Stanford Men's Soccer Reloads with 12 New Faces For 2026

A pair of 1-0 losses closed out Stanford's 2025 season — first in the ACC tournament and then the NCAA tournament — but the men's soccer program is viewed highly entering the 2026 campaign. 

The Stanford men's soccer program was recently picked to place second in the ACC in a preseason coach's poll, sitting just behind No. 1 NC State, and slightly ahead of No. 3 Virginia, even though the Cavaliers earned more first-place votes. The Cardinal did not play either program in 2025, but defeated Virginia 1-0 and tied with NC State in back-to-back games in 2024. 

This season they'll get the chance to face each of them once more, with Virginia traveling to Cagan Stadium on Friday, September 25, and Stanford headed to Raleigh, North Carolina for a showdown with the Wolfpack on Saturday, October 24 in Stanford's second-to-last game of the regular season. 

The final game is against Cal at home on October 30. 

Last season Stanford finished 14-4-2 throughout the entire season, including those two postseason losses, one of which came against ACC rival SMU in the second round of the conference tournament. 

Leading goal scorer Trevor Islam is back after a six-goal and three-assist season, but Zach Bohane (5 goals, 3 assists), Fletcher Bank (4, 5), Alfonso Tenconi-Gradillas (5, 1), and Will Cleary (4, 3) were all right in line behind him in terms of points accumulated on the Stanford roster, and all four players have graduated. 

The Cardinal have added a total of 12 players ahead of the 2026 season, with 10 freshmen and two transfers. 

Junior midfielder TJ Kahoalii from Louisville and sophomore winger Tim Logan from Georgetown are the pair of incoming transfers. Logan is a dynamic attacking player, while Kahoalii has shown that he can compete in the ACC.

Calder Zirn is one of the incoming freshmen and he stands 6-foot-5, making him the tallest player the program has had since 6-foot-6 goalie James Swomley in 2023. 

Defender Hugo Berg was the No. 57 recruit in the country according to Top Drawer Soccer.

Midfielder/forward Yujin Kikuchi hails from Chiba, Japan and made his debut with the San Jose Earthquakes II on July 25, 2025 against Real Monarchs.

Defender Alex Ling competed with the Earthquakes from 2024-26 and was a three-year co-captain for the Quakes Academy.

Defender Maximo Nystrom hails from Oregon, so his MLS experience has come with the Portland Timbers, serving as a team captain for the U15, U17, and U18 academy teams. He was also the No. 82 recruit in the country according to Top Drawer. 

Senior Dylan Groeneveld was the Cardinal pick for the 2026 ACC Men's Soccer Preseason Watch List as well, and has been a workhorse for the program, starting all 19 matches and playing full time in 13 of them last season. 

In exhibition play, Stanford has opened the preseason with a 3-1 win over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday and a 1-0 victory over Sacramento State on Wednesday evening. They will have one more exhibition match against Cal Poly at home on Saturday before opening the season on Thursday, August 20 with a tough test against No. 21 Grand Canyon.