in overtime. The game was Stanford's first in the new Pacific-10 men's soccer conference and ended when the Huskies' Bryn Ritchie scored on a header just :53 seconds into overtime. The Cardinal, which outshot the visitors 16-5, took a 1-0 lead on Ryan Nelsen's goal at the 19:05 mark. Washington, however, tied the score just three minutes later on Zach Kingsley's equalizer.

A Cardinal Tint to the National Leaders

Through the sixth week of the season, Stanford has become a fixture in the national leaderboard. Although the Cardinal's goals per game average dipped to 3.64, that number is still tied for the second best in the country. Led by senior All-America candidate Adam Zapala in goal and a backline that boasts two tournament Defensive MVP's, Stanford is tied for the lowest GAA in the nation at 0.26. The Cardinal also has the highest shutout percentage in the NCAA at .818 and its .864 winning percentage is tied for sixth best. Individually, Zapala is second in the country with a 0.26 GAA.

Dominating the Second Half

By scoring in the second half against UCLA, Stanford continued a trend which has seen the Cardinal outscore the opposition 24-1 after intermission (including overtime). The second period dominance began in the second game of the season, when Stanford broke open a scoreless tie by scoring six goals against Western Kentucky. Two other times, the Cardinal have been tied 0-0 at halftime (against Harvard and UCLA) before netting the game-winner during the second 45 minutes.

Rust Shines for Cardinal

Senior forward Luke Rust became the second Stanford player to earn a spot on Soccer America's National Team of the Week when he was honored by the publication last week. Rust was named one of the top 11 players in the country by virtue of his performance in the Stanford/Nike Invitational, when he scored three goals and netted the game-winners against both Seton Hall and Cincinnati. Lee Morrison was placed on the Team of the Week for Sept. 11-17 after anchoring a Cardinal defense that posted consecutive shutouts in the Kappa/Hypertherm Dartmouth Men's Classic.

Zapala in the Record Books

Senior goalkeeper Adam Zapala, who entered the 2000 season owning five Stanford career and single-season records, captured a pair of other Cardinal career marks with Sunday's game against UCLA. Zapala's start against the Bruins was the 75th of his career, moving him into sole possesion of first place past former Cardinal Ricky Goad (1990-93). With his 90 minutes in net, Zapala now has logged 7,077 career minutes between the posts, bettering the 6,993 recorded by Kyle Krpata between 1989-92. Zapala also made four saves in his shutout over the top-ranked Bruins, giving him 207 for his career, good for fourth place on the all-time Cardinal charts. The most prolific netminder in Stanford history, Zapala also owns school records for career shutouts (45), career GAA (0.64), single-season minutes (2,377 in 1998), single-season shutouts (15 in 1998) and single-season GAA (0.57 in 1998).

Maliza's Breakout Campaign

After appearing in just six matches without a goal in 1999, sophomore forward Johanes Maliza has emerged as an offensive force in 2000. The native of Chicago, Ill., has appeared off the bench in all 11 games and is tied for second on the squad with six goals and 13 total points. His goals have come off just 18 shots, giving him a team-best .333 shooting percentage. On Sunday, Maliza collected the first game-winning goal of his career, beating top-ranked UCLA 1-0 with a header at the 60:13 mark.

Balanced Offensive Attack

Stanford enters this week with five players in double-digit points and two more on the brink. Senior midfielder Scott Leber leads the charge with 21 points, followed by Luke Rust (13), Johanes Maliza (13), Corey Woolfolk (12) and Roger Levesque (11). With eight and seven points, respectively, Ryan Nelsen and Lee Morrison are close to giving the Cardinal seven double-digit scorers. Stanford also features 12 different goal-scorers, paced by Leber's nine.

Home Cookin'

Stanford is currently in the midst of a three-week, six-game homestand, its longest of the year. The Cardinal is currently 3-1-0 on the homestand after posting shutout wins over Seton Hall (5-0), Cincinnati (4-0) and No. 1 UCLA (1-0). Prior to the UCLA match, Stanford fell in overtime to Washington 2-1, snapping the Cardinal's school-record 19-match unbeaten streak at New Maloney Field. However, since New Maloney's opening in 1997, Stanford has posted an incredible 26-2-4 (.875) mark in the facility.

Scoring Streak Ends

Senior midfielder Scott Leber saw his streak of consecutive games with a point end at nine in Friday's loss to Washington. Leber had recorded a point in each of the first nine matches of the 2000 season, including goals in seven games and a pair of two-goal outbursts. In the only games in which he failed to find the back of the net - against Harvard and Seton Hall - Leber contributed assists.

Honors Candidates

Junior midfielder Lee Morrison and senior goalkeeper Adam Zapala were both honored as preseason First Team All-Americans by Soccer America. Morrison, a 1999 First Team All-America selection by Soccer America and College Soccer News, has also been named as one of 15 finalists for both the Hermann Award and the Missouri Athletic Club Award, both of which are given annually to the top player in both men's and women's collegiate soccer.

Scouting the Broncos

Santa Clara, a 1999 National Finalist, comes to The Farm having lost three straight to drop its record to 5-5-0. The Broncos are led by sophomore transfer Jamil Walker, who has four goals and two assists for ten points. The only other Bronco with more than one goal is 1999 leading scorer Anthony Chimienti, who has two scores along with a team-high three assists. Junior goalkeeper Rusty Johnson has posted a 1.11 GAA with six shutouts and 35 saves. Head coach Mitch Murray, in his tenth season, has a 126-48-17 (.704) career record. Thursday marks the first meeting between the two clubs in 2000 after a pair of overtime matches in 1999. At Buck Shaw Stadium last November 2, Ryan Nelsen gave the Cardinal a 1-0 victory with a goal at the 108:09 mark. The two teams then battled to a 2-2, four-overtime tie in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before Santa Clara prevailed 6-5 in penalty kicks.

Scouting the Golden Bears

California enters the week with a 2-8-1 overall record and an 0-1-1 mark in Pac-10 play. The Bears traveled to the Pacific Northwest for their first weekend of conference action, battling Oregon State to a 1-1 tie before falling 7-0 at Washington. First year head coach Kevin Grimes relies on upper classmen leadership, as senior Kendall Simmons and junior Chris Roner have combined for six of Cal's nine goals. Between the posts, freshman Brian Walker has a 2.95 GAA in seven starts while junior Marco Palmieri has fashioned a 0.94 GAA in his four starts. Both of the Bears' wins have come at home, while Cal is 0-4-1 away from Berkeley. Stanford holds a 19-7-5 advantage in the all-time series, including a 2-0-1 mark over the last three years.

Runnin' with the Pac

The 2000 campaign is the first for men's soccer in the Pacific-10 Conference, as five schools make the transition from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation: California, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA and Washington.

2000 Pacific-10 Conference Coaches' Poll(Points 5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses)
1.	UCLA (4)	242t.	Stanford	182t.	Washington (1)	184.	California	95.	Oregon State	6

The Kiwi Connection

The 2000 Stanford team continues the recent tradition of a strong New Zealand connection on the Farm, with freshman Mike Wilson (Plimmerton, New Zealand) joining senior Ryan Nelsen (Christchurch, New Zealand) as Cardinal Kiwis.