Stanford University’s men’s soccer team is set to host the University of Denver in a top-15 matchup on Sunday, August 24, at Maloney Field at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. The No. 13 Cardinal will face the No. 4 Pioneers in what will be their eighth meeting all-time, with Stanford holding a 5-1-1 advantage in the series.
Both teams enter the match with identical records of 1-0-0 for the season. Last year, Denver secured a narrow 1-0 win over Stanford early in the season. Since 2015, both programs have been among the most successful nationally; Stanford ranks fifth in total wins with 127, while Denver follows closely with 124.
Stanford began its 2025 campaign with a decisive 5-1 victory over Sacramento State. Trevor Islam scored twice, Fletcher Bank opened scoring within two minutes of play, and Zach Bohane contributed both a goal and an assist. Jack Pymm also netted his first career goal for Stanford. The Cardinal outshot Sacramento State by a wide margin and notched their fourth consecutive win in a regular-season opener.
Islam’s two-goal performance marked back-to-back multi-goal games by Stanford players at Cagan Stadium; last season Noah Adnan achieved this feat during NCAA Tournament play against UC Santa Barbara.
In preseason exhibitions, Stanford went undefeated against San Francisco, Cal State Bakersfield, and Cal Poly, outscoring opponents by an aggregate of 5-1 and giving playing time to twenty-five squad members.
The Cardinal has historically performed well at home with an overall record of 318-128-74 since 1973 and a strong mark under head coach Jeremy Gunn at Cagan Stadium (94-23-28). In the previous season on home turf, they finished with six wins, three losses, and four draws.
Jeremy Gunn enters his thirteenth season as head coach at Stanford. He is one of four coaches to have won NCAA titles in both Division I and II and has led Stanford to four College Cup finals since 2015. “One of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, head coach Jeremy Gunn has led Stanford to the College Cup final four times since 2015,” according to program notes.
Stanford starts this year ranked No. 13 nationally by United Soccer Coaches and No.10 by TopDrawerSoccer after finishing last season with nine wins, five losses, and six draws.
Returning players include eight veterans who started fifteen or more matches last year—among them leading scorers Zach Bohane and Shane De Flores—and goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly.
The incoming freshman class was rated as the second-best recruiting group nationally by TopDrawerSoccer—the highest ranking for Stanford since its class of 2019.
Senior midfielder Zach Bohane appears on multiple preseason watch lists after leading his team in goals (five), points (thirteen), shots (forty-nine), shots on goal (twenty-one), and game-winning goals (three) last year. “Zach Bohane was selected to a pair of preseason watch lists ahead of the 2025 campaign,” program officials noted.
Bohane was named to TopDrawerSoccer’s Preseason Best XI Second Team—his second straight such honor—and ranked seventeenth on their list of top college players for this season alongside teammate Rowan Schnebly (#77).
Last year saw twenty different Cardinal players register points—a higher tally than any recent season—with Bohane leading that group followed by De Flores and Jackson Kiil.
Statistically during the previous campaign, Stanford led its opponents across categories including goals scored (31–20), total shots (267–190), shots on target (106–56), assists (33–14), and corner kicks earned (121–83).
This marks only Stanford’s second year competing in Atlantic Coast Conference play; they were picked fifth in this year’s ACC preseason poll after recording three conference road victories—including one over then-No.2 Clemson—in their debut ACC campaign last fall.
Eight ACC programs are featured in national preseason rankings from United Soccer Coaches—including four inside the top ten—highlighting conference strength across men’s soccer competition.
Stanford is one of just two schools ever to win three consecutive NCAA men’s soccer championships (2015–17). It has made eleven straight NCAA tournament appearances under Coach Gunn—a run that includes seven College Cups and three national titles during that span.
Denver arrives following a trip to last year’s College Cup semifinals but lost several key contributors from its previous roster; however it returns five players who started fifteen or more games last season along with eleven who made at least one start overall. In its opening match this fall Denver defeated Washington while allowing only three shots on target defensively.
Sunday’s match against Denver begins at 7 p.m., broadcast live via ACC Network Extra.
