2017 Season In Review

Stanford (23-3, 5-1 MPSF)
Statistics
Stanford Wins Its Sixth

NCAA CHAMPIONSMaggie Steffens scored the game winner with nine seconds left and No. 2 Stanford won the program's sixth NCAA championship with an 8-7 victory over No. 1 UCLA on May 14 in Indianapolis. The championship was the Cardinal's sixth overall and fifth in the past seven seasons. The win was also the 113th NCAA team title overall for the department, which tied Stanford with UCLA for the most all-time. Stanford, the only team to appear in all 17 NCAA championships since its inception in 2001, has racked up a record of 36-11 postseason record. Steffens had a hat trick for Stanford in the title game, her third of the weekend, and was named the tournament's MVP for the second time. Makenzie Fischer joined her on the all-tournament first team and Stone, Jamie Neushul and Jordan Raney were named to the second team.

NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships

SIMPLY THE BESTMaggie Steffens was named ACWPC Player of the Year and John Tanner collected his fifth ACWPC Coach of the Year honor in 2017. The Cardinal has boasted the country's national player of the year at the conclusion of six of the past seven seasons. Steffens won in 2015, Annika Dries did so in 2011 and 2014, Kiley Neushul claimed the award in 2012 and Melissa Seidemann was the top vote-getter in 2013. Brenda Villa was Stanford's first winner in 2001. Jackie Frank followed by nabbing the honor in both 2002 and 2003. Stanford has swept both coach and player of the year accolades in each season of a championship during its recent title run. Tanner previously was tabbed as the best at his craft in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

ALL-AMERICANSSteffens headlined a group of six Stanford women's water polo players that claimed spots on various ACWPC All-America teams, more than any other school in the country. Steffens, the Cardinal's first four-time, first-team All-American, was joined on the first team by senior Jamie Neushul. Freshman Makenzie Fischer and senior Gabby Stone landed on the second team while senior Dani Jackovich and junior Jordan Raney earned honorable mention accolades.

ACADEMIC RECORDSFor the second consecutive season, fifteen Stanford women's water polo players were named to the All-Academic list by the ACWPC. Stanford's 15 honorees tied last year's school record. The Cardinal has had at least 10 players earn ACWPC All-Academic distinction each of the past nine seasons. As a team Stanford posted a 3.42 GPA, the ninth-best mark in the country, highest among NCAA Championship participants and the best mark in the MPSF.

Stanford's 2017 ACWPC All-Academic Selections

Stanford also had a school-record 13 players earn 2017 MPSF All-Academic accolades. The Cardinal has had at least 10 league academic honorees for each of the past nine seasons. Stanford's 13 all-academic awardees led the MPSF and the Cardinal has had the most in the conference for eight consecutive years.

Stanford's 2017 MPSF All-Academic Selections

MPSF TOURNAMENTStanford earned an at-large berth into the field following its second-place finish at the MPSF Tournament in Los Angeles. A runner-up MPSF Tournament finish isn't an indicator of NCAA success, at least for the Cardinal. Despite winning five of the past seven national championships, 2014 was the only season in the past 11 in which Stanford won a conference crown.

CLASS OF THE CONFERENCEMaggie 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. Jamie Neushul and Gabby Stone joined Steffens on the All-MPSF first team, 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, who also won in 2015, became the fifth player in MPSF history to win the conference's highest honor more than once. No one 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).

STEFFENS' SENIOR SEASONIt was a banner year for Maggie Steffens. In addition to being named ACWPC and MPSF Player of the Year, the senior also was named a Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal Winner and became the first Stanford women's water polo player to receive academic All-America recognition from CoSIDA when she was named to the Academic All-America At-Large second team. She earned her bachelor's from Stanford in science, technology and society with a concentration in innovations and organizations and will be on campus next year to pursue her master's in management science and engineering. Steffens led Stanford with a career-high 65 goals this season, tied for the fifth-most in Stanford single-season history, and was third in the MPSF in goals per game (2.50). She scored in a team-high 23 games and had a personal-best 15 hat tricks as part of her 17 multi-goal performances. Steffens finished her career third in program history and 20th in MPSF history in goals scored (229). In four seasons on The Farm, Steffens and the Cardinal went 102-9 overall and 23-1 in conference play. She finished her career with a goals per game average of 2.06 and was best when it mattered most, scoring 30 times in 12 career NCAA Tournament games (2.50 goals per game).

FRESHMAN FISCHERA four-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week, Makenzie Fischer was second on the team with 54 goals, including a Stanford-high 18 multi-goal efforts, and fifth in the league in goals per game (2.08). Her goal total was the highest for a Stanford freshman since 2013, when Steffens had 60 in her first collegiate season. Fischer, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, finished the season with 14 multi-goal efforts in her final 19 games and in 10 outings against top-five opponents, tied for the team lead with 20 goals. She tied for third at the NCAA championship with six goals and was named to the All-NCAA Tournament first team in addition to spots on the All-MPSF second team and MPSF All-Newcomer team. Fischer was a 2016 Olympic gold medalist alongside younger sister Aria, who will be a freshman on The Farm next fall. Their father, Erich, was a two-time men's water polo All-American at Stanford and 1992 Olympian and their mother, Leslie, played for the Cardinal women's water polo team when it was a club sport.

STONE STRONG IN THE CAGEGabby Stone allowed 104 goals and posted a 5.40 goals against average while playing 77 quarters (19.25 games) this season. She made 158 saves, an average of 8.21 per game, and finished third in the MPSF in goals against average and fifth in saves per game. Stone made four of her 10 saves in the fourth quarter of the NCAA championship against UCLA and was named to the All-NCAA Tournament second team at the event's conclusion. An All-MPSF first team selection, four of Stone's five games this year with double-digit saves came against top-5 opponents. She finished third in Stanford history with 559 total saves (records since 2001) and posted a career goals against average of 5.29.

SEEING THE STATSStanford was third in the MPSF in goals per game (13.35), behind USC (14.52) and UCLA (14.42), and third in goals allowed per game (5.00), with UCLA (4.65) and USC (4.70) in the top two spots. Individually, Maggie Steffens was third in goals per game (2.50) and Makenzie Fischer was fifth (2.08) making Stanford the only school in the league with a pair of players averaging over two goals per game. Jamie Neushul tied for 17th (1.46) and Dani Jackovich and Jordan Raney tied for 23rd (1.12).

RETURNERS AND ADDITIONSDenied in its bid for the program's third consecutive national championship last season, Stanford had an experienced roster with a wealth of firepower as it reclaimed the crown in 2017. The Cardinal returned seven of its nine 20-goal scorers from a year ago, including All-Americans Jamie Neushul, Jordan Raney, Kat Klass and Dani Jackovich, along with All-American goalkeeper Julia Hermann. Added to that group were a pair of Olympians in Maggie Steffens and Makenzie Fischer. Steffens returned to The Farm after collecting MVP honors in Rio and captaining the United States to its second straight Olympic gold. Joining her was the freshman Fischer, who deferred her enrollment at Stanford one year and logged seven goals for Team USA at the Olympics. Goalkeeper Gabby Stone also came back for her senior season with the Cardinal after taking off the 2016 campaign to train with the United States Women's Senior National Team.