For Stanford wrestling, today has loomed on their schedule since the start of the season.

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Alvin Chow

No. 16 junior Josh Zupancic returns to action today for the Cardinal, as Kerry McCoy’s squad takes on Pac-10 rivals Oregon and Cal Poly in back-to-back conference duals.

The Cardinal (4-5, 2-1 Pacific-10 Conference) enter the most crucial stretch of their season today, as they take on Pac-10 rivals Cal Poly (4-3, 4-1) and Oregon (2-7, 1-5). All told, the Cardinal will be wrestling dual meets against six total Pac-10 opponents in the next two weeks. How well the team performs will play a big role in determining seeding in the conference tournament.

Despite the pressure that is building on head coach Kerry McCoy’s squad to perform its best yet, he says he’s never felt better about his team’s chances.

“I feel really good,” McCoy said. “Last week was probably our toughest week of training, and our best. We had a good performance [against Menlo College] and, so far in practice, the guys have looked even better this week.”

Perhaps even better news for the Cardinal comes on the injury front, as No. 16 junior Josh Zupancic at 157 pounds and sophomore Jared Boyer at 197 pounds should both return to action today. Zupancic, especially, is a key starter for Stanford. He and No. 3 junior Tanner Gardner at 125 pounds represent the Cardinal’s only nationally ranked wrestlers. McCoy stressed that his team knows just how crucial these last few weeks of competition will be for the conference and NCAA tournaments at the end of February.

“Our full lineup should be ready to compete,” he said. “It’s important to just go out there these last three weeks and get ready for the end of the season — our guys know it’s important.”

Including last weekend’s exhibition victory over Menlo College, the Cardinal are riding a three-meet winning streak heading into today’s competition. Oregon and Cal Poly, on the other hand, have had more up-and-down seasons as of late.

“We really don’t know what to expect as far as lineups go,” McCoy said. “I do know that they’re both very tough teams. Cal Poly is always one of the conference’s top teams and Oregon is coming off of a season where they had two All-Americans and a national champion.”

The match-ups are particularly intriguing in that it doesn’t appear the Cardinal will be matching strength against strength. Both squads are strong in the 133, 197 and heavyweight weight-classes, and Oregon is also strong at 141 pounds. The Cardinal are still looking for consistency at most of those weights.

“On paper, I don’t necessarily know who the favorites are individually, but both those teams are expected to come in and beat us,” McCoy said. “Our guys just have to realize that and go out and defend our home gym. Even though we don’t get 10,000 people coming to our matches, being home is huge.”

The Cardinal have been strongest this season at 125 pounds, where Gardner has racked up a 27-3 record with nine pins, as well as in the four weight classes from 157 to 184 pounds, where Zupancic, senior Brian Perry, sophomore Luke Feist and true-freshman Zack Geisen have all been solid performers. Regardless of how Friday’s competition goes, everyone on the team should have a better idea of where he stands by Saturday.

“There are actually seven teams competing [today],” McCoy said. “So everyone’s kind of wrestling each other. The guys know it doesn’t matter who the competition is; they’re just getting ready for the end of the year.”

First up tonight for the Cardinal is Oregon at 5 p.m., followed by Cal Poly at 7 p.m. Both matches will be wrestled in Burnham Pavilion.