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#SundayGoals men's soccer preview: No. 12 Stanford at No. 24 UCLA

Oct 23, 2016
UCLA Athetlics/Stanford Athletics

Who: No. 12 Stanford at No. 24 UCLA

When: Sunday, October 23rd at 5 P.M. PT/6 P.M. MT on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area, and Pac-12 Los Angeles

On the call: Christian Miles and Cobi Jones  

On the home side: No. 24 UCLA (7-5-1, 3-3 in Pac-12 play)

The No. 24 Bruins look to bounce back from a 2-1 upset against unranked Cal last Thursday evening. UCLA, who sat at second in the conference with points before the Thursday evening match, is now tied for second place with Washington. The Pac 12 teams are tied at nine points overall.

This match marks the seventh time the Bruins have faced a Top 20 opponent this season. They have recorded wins over then No. 1 Akron, No.13 UCSB and No. 13 San Diego State, and a tie against No. 4 Maryland. The UCLA Bruins fell to the Stanford Cardinal 3-0 exactly a week ago. However, the UCLA-Stanford series gives the Bruins an overall edge at 44-8-10. However, they are 0-2-1 in the last three meetings with the Card.

Bruins to watch:

Jackson Yueill: The sophomore midfielder remains in the top-20 nationally in assists per game (0.50) and total assists (6). Yueill also has one goal for the Bruins on the season.

Brian Iloski: The redshirt junior midfielder is first on the team in goals (4) and points (11). His most recent goal came against Cal on October 13. He scored the first in a game that seemed destined go into OT until the Bruins scored in the last minute. Take a look at his first touch..

 

 

Felix Vobejda: The senior midfielder has two goals on the season, both noted in Pac-12 conference play. Vobejda scored Thursday’s match opening goal against Cal. The Bruin also has an assist and five total points for the season.

On the visiting side: No. 12 Stanford (8-2-4, 5-0-1 in Pac-12 play)

The No. 12 Stanford Cardinal remain unbeaten through its first six conference games and sit atop the conference with 16 points and four games left to play. The Cardinal played to a 1-1 draw with San Diego State on Thursday, their first conference tie of 2016. The Cardinal has outscored its opponents 21-5 this season and have only lost one game on the road. The defending Pac-12 and National Champions had never started its conference schedule better than 2-0 dating back to 1973.

Cardinal to watch:

Corey Baird: The junior forwarded was named the Conference Player of the Week. Baird had a hand in three of the Cardinal six goals last weekend against UCLA and San Diego State. Baird now has 20 assists in 55 career matches, which is ninth in Stanford program history. More recently, Baird recorded the assist for Stanford’s late 1-1 draw with San Diego State on Thursday.

Foster Langsdorf: The junior continues to lead his team in goals (8) and points (17). More impressively, Langsdorf has never lost to UCLA since beginning his career at Stanford in 2014.

Andrew Epstein: The junior keeper has appeared in all 14 games for the Cardinal and is having one of the best seasons by a Stanford goalkeeper in school history. Just last Sunday against the Bruins, Epstein made three saves and recorded the 19th clean sheet of his career to move into third all-time at Stanford.

 

 

Stories to watch

After facing each other in the first half of Pac-12 play JUST last Sunday, these two top 25 teams will face off in their second #SundayGoals in two weeks. Last week, Stanford scored three times in less than 15 minutes into the second half at The Farm. Stanford leads the Pac-12 in points and is currently on top of UCLA by seven. Last Sunday was Stanford’s largest win ever over UCLA. The Bruins have yet to beat the Cardinal since Nov. 1 of 2013. UCLA Head coach, Jorge Salcedo, believes the Bruins didn’t put away their chances last Sunday and the 3-0 score wasn’t a good measure of their performance. Fortunately for the Bruins, this #SundayGoals is a brand new 90 minutes where either team could take the lead at any moment. A top-25 match is always exciting, but when it’s a battle within the conference there is even more at stake.