The Stanford women's soccer program hasn't lost an opening match since 2006, when it lost 2-1 to Utah. Since then, the Cardinal have gone 18-0-1, including a 7-0 victory over San Francisco in the 2025 opening match. In the midst of the streak, Stanford has won 15 straight season openers, with the 1-1 draw occurring back in 2010 against Boston College.
Stanford has also held its opponent scoreless in each of the past five season openers, including a 2-0 win at Cal Poly in 2021. On Sunday afternoon, they'll be back in San Luis Obispo for the opener, with kick-off scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The game will be on ESPN+.
After Stanford led the college game in goals scored last season with 96 — the second-most in program history (102 in 2019) — the biggest question facing the program will be where those goals will be coming from in 2026.
Stanford is now without its top two leading goal scorers from last season, with Jasmine Aikey (21 goals) and Andrea Kitahata (17) both having graduated.
Charlotte Kohler is a preseason All-ACC pick and scored 12 goals last season, so she figures to be more of a focal point this year with more opportunities available to her, while Y-Lan Nguyen comes into the year ranked as one of the top-10 players in the sport, according to Top Drawer Soccer.
Bella Winn is another name to keep an eye on after she was on the United Soccer Coaches Forwards to Watch list. This will be Winn's first season at Stanford after transferring in from UCLA, where she played her first two seasons. She won the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award in 2025 and started 16 games last season, scoring eight goals.
Rhiannon Stewart is another transfer to watch, coming in from Harvard. She could see some time as players depart to play in the U20 Women's World Cup, which begins in early September.
The Cardinal have also reached three consecutive College Cups for the fifth time in program history, and will be looking for yet another berth in the tournament this season. They come into the year as the No. 1 team nationally, so the odds would appear to be in their favor. Stanford is the only program to have reached the Cup in each of the last three seasons.
Stanford lost the College Cup final 1-0 to Florida State last season, but it was the program's seventh appearance in the Cup, and the second in the past three seasons.
The Cardinal have never dropped a match to Cal Poly, going 13-0.