October 01, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Fernandez and Cardinal are getting their kicks

by Rick Eymer

The way the Stanford men's soccer team has been playing during its nonconference season, last year must seem like a distant memory. Now comes the big test.

Stanford (5-1-2) opens Pac-10 conference play today by hosting undefeated California at 7 p.m. The schedule doesn't get any easier - all five Pac-10 teams have winning records.

"It's a tough league," Stanford senior forward Darren Fernandez said. "California is a solid team. We have been playing against each other and in the same tournaments for three years now. We know all their ins and outs and they know ours. We're looking forward to starting the Pac-10 season."

There's a little bit more on the line this year. Stanford is coming off its first winless conference season in school history and would like nothing more than to get rid of that streak.

If the nonconference season is any indication, the Cardinal are on the right track. Stanford won just three matches last year, and put that to rest with wins in three of its first four matches.

"The first two games we were anxious, like 'what will happen?'" Fernandez said. "We had good results and that answered our questions. It was good to start with two tough teams."

The biggest difference is offensively, where Stanford has been more effective attacking the net. Fernandez leads the team with four goals and an assist. He's the team's leading active career scorer with 21 goals. Eight different players have recorded an assist.

The addition of a good freshmen class has also injected some life into the offense; two freshmen have already scored goals.

"We have been working on offense a lot more," Fernandez said. "We also have more depth this year because of the freshmen. Every one is playing a lot."

Fernandez, like many of his teammates, suffered through a sub-par 2003. For whatever reason, Stanford couldn't finish its attack.

"Last year was weird," Fernandez said. "We had a lot of talent but we couldn't put it together."

Fernandez is also looking ahead to playing UCLA, another one of Stanford's main rivals. The Bruins beat Stanford in the 2002 NCAA College Cup championship game.

"I've never beaten them since I have been at Stanford," he said. "We've had such close games that could have gone either way and that was tough. This year could be different."

Along with women's volleyball, tonight's men's soccer match is one of the first contests in the inaugural year of an annual all-sports competition between Stanford and California.

The two athletic programs will compete head-to-head in a year long competition for the Lexus Gauntlet. In the scoring system for the Gauntlet, the winner of each men's soccer match between California and Stanford earns five points, and a tie is worth 2.5 points toward the overall competition.

It will mark the 40th meeting between the two schools, with Stanford holding a 23-10-6 advantage in the all-time series. California has dominated the series as of late, posting a 3-0-1 record against the Cardinal over the last two seasons.

Fernandez was named to the Soccer America National Team of the Week last week, following his two-goal performance against UC Irvine. Three of Fernandez's four goals have been game-winners.

The Cardinal have out-scored their opponents 9-3 despite being out-shot 80-67.

Fernandez, who was raised in South Africa, attended a prep school in Connecticut on a soccer scholarship in anticipation of attending Yale.

"I was banking on going to Yale," Fernandez said. "I don't know why, but one day after training my coach pulled me over and asked me if I wanted to play soccer on the West Coast. I'd seen Stanford in the movies but I had never really heard of it.

"Over Thanksgiving I was visiting Las Vegas," Fernandez said. "A few of us decided to organize a recruiting trip to Stanford. I didn't like the snow and the weather here was great. I applied early and got it and stopped looking at any other school."

South Africa loves its sports, particularly rugby, cricket and soccer, and its not unusual to draw 80,000 fans to a soccer match. Fernandez's older brother, Rowen, plays in the professional league there. Darren wouldn't mind following in his brother's footsteps.

Following his brother's footsteps is what attracted Fernandez to soccer in the first place.

"The story my mom tells is when I was four, my brother started playing soccer," Fernandez said. He was the goalie. I didn't want to play. Then he set up to take a goal kick. He put the ball down and I run on the field and kicked it."

He hasn't stopped kicking yet.

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