Stanford will play eight ACC matches before competing in its first ever conference tournament with the ACC Conference Tournament beginning on Wednesday November 6.
“We are very excited to join the ACC in the Fall,” said the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer Jeremy Gunn. “We have enjoyed amazing rivalries with teams from the ACC over the years so we have some familiarity with our new opponents; only now we will be facing each other in the regular season rather than in the NCAA tournament in one-off games.”
Stanford will face multiple top-ranked teams from a year ago, including 2023 NCAA Champion Clemson and 2023 NCAA runner up Notre Dame.
“For a number of years, the Pac-12 and the ACC would go back and forth with holding the number one and two spots in conference RPIs, and so with the additions of California, SMU and ourselves which can expect to be playing in the highest competitive environment in college soccer,” added Gunn. ” Participating in a conference tournament will also be another new, exciting challenge too. We will miss our old Pac-12 rivalries but we are sure to be part of even more exciting high caliber matches.”
The Cardinal will host its first preseason exhibition on Friday, August 9 as San Francisco comes to The Farm at 4 p.m. Stanford will also host Sacramento State and Cal Poly for preseason friendlies before the regular season begins on August 22 at Cagan Stadium against San Jose State.
Stanford opens the season with four straight home matches, hosting Denver (August 25), CSU Fullerton (August 29), and Saint Mary’s (September 1) following the game against the Spartans. The Cardinal then will have its first road test, facing Clemson in the first ACC match in program history (September 6).
Stanford will also host UC Riverside (September 10), UC Davis (September 18), Duke (September 22), NC State (October 4), Pacific (October 21), North Carolina (October 27), and the regular season finale against California (November 1).
Following the regular season, Stanford will compete in the ACC Tournament, beginning with the first round on Wednesday, November 6. The tournament championship game is set to take place on November 16, with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
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