No. 4 Stanford men’s soccer (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) opens its home slate with a matchup against UC Irvine (0-2-1, 0-0 Big West). The two teams last met in the first round of the 2018 postseason, when the Cardinal used two second-half goals to streak past the Anteaters.

The first of those two goals came from the penalty spot off the foot of fifth-year center back Tanner Beason. After six goals last year, Beason already has two this year as he makes his case for a MAC Hermann Trophy award, for which he is on the watch list.

Already, six Cardinal have tallied goals this season after only ten made the stat sheet in 2018.

Stanford leads the all-time series 9-1 dating to the first meeting in 1993. That one loss, however, came in the 2014 NCAA tournament. That defeat came on an Irvine goal scored in overtime of the second round match.

From then on, Stanford would go unbeaten in its next 17 postseason matches, claiming three national championships on its path. That streak ended in the postseason last year, when Akron staved off a Cardinal comeback to win 3-2.

In its most recent game, Stanford avenged that loss with a victory over then-No. 1 Akron (0-3, 0-0 Mid American).

Stanford will be without its goalkeeper in the match, as redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Thomas is away with the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team in preparation for a friendly with Japan.

Irvine’s two losses have come to ranked opponents, 0-2 to No. 11 Saint Mary’s (3-0, 0-0 WCC) and 0-1 to No. 6 Georgetown (3-0, 0-0 Big East). The Anteaters have also shown an ability to play with Pac-12 opposition, tying Cal (2-0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) 1-1 in Berkeley.

Cagan Stadium welcomes the Cardinal and Anteaters for a 7 p.m. PT kickoff on Monday.

Contact Daniel Martinez-Krams at danielmk ‘at’ stanford.edu.