Men’s soccer starts Pac-10 play this weekend

Coming off of a three-game winning streak, the Washington men’s soccer team (5-3-0) is looking to continue its success as conference play begins this weekend.

“This is the way you go in with some momentum,” said Washington coach Dean Wurzberger. “We’ve won all three of our home games and that’s how you start conference, with some momentum, with some confidence. We’re right on schedule to do that.”

Tonight at Husky Soccer Field, the Huskies will take on Stanford (2-4-1), which has lost three straight matches coming into this game, its Pac-10 opener. In addition to their three-game at-home winning streak this season, the Huskies also hold a three-game winning streak against Stanford. Though the all-time series with Stanford shows Washington’s dominance, 22-14-2, the last loss to the Cardinal came come when the team played in Seattle in 2006.

Washington will definitely have to utilize its strengths against the Bay Area schools this weekend because, even if Friday night’s match goes well, Sunday’s match against No. 10 Cal will prove to be a challenge.

Although the Husky defense is made up of veteran players, including goalkeepers Rylan Hawkins and Stephen Fung, the strength of the team is the offense. Even though the team’s scoring average is 2.12 goals per game, it has tallied three or more goals on three separate occasions.

The Husky attack, led by freshmen Brent Richards and Dylan Tucker-Gangnes, will have its work cut out for it as the Golden Bears’ backline will be no easy force to break through.

“We have got to have a defensive block that can spring our attack,” said Wurzberger. “We’ve got to go get goals off of them.”

California is the two-time defending Pac-10 champion and holds the best record in the conference heading into this match at 5-1-2.

Though Washington is also the leader in the all-time series against Cal, the Golden Bears’ soccer program has dramatically improved over the last few years, keeping Washington winless in the last five meetings between the teams.

“We’re looking at two very tough teams [this] weekend,” said Wurzberger. “We’re going to have to come up with a very good game plan for both of those teams.”

This weekend’s matches are the last of a five-game homestand for Washington. The team will hit the road to Corvallis next week to take on OSU.

Reach reporter Sheena Nguyen at sports@dailyuw.com.