Heading toward the determination of the winner of the 2013-14 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, gostanford.com will provide a progression of each of Stanford’s 19 consecutive victories. Here is the 12th, in 2005-06:
Directors' Cup No. 12 (2005-06) | 2005-06 Season In Photos
MANY STANFORD VARSITY programs had their roots as club teams and grew from there. Women’s lacrosse is one such success story.
Its beginnings go back to the 1970s, and Stanford adopted lacrosse as a varsity sport in 1995. Immediately, Stanford established itself as a regional power. From 1998-2011, the Cardinal won either conference regular season or tournament titles.
However, throughout that time, Stanford had to battle on another front, for the respect of East Coast coaches and the NCAA selection committee. Because there was no automatic berth for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation or its predecessors, Stanford was left out of the NCAA tournament every year – until 2006.
With the goalkeeping of Laura Shane and the scoring of Megan Burker – Stanford’s first All-Americans – the Cardinal earned its first NCAA tournament berth. The Cardinal lost to powerhouse Northwestern, 17-9, in the first round, but it was a watershed season nonetheless and the program has continued to grow in stature ever since.
Stanford continued its record winning streak in the Directors' Cup competition. The Cardinal won its 12th consecutive award, presented annually to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country.
The Cardinal completed the year with 1,197.375 points, surpassing runner-up UCLA by 126. Stanford won national championships in women's cross country and women’s tennis and was runner-up in women's indoor track and field, and men's water polo. The Cardinal placed 11 additional teams in the top 10.
Stanford teams placing in the top 10 were women's water polo (3rd), men's gymnastics (3rd), men's swimming (3rd), women's basketball (5th), women's swimming (5th), men's tennis (5th), men's cross country (6th), fencing (men's) (7th), baseball (9th), women's lacrosse (9th), and softball (9th). The Cardinal recorded points in nine men's sports and the maximum of 10 women's sports. However, Stanford did not receive points for women's soccer, lacrosse or rowing as the Cardinal already scored in the Directors' Cup maximum of 10 women's sports. Stanford averaged 60 points per sport.
For Stanford women’s basketball, the era of stars had returned. The Jennifer Azzi years brought two NCAA championships to Stanford in the early 1990s. However, it wasn’t until Nicole Powell’s arrival in 2000 that the superstar line began to grow, leading to Candice Wiggins, Jayne Appel, and Nnemkadi and Chiney Ogwumike.
Wiggins was a sophomore in 2005-06 when she averaged a collegiate high 21.8 points and made 90 three-pointers. She earned Pac-10 Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive year, and led Stanford to a 26-8 record and back into the Elite Eight.
Wiggins was four when her father, former major leaguer Alan, died of AIDS. At that time, that was a subject that was not discussed. But as an adult, Wiggins helped lift the veil off the disease through a partnership with Until There’s A Cure, a non-profit organization that raises awareness and funds to combat AIDS.
Wiggins, an impactful individual on and off the court, would go on to set Stanford and Pac-10 career records with 2,629 points.
Stanford tennis player Alice Barnes was named winner of the Stanford Athletic Board’s Al Masters Award, honoring the Stanford athlete attaining the highest standards of athletic performance, leadership and academic achievement.
Barnes, a native of England, was a four-time All-American and helped Stanford to its third consecutive NCAA team title. Barnes twice was named to the ITA National Doubles Team of the Year award, this time with Anne Yelsey. The team went 42-4 during the season.
In Stanford’s 4-1 championship victory at home over Miami, Barnes and Yelsey rallied from a 7-3 deficit to win 9-7 to clinch the doubles point for the Cardinal.
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More highlights from 2005-06:
• Sophomore Arianna Lambie won the Pac-10 and NCAA West Region titles before leading the Cardinal women’s cross country team to its third NCAA team title and first under new coach Peter Tegen.
• The Cardinal synchronized swimming team won its fourth U.S. Collegiate title, including its second in a row, under coach Heather Olson.
• Sara Lowe won the U.S. Collegiate solo competition and teamed with Courtenay Stewart to win the duet title. Stewart also won the figures for the Cardinal synchro team.
• The Stanford men’s gymnastics team got NCAA titles from David Sender in the vault and Dylan Carney on the horizontal bar.
• The Cardinal Invitational was renamed the Payton Jordan Invitational to honor the longtime Stanford track and field coach. The meet has become one of the biggest distance-running showcase events in the country.
The Final Count:
1) Stanford, 1,197.375
2) UCLA, 1,071.375
3) Texas, 966
4) North Carolina, 952.75
5) Florida, 913
Stanford’s Top Scoring Teams:
1 (tie), Women’s cross country, women’s tennis, each 100 points; 3, women’s track and field, 90; 4, men’s swimming and diving, 85; 5, women’s swimming and diving, 75.
Directors' Cup No. 1: 1994-95
Directors' Cup No. 2: 1995-96
Directors' Cup No. 3: 1996-97
Directors' Cup No. 4: 1997-98
Directors' Cup No. 5: 1998-99
Directors' Cup No. 6: 1999-2000
Directors' Cup No. 7: 2000-01
Directors' Cup No. 8: 2001-02
Directors' Cup No. 9: 2002-03
Directors' Cup No. 10: 2003-04
Directors' Cup No. 11: 2004-05