Five questions going into the 2025 Stanford Men’s Soccer season
With action at Cagan just around the corner, here are five questions going into the 2025 Stanford men’s soccer season.
READ: Breaking down the 2025 Stanford men’s soccer schedule
#1. Can the Cardinal get their offense going? This is probably the biggest question I have coming into the season for the Cardinal. Their defense was fantastic last season, giving up 1.0 goals per match on average (20 goals in 20 matches). However, they only scored 31 goals on the season for a meager 1.55 goals per match. That made for a lot of tight matches.
Stanford ranked 25th in the nation with 6.05 corner kicks per match, but where they really struggled was their ability to turn those opportunities into goals. Ball movement needs to improve as they were just 56th in assists per match at 1.65. If Stanford wants to threaten to reach the Final Four, they’re gonna have to produce a lot more offensively than they did a season ago. One guy who could help them take a positive step in that direction is sophomore midfielder Alex Chow. He’s quick with the ball and should be feeling a lot more settled now that he has a full season under his belt.
#2. Can Rowan Schnebly become a top ten goalkeeper? Redshirt junior Rowan Schnebly took over as the starting goalkeeper last season, averaging .982 goals allowed per match, which ranked 32nd in the nation. Averaging less than 1.0 goals allowed per match is really strong and as a redshirt freshman Schnebly did this as well, averaging .88 goals allowed per match in 15 starts as he was in a bit of a starting goalkeeper battle with Jack Morris (1.14 goals allowed).
.88 goals allowed per match is on track for being top 25 in the nation, so Schnebly saw a bit of a dip once he took over the full-time starting job. Something to look for this season is can he take that next step and threaten to become a top ten goalkeeper in the nation? If wants to do that, he’s going to have to get his goals allowed per match under .800. That would be huge. Especially given the potential shakiness of the offense.
#3. Can Zach Bohane become a legit number one scoring option? If Stanford’s offense is going to improve this season, senior midfielder Zach Bohane is going to have to be major part of making that happen. He led the team with five goals last season while also leading the team with three game-winning goals and 21 shots on goal (+7). He’s got all the tools to blossom into a legit number one scoring option and be one of the top offensive threats in the nation. If he can do that, Stanford could have a national championship type of team.
#4. Can Stanford avoid a sluggish second half of the regular season? Two seasons ago, Stanford got ranked as high as number one in the nation after notching August wins over No.8 Creighton and No. 17 Georgetown. They later slowed down a bit towards the end of the season with a loss to San Francisco, a tie against Cal, and a loss to UCLA. They then bounced back in the NCAA tournament by reaching the Elite Eight and getting a huge win over Marshall in the Round of 16.
Last year, it was a similar story though even more pronounced. They had a huge win at No. 2 Clemson in early September and a win one week later over No. 23 Notre Dame. That was part of a six-match winning streak and a 10-match streak without losing a match. Things were looking good.
But then, they lost a match to San Francisco in mid-October, followed that up with a draw against Pacific at home, and then lost to North Carolina and Cal to end the regular season. They were able to bounce back with a win over Notre Dame in the ACC tournament and still made the NCAA tournament, where they defeated UC Santa Barbara in the second round via penalty kicks before losing in penalty kicks the next round against No. 1 Ohio State to end their season.
If Stanford wants to have a better season this year, it would be huge if they could avoid a dip of play in the second half of the season. You want to enter the NCAA tournament with some momentum and be playing your best soccer of the season.
#5. How will Stanford perform against the Nor Cal competition? Stanford has seven matches against Northern California competition (not including exhibitions): Sacramento State (August 21st), at Santa Clara (August 28th), UC Davis (August 31st), Saint Mary’s (September 9th), at San Jose State (September 17th), San Francisco (October 22nd), and at Cal (November 1st). While only the Cal match is for ACC play, there is still a rivalry that these schools all have with each other. It’ll be fun to see how Stanford does against the other Nor Cal schools and whether or not they can assert their dominance as the best team in the region. A record of 6-0-1 would be totally fine, though 7-0 should of course be the goal.
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