STANFORD, Calif. – Team USA will have heavy dose of Cardinal for the upcoming FINA World League Super Final in Kunshan, China. Seven of the 13 players named to the women's national team roster on Tuesday are from Stanford.
Six are alumnae or soon-to-be alumnae in Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul, Jordan Raney, Melissa Seidemann, Maggie Steffens and Gabby Stone and one is a current undergraduate in Aria Fischer. Three players from USC, two from UCLA and one from Princeton fill out the remaining spots on the squad.
The United States opens the tournament against Japan at 1:20 a.m. PT on Monday, May 28. The team will also face Canada and Russia in group play before the quarterfinal round begins on May 31.
Team USA, which is coming off a gold medal at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament earlier this spring in Auckland, New Zealand, has won the last four FINA World League Super Finals in addition to winning the event a record 11 times overall.
Jamie Neushul, Seidemann and Stone were on the roster for the United States' most recent FINA Intercontinental title in early April. Neushul averaged 2.50 goals per game in the six matches (15 total), including a United States tournament-high six in a 16-9 win over Japan on April 5. Seidemann accounted for a pair of her team's goals in the championship on April 7 and eight total in the tournament. Stone was the United States' primary keeper and made 37 saves.
Kiley Neushul led the U.S. with 13 goals in six games in last year's World League Super Final in Shanghai. Steffens added seven goals, Jamie Neushul, Raney and Seidemann each scored five and Aria Fischer scored four. Stone made 37 total saves in four appearances in the cage and posted a 4.50 goals against average. She played each of Team USA's elimination games and made 10 saves against Australia in the quarterfinals, 10 against Hungary in the semifinals and nine against Canada in the final.
Raney and Fischer just wrapped up their collegiate seasons at Stanford and finished as national runners-up with a 20-4 overall record. A senior, Raney was named to both the All-MPSF first team and All-NCAA Tournament first team in her final year on The Farm. She led Stanford in scoring with seven goals in three games at the NCAA championship in Los Angeles and finished her career with 95 career goals and a pair of national titles.
Fischer scored 35 goals in her debut season and was 13th in the MPSF averaging 1.46 per game. She scored in eight of Stanford's final nine contests, including five multi-goal efforts, and earned spots on the All-MPSF second team, the MPSF All-Newcomer team and the All-NCAA Tournament second team.