STANFORD, Calif. – Maggie Steffens was named MPSF Player of the Year for the second time to headline Stanford's five honorees when the conference announced its postseason awards on Tuesday morning.
Stanford led the way with three selections to the All-MPSF first team and Steffens was joined on that squad by senior teammates Jamie Neushul and Gabby Stone. Freshman Makenzie Fischer landed on both the All-MPSF second team and the MPSF All-Newcomer team and junior Jordan Raney was voted All-MPSF honorable mention.
Steffens picked up her second league player of the year award with today's announcement and became the fifth player in MPSF history to win the honor more than once. She was also chosen as the conference's best in 2015, her most recent collegiate season before she captained the United States to Olympic gold in Rio.
No one from the MPSF had won two league player of the year awards since UCLA's Kelly Rulon a decade ago (2007 and 2005). Other two-time winners are Stanford's Brenda Villa (2003 and 2001) and USC's Bernice Orwig (1999 and 1997) and Sofia Konoukh (2002 and 2001).
A Cardinal has now been named MPSF Player of the Year six times. In addition to Steffens and Villa, Annika Dries won in 2011 and Ellen Estes in 1998.
Steffens landed on the All-MPSF first team for the fourth time in her four years at Stanford. The senior leads the Cardinal with 55 goals this season, has scored in 20 games and has 14 multi-goal efforts. She is third in the MPSF in goals per game (2.39) and her 219 career goals are fourth in Stanford history.
Neushul, third on the Cardinal with 35 goals, earned first-team honors for the second consecutive season. She is tied for 16th in the conference in goals per game, averaging 1.52, has 11 multi-goal efforts and five hat tricks. Neushul was named MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week on Feb. 7 after she scored eight times to lead her team to a title at its home Stanford Invitational.
Stone played her way onto the All-MPSF first team for the first time in her best season as Stanford's full-time starter. She is third in the conference with a 4.91 goals against average and fifth in saves per game (8.36). In Stanford's eight games against top-five opponents, Stone has a 6.96 goals against average and three of her four performances this season with double-digit saves have come in those games.
Stone was voted MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week on April 4 after tying a career high with 15 saves against Cal and holding the Golden Bears to their lowest offensive output of the season. Her save total in that win tied for the most by any keeper in a conference game this season.
A four-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week, freshman Makenzie Fischer was named to both the All-MPSF second team and the MPSF All-Newcomer team after a standout debut season on The Farm. The 2016 Olympian is second on the Cardinal with 48 goals and fifth in the league in goals per game (2.09). Fischer has 12 multi-goal performances in Stanford's last 16 contests and in the Cardinal's eight games against top-5 opponents this season, its freshman leads the way with 18 goals (2.25 GPG). Her goal total is the highest for a Stanford freshman since 2013, when Steffens had 60 in her first collegiate season.
Junior Jordan Raney rounded out Stanford's awardees on the All-MPSF honorable mention squad. Raney is Stanford's fifth-leading scorer with a career-high 26 goals, including eight multi-goal performances and one four-score outing in the Cardinal's regular-season finale against San Jose State.
Next weekend in Indianapolis Stanford (20-3) will go in search of its fifth national title in the past seven seasons after earning an at-large berth to its 17th straight NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship. The No. 2 seeded Cardinal will begin its tournament on Friday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT against the winner of Pacific (20-8) and Pomona-Pitzer (17-18). Those two teams have an opening-round game in Stockton this Saturday.
