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No. 13 Cardinal Open Season against Bulldogs
Women's soccer boasts 16 returning letterwinners.
Aug. 24, 1999
Season Outlook Stanford returns 16 letterwinners from a team which last season finished the season 11-7-2 and reached an eighth NCAA tournament appearance in the 1990s. The Cardinal will rely on a strong, veteran defense; one of the top frontlines in the Pac-10 and a mix of returning players and freshman in the midfield.
Defensive Strength One of the keys of success of this year's team will be the strength of the Cardinal defense. Anchoring the Cardinal defense will be seniors Ronnie Fair (Los Altos, Calif.) and Jennifer O'Sullivan (Brooksville, Fla.), and junior goalkeeper Carly Smolak (Lake Oswego, Ore.). Fair, who played for the U.S. Under-21 Women's National Team in the Nordic Cup, scored six goals and added two assists in 20-games for the Cardinal last season. Not only will Fair be a fixture on defense but she has the ability to be effective in the midfield. To go along with her stellar defensive play last year, O'Sullivan scored her first collegiate goal for the Cardinal in an 8-1 victory over Northern Illinois. Smolak was in the net for 18-games a season ago, compiling a 1.15 goals against average and 68 saves while shutting-out seven teams.
Forward Attack Led by seniors Kelly Adamson (Simi Valley, Calif.) and Catherine Bernard (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) the Cardinal posses one of the strongest frontlines in the Pac-10. Coming-off knee surgery that kept her out of action for two seasons, Adamson played in 19 games for Stanford in 1998, scoring five goals and dishing-out one assist. Bernard, used primarily off the bench a year ago, had three goals and an assist, including a game winning goal versus Arizona. Freshman Marcia Wallis (Los Gatos, Calif.) gives head coach Steve Swanson added depth up front. Wallis is a veteran of international competition, logging time with the U.S. Under-18 and Under-21 National Teams and was a member of the 1999 gold medal Pan American Team.
Midfield Mixture Junior Shauna Itri (Hunington Beach, Calif.), along with sophomores Martha West (Fort Worth, Tex.) and Erin Maurer (St. Louis, Mo.) will likely mix with a strong freshman class to help solidify the middle of the field. Itri, West and Maurer all played in 18 or more games last season, combining for 13 goals and eight assists. The freshman trio of Kelsey Carlson (Citrus Heights, Calif.), Becky Myers (St. Charles, Calif.) and Callie Withers (Los Altos Hills, Calif.), part of Stanford's nationally-rated recruiting class, each received Parade All-American honors in high school.
1999 Season Opener
The Cardinal will open the season on The Farm against a first-time opponent in Fresno State. The Bulldogs finished the 1998 season with an 8-10-4 overall record and 2-3-1 record in the Pacific Division of the Western Athletic Conference. Junior Jill Pearson has led Fresno State in points the past two seasons, tallying 11 points (3g, 5a) as a sophomore and 24 points (11g, 2a) as a freshman... Under coach Steve Swanson, Stanford is 3-0 in the opening match of the season, defeating Hawaii (1-0) in 1996, Texas (2-1) in 1997 and San Francisco (1-0) in 1998.
Top Recruiting Class
The 1999 Cardinal team boasts one of the strongest freshman classes in the program's history and is ranked as the top recruiting class by Soccer America. Three past members of the Under-18 Women's National Team, Allyson Marquand (Irvine, Calif.), Becky Myers (St. Charles, Ill.) and Marcia Wallis (Los Gatos, Calif.), headline the class of 2003. Two other recruits, Kelsey Carlson (Citrus Heights, Calif.) and Callie Withers (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) are both in the national pool which contributes players to the national team. The final member of the class, Katherine Harrington (Fort Worth, Texas), was a finalist for the prestigious Davey O'Brien Award, given to the top high school male or female athlete in Texas.
International Experience
Senior Ronnie Fair and freshman Marcia Wallis and Becky Myers each represented the United States in international competition this past summer. Fair was a member of the Under-21 Women's National Team that captured the Nordic Cup in Iceland. The U.S. defense, which Fair was an intergal part of, gave up just one goal in the four game tournament. Wallis and Myers took part in the Pan Am Games as a member of the Under-18 Women's National Team in Winnipeg, Canada. In six games, Wallis tallied 16 points (6g, 4a) while Myers compiled two assists as Team USA captured the gold medal.
Fair Earns All-America Honors
Stanford defender/midfielder Ronnie Fair heads into the 1999 season as a member of the Soccer America Preseason All-America Second Team. This is the first time in Fair's career that she has been selected to any of the national All-American teams. In her three year collegiate career, Fair has tallied 26 points by scoring 10 goals and compiling six assists.
Protecting The Net
After two stellar seasons in the net for Stanford, junior Carly Smolak is now a fixture on the Cardinal season and career records lists. In 1998, Smolak was ranked in all five season goalkeeping categories: minutes played (1647, 6th), saves (68, t-7th), shutouts (7, t-9th), goals allowed (21, 10th), and goals against average (1.150, 9th). On the career list, Smolak has played 2577 minutes (4th), shutout 11 teams (5th) and compiled a 1.118 goals against average (6th).
Cardinal In The Rankings
After finishing the 1998 season out of top 25, the Cardinal will open 1999 ranked in three national polls. The Cardinal received its highest ranking from Soccer America at No. 13, followed by the Soccerbuzz, an on-line women's soccer publication, at No. 18. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America ranked Stanford just out of the Top 20 at No. 21.
Stanford Among Nation's Best
By compiling a 134-38-8 (.767) record over the past eight seasons, Stanford women's soccer ranks sixth in the nation in total wins and seventh in winning percentage.
Head Coach Steve Swanson
Steve Swanson, in his fourth season on The Farm, has a 34-23-3 record at Stanford. In eight seasons as a head coach, Swanson has a 89-58-10 career record and three conference titles. Last season was the second time Swanson guided the Cardinal to the NCAA Tournament. Before taking over the Stanford women's soccer program, Swanson was the head coach at Dartmouth from 1990-95, where he earned two Ivy League Championships and guided the team to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1993 and 1994. Swanson is a 1984 graduate of Michigan State University and has played professionally in both the United States and Canada.
Strength of Schedule
The Cardinal, No. 21 in the NSCAA preseason rankings, will face tough competition as four of their opponents are ranked higher than No. 20. The Cardinal will face second-ranked Santa Clara and 18th-ranked Virginia on the road before returning to The Farm to face eighth-ranked Nebraska in the Stanford Nike Invitational. In Pac-10 play, Stanford will host 16th-ranked UCLA and 24th-ranked Southern Cal.
1998 Season Review
The Stanford women's soccer team (11-7-2, 5-4-0 Pac-10) ended the 1998 season with a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in the 1990s. The Cardinal went into the postseason with a four-game winning streak, defeating Washington State (1-0 ot), Washington (1-0), Oregon State (4-0) and Oregon (4-0) to close out the regular season. Stanford lost at BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 6-1, to close out the season. Stanford began the season with three straight victories and a tie with nationally-ranked Dartmouth, to bring the Cardinal to a 12-game unbeaten streak, dating back to 1997. Entering the Pac-10 season, the Cardinal was 6-2-1, but opened the conference with four losses in five games. Everything came together for Stanford in the end behind seniors Tracye Lawyer and Kelly Adamson as the two combined for five of Stanford's 11 goals in the final six games of the season. Adamson was the lone goal scorer at Washington State and she posted two goals and one assist in the final two games, including the game winner against Oregon. Overall, Stanford held opponents scoreless on eight occasions, due in large part to the Cardinal defenders and goalkeeper Carly Smolak.
1999 Preseason Rankings
NSCAA
Rank School Points
1. North Carolina 199
2. Santa Clara 190
3. Portland 173
4t. Connecticut 170
Florida 170
6. Penn State 167
7. Notre Dame 159
8. Nebraska 144
9. Dartmouth 121
10. William & Mary 110
11. Hartford 108
12. Clemson 105
13. San Diego State 99
14. BYU 89
15. Michigan 72
16. UCLA 68
17. Baylor 67
18. Virginia 63
19. Vanderbilt 62
20. Northwestern 58
21. Stanford 43
22. Georgia 38
23. Wake Forest 34
24. Southern Cal 29
25. Harvard 15
Soccer America
Rank School 1998 Record
1. Santa Clara 22-1-1
2. North Carolina 25-1-0
3. Notre Dame 21-3-1
4. Portland 19-3-2
5. Connecticut 21-2-2
6. Nebraska 17-4-1
7. Florida 26-1-0
8. Penn State 21-4-1
9. Hartford 17-5-0
10. Clemson 16-7-0
11. Dartmouth 16-2-2
12. San Diego State 19-3-1
13. Stanford 11-7-2
14. Virginia 13-6-3
15. William & Mary 17-3-2
16. Michigan 14-7-1
17. Vanderbilt 17-6-0
18. Northwestern 16-5-0
19. Baylor 15-5-1
20. BYU 20-5-0
Stanford's Record When In 1998:
Leading at Half: 5-0-0
Trailing at Half 0-4-1
Tied at Half 6-3-1
Scored First 11-2-0
Overtime Games 0-3-2
More Shots 10-3-1
Fewer Shots 1-3-1
Equal Shots 0-1-0
More Saves 0-2-1
Fewer Saves 9-4-1
Equal Saves 2-1-0
More Corner Kicks 10-3-1
Fewer Corner Kicks 1-4-1
Equal Corner Kicks 0-0-0
1998 Pac-10 Standings
Place School Record
1. USC 7-2-0
UCLA 7-2-0
California 7-2-0
4. Washington 6-3-0
5. Stanford 5-4-0
6. Washington State 4-4-1
7. Arizona State 4-5-0
8. Oregon 3-6-0
9. Oregon State 1-8-0
10. Arizona 0-8-1
1998 Team Leaders
Player Points
1. Tracye Lawyer 24
2. Ronnie Fair 14
3. Erin Mauer 13
4. Kelly Adamson 11
5. Christy Arnold 9
Player Goals
1. Tracye Lawyer 11
2. Ronnie Fair 6
3. Erin Mauer 5
4. Kelly Adamson 5
5. Christy Arnold 5
Player Shots
1. Tracye Lawyer 74
2. Kelly Adamson 49
3. Ronnie Fair 37
4. Erin Mauer 26
5. Martha West 18
Player Saves
1. Carly Smolak 68
2. Erin Bryla 9