STANFORD, Calif. – Laura Liedle was named one of 30 women’s soccer Senior CLASS Award candidates, as announced by the organization Thursday.
A four-year starter at outside-back for Stanford, Liedle is a reliable defender and one of the most active players on the field for the Cardinal. She has started 71-of-72 games in her collegiate career.
Stanford has held a 55-10-5 record during her first three seasons with the team and appeared in two of the past three College Cups.
Liedle, one of two Pac-12 representatives on the list, has excelled in the classroom and pursued learning opportunities beyond her classes. She currently spends time as a research assistant for the Ashley Lab, which focuses on the application of genomics to medicine and leads the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. Liedle works on the ELITE athlete study, focused on characterizing genetic determinants of human performance by extracting DNA from elite athlete's saliva from around the world.
Liedle is an active member in the Stanford community and regularly volunteers individually and with her team at events. She is a coach for Stanford GOALs, a seven-year community-based research study. The program is a family-based treatment of obesity for low-income Latino and African-American children and their families. The goal is to conduct a hands-on intervention to improve overall health of families.
Liedle also volunteers with the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative (BAWSI), helping run after-school events for elementary school children to help them develop active and healthy lifestyles.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
The acronym “CLASS” stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, and focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The group of candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2015 NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Cup® championships in December.
Women's Soccer Candidates
Laura Liedle, Stanford
Kristi Abbate, George Washington
Elise Krieghoff, Cal Poly
Tara Ballay, Rider
Sierra Bonham, North Dakota
Livi Logan-Wood, Saint Louis
Ashley Campbell, Dayton
Blake Martin, Houston Baptist
Caroline Casey, William & Mary
Madison Mercado, Oklahoma State
Jess Coates, Nicholls State
Paige Nielsen, North Carolina
Janae Cousineau, Texas A&M
Madison Oyer, Ball State
Kelly Culicerto, Marshall
Brianne Reed, Rutgers
Caroline Dwyer, Pennsylvania
Cari Roccaro, Notre Dame
Claire Emslie, Florida Atlantic
Isabella Schmid, Florida State
Cali Farquharson, Arizona State
Erica Skroski, Rutgers
Jackie Hall, Buffalo
Abby Smith, Texas
Amanda Hill, West Virginia
Allie Stephenson, Oklahoma State
Katie Holder, Army West Point
Nicole Waters, Dayton
Jacie Jermier, Marquette
Rebecca Wilson, Cal State Fullerton