Big Game fever has hit Stanford’s campus and not just for the football team. At 7 p.m. on Saturday, Stanford men’s soccer takes on hated rival Cal in its final game of the regular season. While most of the student body is heading home, the team plans to defend its home field in the final game of Pacific-10 Conference play.

Senior forward Dan Shapiro felt assured that the team will rally, despite the fact that the Bears have already won the Pac-10 outright.

“It’s never tough to get up for a game against Cal,” Shapiro said. “Even though we probably won’t make the playoffs and they have already clinched the league title, both teams will play as if this game means everything. I also think we match up well with Cal, especially on our home field.”

Stanford (6-6-5, 3-4-2 Pac-10) lost last weekend’s road games at Oregon State and Washington, which will likely exclude them from postseason play. No. 20 Cal (11-4-2, 6-2-1 Pac-10) had better luck, beating the Huskies 1-0 before tying OSU 0-0.

Although the Cardinal lost its first meeting with the Bears 1-0 on Oct. 20, Stanford’s tough defense kept Cal’s leading scorers — senior Javier Ayala-Hill (3 goals, 5 assists) and freshman Andrew Wiedeman (6 goals, 4 assists) — off of the stat sheet as Cal’s only goal came off the foot of junior Pat Marion. Coach Bret Simon hopes that a similar effort will lead to better results on Saturday.

“Keeping Javier Ayala-Hill and Andrew Wiedeman under control is easier said than done,” he said. “Each played a good game at Berkeley . . . earlier in the fall even though neither scored a goal. We certainly will pay attention to them and try to limit their success.”

Defender Scott Bolkan went further, noting Stanford’s confidence that the team will do more than just keep up with the Bears.

“Despite our records, the team stats show we are very well-matched,” Bolkan said. “I think we believe we actually have a better team than they do, which is why it’s so important that we go out and prove this to everyone.”

The squads’ statistics do indeed indicate a close match-up as the teams are tied with 22 goals apiece this season and rank first and second in number of goals allowed in the Pac-10. Because Stanford and Cal play similar styles, Simon knows that the Cardinal will need to work especially hard to get on the board.

“I do expect the game will be very even,” Simon said. “I think the game will have a good offensive flow. But each team has quality goalkeepers and strong defenders, so it won’t be easy to score.”

Bolkan agreed that just creating opportunities won’t be enough; the Card struggled to finish such chances this weekend, out-shooting Washington and Oregon State but ultimately losing both matches.

“I think we’ll definitely put a lot of pressure on them early,” Bolkan commented. “We always play well at home — we haven’t lost a Pac-10 game here yet — and I’m confident our offense will produce a lot of dangerous opportunities. From there, it’s only a matter of putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Beyond specific on-field goals, each Stanford player held one resounding focus: Beat Cal.

As an underclassman, sophomore Michael Strickland hopes to secure a win for the outgoing seniors.

“We are looking to win and pummel our rivals,” Strickland said. “We would love to win for the seniors and send them out on a semi-high note. We work hard at practice and look to finish the season above 500.”

Bolkan, along with the other seniors, wants a win against Cal to finish his time at Stanford.

“The fact that this will be our last game as seniors raises the stakes so much more,” he said. “All of us would love to end our college careers with a win over Cal, and that will be a huge motivation going into the game. After that, we have our whole lives to be nostalgic.”