An old axiom of American football claims that defense wins championships, but if last season offers any clue, the Cardinal men’s soccer team will need more than just a solid D to take home a title in 2008.

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Jeff Keacher

Stanford men’s soccer opened its season yesterday with an exhibition loss against Sonoma State, 2-1. The Cardinal will need to shore up its attack if it hopes to succeed in the tough Pac-10 this season, after scoring just 23 goals in 18 regular season games in 2007.

Last year, the Cardinal squad was extremely successful at keeping the ball out of the net — both on defense and, unfortunately for Stanford, on offense as well While the Cardinal men held opponents to an average of 0.83 goals per game — they allowed only 16 goals all season — they only managed to score 23 goals in 18 games.

“We will have to be better offensively,” rising senior TJ Novak said. “Last year we tied a lot of games 0-0, so we are hoping to change that.”

Indeed, the Cardinal finished three games last season at 0-0, and saw an astounding five contests go to double overtime. In fact, other than a 5-1 exhibition victory over Sacramento State and a 4-0 win over Oregon State, the Cardinal couldn’t score more than three goals in a game last year. And they only managed three goals in two other games, making for a total of 16 games out of a full 20-game schedule (including two exhibition matches) in which the Cardinal scored just two goals or fewer.

If they fail to improve on last year’s 7-6-5 record, though, it certainly won’t be for lack of effort. The Stanford men have been doing double workouts almost ever day, with a training session in the morning followed by video and technique work in the afternoons.

Members of the team stressed the importance of playing well early in the season in order to build momentum going into Pac-10 competition. Conference play begins on Oct. 3 in Seattle, against the Huskies, with five more games against Pac-10 opponents coming in the next 30 days.

The Cardinal saw its first action on Wednesday night when the squad hosted Sonoma State in an exhibition match, with Stanford losing 2-1. Rising sophomore Bobby Warshaw slipped past a pair of defenders to score Stanford’s lone goal in the 47th minute of play.

The Cardinal will hope to get an offensive boost from six incoming freshmen, four of whom could make an immediate impact on the squad’s offensive attack. The incoming class includes midfielders Clayton Holz and Adoni Levine, forward Cullen Wilson and midfielder/forward Ben Grafentin. All look to make a difference for the Cardinal this season, and the squad’s veterans are already impressed with their new teammates.

“[The freshmen] have come in and made a great contribution already,” said Novak, who will be making the switch from defender to midfield in an effort to help increase the offense’s potency. “They seem to be willing to do anything to help the team get better, and it has been awesome getting to know them better.”

The team’s defense should be very good again, as last year’s starting defenders Ryan Imamura, Tim Jones and goalkeeper John Moore all return. So the question this year is an obvious one: Can they score? The 2008-09 Stanford men’s soccer team is out to prove that they can.

The Cardinal will host its final exhibition on Saturday against Sacramento State. Stanford defeated the Hornets 5-1 in exhibition play last season, good for the Cardinal’s best offensive output of the year. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Following the conclusion of the exhibition season, Stanford will start its 2008 season on the road with a game at San Jose State on Aug. 31 before taking on SMU at the Cal Invitational, Sept. 5 in Berkeley.