Cardinal Tabbed Best in the WestCardinal Tabbed Best in the West
Field Hockey

Cardinal Tabbed Best in the West

STANFORD, Calif. – For the second consecutive year, Stanford was picked to win the West Division of the America East conference in the annual preseason coaches poll, as announced by the organization Tuesday.

The Cardinal received three of four first-place votes in the West Division, leading the way with nine points (coaches cannot vote for their own team). Pacific received one first-place vote for seven points and California and UC Davis both collected four points.

On the start of the season head coach Tara Danielson stated, "The team is excited for the 2016 season and applying the hard work invested in the off-season. As a top three conference, we expect to face a competitive America East schedule, in addition to a challenging non-conference schedule that includes four top-10 teams from 2015 in our first five contests."

Albany, the 2014 and 2015 America East champion, was picked to win the East Division, followed by Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and UMass-Lowell. The Cardinal will not meet any of these teams until the America East tournament Nov. 3-6 in Stockton, Calif.

The Cardinal comes off a 2015 season that saw it advance to the NCAA tournament for the 14th time in program history after advancing to the semifinals in the America East tournament. In addition, the Cardinal also topped four ranked opponents, including No. 5 Duke, No. 14 Northwestern, No. 15 Iowa and No. 19 Maine. Stanford ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation for three consecutive weeks, while going 4-3 on the year against top-20 opponents.

Stanford has been busy in the off-season, with ten Cardinal competing nationally and internationally representing teams in the Young Women's National Championship, the U.S. Women's National Indoor Team, the U.S. U-21 Women's National Team, the Junior Pan-American Championship, as well as multiple junior national camps.

Stanford opens its 2016 campaign at home Friday, August 26 against 2015 NCAA semifinalist and 2014 and 2013 NCAA Champion, UConn. Game time is set for 4 p.m. PT on the Varsity Turf.
 
Cardinal in the off-season:
Jordan Barry

 
Caroline Beaudoin

  • Selected to the 2015-2016 U.S. Women's National Indoor Team

 
Kelsey Bing

 
Marissa Cicione

 
Casey Deeds

  • Competed in the U-21 National Team Trials in Lancaster, PA (2015)

 
Sarah Helgeson

 
Katie Keyser

 
Nina Randolph

  
Millie Stefanowicz

  • Selected to the 2015-2016 U.S. Women's National Indoor Team
  • Selected to the 2015 Young Women's National Championship