Stanford men’s soccer keeping focused on team goals

Tim Jones would have preferred Stanford win a few more men’s soccer games during his freshman season, but you won’t find him complaining. The progress since then gives the senior defender hope for a successful end to his college career.

Jones worked himself into the starting lineup eight games into his first year on The Farm and has been there ever since. He’s working on 46 consecutive starts, the last 36 in a winning environment.

Expectations are higher than ever these days as Jones joins six other seniors and seven juniors to give the Cardinal the look of seasoned veterans as it prepares to open its season at San Jose State on Sunday at 7 p.m.

“We have a lot of starters coming back, including the entire midfield, and a strong group of freshmen,” Jones said. “We have high hopes. The team is more cohesive than ever and we’re coming together. This year we’ve got great strikers and we emphasize playing team defense”

It also helps that Stanford returns nine starters (10 if you include Evan Morgan, who missed last season with a knee injury) from a squad that finished second in the Pac-10 last year.

Now only is Morgan an added bonus, Ryan Imamura was granted a medical redshirt due to a broken foot suffered while at Cornell and returns for a sixth season.

Overall, the Cardinal can claim 18 players who have at least some college experience.

“There were a lot of us in the past that didn’t have that experience,” Jones said. “This year there’s a big difference. We definitely talk about what we want to accomplish and we have high hopes for this team. We’ve set a goal to win the Pac-10, which we think can be done after finishing second last year. At the national level, we’re aiming for a NCAA appearance and to go as far as possible.”

Defense remains the main strength at Stanford. The Cardinal (4-4-2 in the Pac-10, 7-6-5 last year) allowed 16 goals, an average of 0.83 per game. Stanford outshot its opponents by a healthy 244-102 margin. The Cardinal needs to find the net a little more often.

“Over the past couple of years we’ve played in a lot of 0-0 games where one thing here or there has changed the flow of the game,” Jones said. “We have to work on finishing more than ever. Having Evan Morgan back will be a big help there. We could be dangerous, especially with the experience of the midfield.”

The midfield attack that could include returning starters Thiago Sa Freire, Tom Montgomery, Brant Bishop, T.J. Novak and Bobby Warsaw provides Stanford with a solid foundation.

Jones, Imamura and returning goalkeeper John Moore solidify the back line along with returning starter Ryan Thomas.

Morgan returns to anchor a forward line that may be short in experience but long in talent. Sophomore Daniel Leon played quite a bit in the front line and junior Alex Kozachenko saw some action there.

“It’s been a process to get all of us on the same page with the same goal,” Imamura said. “Last year we thought we could do something. This year we have something like nine returning starters. There’s definitely a comfort level. We know each other’s personalities and how we fit together. It’s like having a three-week head start.”

Seniors Michael Alexander and Enrique Allen and junior Michael Strickland give Stanford depth in the midfield, while juniors Josh Nesbit and Brent Stewart do the same in the net.

Thomas, Leon and Warsaw lead a sophomore class ready to do more for the Cardinal this season. They include Kevin Huang, Shaun Culver, Cameron Lamming, and Dominique Yahyvai.

Freshmen from a group that includes Clayton Holz, Alexander Binnie, Ben Grafentin, Tommy Ryan, Taylor Amman, and Garrett Gunther will also get a chance to contribute right away.

“We’re shooting as high as possible; to go as far as we can,” Imamura said. “The Pac-10 is a great test. It’s one of the top two conferences in the nation as far as talent and competition. Cal, UCLA … it’s a great testing ground, where your weaknesses are exposed and you find your strengths. We want to play against the best, and we want a tough preseason. It’s a way to improve and go forward.”

Neither Jones nor Imamura expected to attend Stanford out of high school. Imamura, in fact, began his career at Cornell before transferring into the Cardinal program after initiating contact with the school.

Jones figured he stay close to his home in Georgia, and had all but made up his mind to play for an east coast school.

“I was scouted by college coaches at national tournaments,” Jones said. “My regional team came out to a tournament in Southern California, and that’s where I first heard about Stanford. I was looking mostly in the southeast and had pretty much decided it was between St. John’s and Wake Forest. I didn’t plan to go too far from home. Then Stanford came into the picture and when I took my official visit, I fell in love with the school. I just felt in synch and then there’s the academic option. It was the best of both worlds. It was fairly easy to make the decision.”

Jones had some insight into the recruiting process, having watched his older sister (by a year) go through the process. Megan Jones, an all-conference player, graduated from Kentucky this past spring.

“I was a little more prepared for it because of her,” Jones said. “I started working on things when I was a sophomore, and she was a junior.”

Jones and Imamura are happy to be at Stanford, however circuitous their routes.

“I’m ready to play,” Imamura said. “There are great possibilities for this team. There’s untapped potential.”