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
- Selected to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
- Helped lead the USA Gold team to the silver medal at the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
Caroline Beaudoin
- Selected to the 2015-2016 U.S. Women's National Indoor Team
Kelsey Bing
- Selected to the U-21 USWNT Junior World Cup Team (2016)
- Selected to the U.S. U-21 Women's National Team (2014-present)
- Starting goalkeeper for the 2016 Junior Pan-American Championship team that won silver
- Selected to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
- Helped lead the U-21 team to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
Marissa Cicione
- Selected to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
- Helped lead the USA Courage team to the bronze medal at the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
Casey Deeds
- Competed in the U-21 National Team Trials in Lancaster, PA (2015)
Sarah Helgeson
- Selected to the U.S. U-21 Women's National Team
- Selected to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
- Helped lead the U-21 team to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
Katie Keyser
- Selected to the 2016 Young Women's National Championship
- Selected to the USA U-21 Junior National Camp
Nina Randolph
- Selected to the USA U-19 Junior National Camp
Millie Stefanowicz
- Selected to the 2015-2016 U.S. Women's National Indoor Team
- Selected to the 2015 Young Women's National Championship