Breaking down the 2025 Stanford Men’s Soccer schedule
The Stanford men’s soccer season is just around the corner, which means it is time for me to breakdown the 2025 schedule for the Cardinal. The Cardinal are coming off a season in which they went 9-5-6 overall and 3-2-3 in the ACC, losing in the 3rd round of the NCAA tournament to Ohio State in penalty kicks. They are currently ranked #13 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. Ok, let’s dive in!
GoStanford.com: 2025 Men’s Soccer Schedule
GoStanford.com: Stanford signs nine
Before they begin their regular season, the Cardinal will have three home exhibitions:
On Sunday, August 10th they’ll play San Francisco at 3:00 PM PT; on Tuesday, August 12th they’ll play Cal State Bakersfield at 3:00 PM PT; and on Saturday, August 16th, they’ll play Cal Poly at 7:00 PM PT. While these exhibitions will have no bearing on the standings or rankings, they’re still important as they’ll give head coach Jeremy Gunn an opportunity to experiment with different lineups while also giving the players a chance to get their feet wet before the season formally begins.
Stanford will officially kickoff their 2025 season on Thursday, August 21st with a home match against Sacramento State at 3:00 PM PT. That will be part of a doubleheader with women’s soccer (San Diego State at 7:00 PM PT). The Hornets went 6-10-2 overall and 3-6 in the Big West last season. Stanford obviously will look to pick up an easy win in this one.
Stanford will then welcome No. 4 Denver to Cagan Stadium on Sunday, August 24th at 7:00 PM PT. This will be part of a doubleheader with women’s soccer (St. Mary’s at 1:00 PM PT). Denver is coming off an incredible season in which they went 15-3-5 overall and 7-1 in the Summit League. They made a deep run in the NCAA tournament, losing to Vermont in penalty kicks in the semifinals. They had a 1-0 win at Stanford last year and will look to get a win at Cagan for the second straight season. This will be a great test for Stanford early on in the season.
Stanford will then have a road match at Santa Clara on Thursday, August 28th at 7:30 PM PT. The Broncos are coming off a season in which they went 5-8-3 overall and 2-4-2 in the WCC. Back in 2023, Santa Clara had a 2-0 loss to Stanford on The Farm, so they’ll be looking to get some payback. Santa Clara and Stanford is a bit of an underrated rivalry since Santa Clara no longer has a football program. But in all the sports that they do face each other in (which is a lot), it’s always a battle every time these two schools face each other. With this being on the road, Stanford better be ready.
Stanford will then return home to face UC Davis on Sunday, August 31st at 7:00 PM PT. The Aggies are coming off a season in which they went 10-6-6 overall and 4-3-2 in the Big West. Last year, they had a 1-0 loss at Stanford, who was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time. Stanford better remember that and not take the Aggies lightly.
With the start of a new month is the beginning of ACC play as Stanford will hit the road to face Louisville on Friday, September 5th at 8:00 AM PT. Louisville is coming off a season in which they went 6-7-4 overall and 0-5-3 in the ACC. Stanford and Louisville did not face each other last year, so this will the first meeting between the two schools in ACC men’s soccer.
All five of Louisville’s losses in ACC play were by one goal, so they easily could have picked up a couple of wins at least. Stanford can’t sleep on these guys. And speaking of sleep, Stanford better be wide awake with that early start time.
Stanford will then come home for a match against Saint Mary’s on Tuesday, September 8th. The Gaels went 2-9-6 overall last season and 1-4-3 in the WCC. Stanford romped them 4-1 last season on The Farm, so on paper, this is a match Stanford ought to win with little trouble.
Following their date with the Gaels, the Cardinal will head back on the road to face Syracuse on Saturday, September 13th at 4:00 PM PT in another ACC match. The Orange went 7-7-3 overall and 2-4-2 in the ACC last season. This will be the first match between the two schools in ACC men’s soccer, so it’s really hard to know how this one will go given the lack of history. That said, on paper Stanford should be favored given they are ranked and Syracuse is not.
Stanford will remain on the road for the next match as they will face San Jose State on Wednesday, September 17th at 7:00 PM PT. The Spartans went 6-8-7 overall last season and 3-3-3 in the WAC. San Jose State played Stanford tough last season, losing 1-2 on The Farm. The season prior, Stanford won 2-0 on the road. While the Cardinal will be expected to keep their winning streak going against the Spartans, they have to know that the Spartans, another Bay Area rival, will put up a fierce fight.
Stanford will then return home for an ACC match against Virginia Tech on Sunday, September 21st at 7:00 PM PT. The Hokies went 7-6-4 overall and 1-5-2 in the ACC last season. Stanford did not face Virginia Tech last season, making it the first ACC match between the two schools in men’s soccer.
Stanford will stay home to welcome Oregon State to The Farm on Wednesday, September 24th at 7:00 PM PT. This is of course an old Pac-12 matchup. Oregon State moving to the WCC for the time being before returning to the Pac-12 along with Washington State next season once the league fills up again with new members. Oregon State went 10-5-3 overall and 5-2-1 in the WCC last season, playing well and reaching the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round. The last time they played Stanford was back in 2023, winning 2-1 on The Farm. This is a match that Stanford better be ready for. The Beavers will be eager to get a win against an old Pac-12 foe and send a bit of a message that they can still play despite getting left in the dust of conference realignment.
Stanford will stay at home to face Boston College on Sunday, September 28th at 7:00 PM PT as part of a doubleheader with women’s soccer (Syracuse at 1:00 PM PT). The Eagles are coming off a season in which they went 6-5-6 overall and 1-4-3 in the ACC. Stanford did not face Boston College last season, making this their first ACC meeting. Stanford should be heavily favored in this match, especially with it being at home.
Stanford will then hit the road to face No. 6 Wake Forest on Saturday, October 4th at 4:00 PM PT. Wake Forest went 12-5-7 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACC last season. Wake Forest made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament last year, reaching the Elite Eight. Like Stanford, their season also ended against No. 1 Ohio State. Stanford and Wake Forest did not play each other last season, which means this will be the first meeting between the two schools in ACC play. This one will be a real test for Stanford and pending on how their season is going could have huge implications for their NCAA tournament seeding.
Stanford will get a week off before returning home to face No. 7 Pittsburgh at home on Saturday, October 11that 6:00 PM PT. The Panthers went 14-6 last season and 6-2 in the ACC, amazingly avoiding any ties. The Panters fell to eventual national champion Vermont 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. This will be the first ACC meeting between Stanford and Pittsburgh, so the stakes will be high. Especially given that Stanford will have faced a tough Wake Forest opponent in their previous match.
Stanford will then host San Francisco for a home match on Wednesday, October 22nd at 6:00 PM PT. The Dons went 7-6-4 overall and 5-1-2 in the WCC last season. Like all Bay Area matches, this one will be intense. Stanford will look to get some payback in this one as San Francisco defeated them 2-0 up in The City last season.
Stanford will stay at home to welcome No. 5 SMU to The Farm for their ACC home finale on Sunday, October 26th at 6:00 PM PT. The Mustangs went 12-3-6 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACC last season. Stanford and SMU tied 2-2 in Dallas last season, so this should be a scrappy match. Given how late it is in the season, this match projects to be huge as ACC tournament play will be just around the corner.
Stanford will then finish out the regular season with a road match at Cal on Saturday, November 1st. The time for that match is TBA. Both Stanford and Cal football have home games on that day. Stanford vs. Pittsburgh and Cal vs. Virginia. The kickoff time of the Cal football game will likely dictate the kickoff time of the soccer match as Cal won’t want to have any athletic event happening while football is going on.
If I had to guess, Cal football having a night game and Cal soccer having a day match would make the most sense. But we’ll just have to see how that shakes out. Of course, Stanford football could play their game the same time as the soccer match given that the soccer match is in Berkeley.
As for the soccer match itself, regardless of kickoff time, it should be intense given the rivalry between Stanford and Cal. Cal got the better of Stanford last year on The Farm by a final score of 1-0, so they’ll look to defend their home field this go around. Cal went 8-8-2 overall and 2-4-2 in the ACC, so that win over Stanford really was big for them. This truly will be a match where you’ll just have to throw the records out. If Stanford can find a way to pick up a win, no matter how it happens, that would be huge.
After that will come the ACC tournament and then the NCAA tournament. We’ll just have to see how the season goes for Stanford and where they end up in the standings. They’ve had a recent trend of having big wins early and then fading towards the end of the season, so they’ll hope to change that trend this season.
One thing that does pop out when looking at Stanford’s schedule is the fact that it starts off with a tough match against Denver early on and then they don’t face another preseason top 10 or even top 25 team until the month of October against Wake Forest. So, Stanford better rack up as many wins as they can during the months of August and September because come October/November, things get a lot tougher.
All around, this is another challenging and tough schedule for Stanford. The ACC is packed with good teams up and down the league and when you combine that with a match against Denver and some Bay Area rivals, you’re in for a battle every night. It should be fun to see how the Cardinal do this year in their second season in the ACC.
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