Goals have been hard to come by in the preseason for Stanford men’s soccer, but the Cardinal is picking up the pace at the right time. After losing three of their first five, the Stanford men have tallied a tie and a win in their last two contests.

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Junior forward Dan Shapiro started all 18 games for the Cardinal last season. He has 10 shots this season but has yet a score a goal -- a challenge the team as a whole seems to face early this season. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6158
John Shen

Junior forward Dan Shapiro started all 18 games for the Cardinal last season. He has 10 shots this season but has yet a score a goal -- a challenge the team as a whole seems to face early this season.

While the offense was slow starting up, scoring its first goals in a 2-1 win over Army two weeks into the season, the defense has been tough, earning a pair of ties and yielding only seven goals in as many games.

No. 6 Santa Clara beat Stanford 1-0 to start the preseason and No. 10 USF scored a two-goal victory over the Cardinal two days later. Stanford battled Princeton to a scoreless tie before finally scoring two against Army with senior Michael Brown and sophomore Tunji Munabi finding the back of the net.

The Cardinal lost a heartbreaker at home, falling to San Jose State 2-1 on a goal in the final eight seconds of the game. Junior Evan Morgan scored to put Stanford ahead, but the Spartans fought back for the equalizer and the buzzer-beater.

Morgan scored his second goal to take the lead against Cal State Fullerton, but the Titans fought back and held on for the 1-1 tie.

At the Cal Legacy Tournament in Berkeley, Stanford notched its second win, a two-goal affair, over Sacramento State. Freshman Michael Strickland and junior Ryan Oblak scored in the first half and freshman goalkeeper John Moore defended his net and picked up his first career shutout.

Morgan has provided half of the offensive output for the Cardinal while Moore and redshirt freshman Brent Stewart have combined for 16 saves and a 1.00 goals against average.

Four seniors-Brown, Galen Thompson, Brett Shimizu and Andrew Kartunen-head up the Stanford roster this season, with nine returning starters and a freshman class of four recruits and two redshirts. The Cardinal is a more experienced squad than last year and will look to improve on their 4-11-3 overall finish and 1-7-2 Pacific-10 Conference mark from 2005.

The Cardinal will host San Diego State Friday and kick off Pacific-10 Conference competition Sunday afternoon with No. 19 UCLA.