STANFORD, Calif. - One of Stanford's most successful athletic campaigns in recent memory now includes an unprecedented sweep of the Capital One Cup, as announced Friday by Capital One®, an official NCAA Corporate Champion.
Highlighted by four NCAA championships and 17 top-10 sport finishes overall, Stanford became the first school to capture both the men's and women's Capital One Cup titles in the same season. The Capital One Cup is awarded each year to the nation's top men's and women's NCAA Division I athletics programs.
Along with the trophy, the programs that earn the No. 1 spot at the end of the spring season receive a combined $400,000 in student-athlete scholarships and are honored at The ESPYS on July 18. Scheduled to represent Stanford at next week's The ESPYS ceremony are head coach Paul Ratcliffe (women's soccer), Jordan DiBiasi (women's soccer), Tomas Hilliard-Arce (men's soccer) and Melissa Lord (women's tennis).
No school has ever won both. Until today.
— Stanford Athletics (@GoStanford) July 13, 2018
??: https://t.co/RIyRq749Jl#HomeOfChampions pic.twitter.com/gJkIx0mPOq
Stanford, which two weeks ago secured its 24th consecutive Learfield Sports Directors' Cup as the nation's most successful intercollegiate athletic department, has swept all three major awards in 2017-18 recognizing cumulative athletic excellence based on a variety of criteria. The Cardinal also extended one of the most remarkable streaks in college athletics, having now won at least one NCAA team championship for 42 consecutive years.
In 2017-18, Stanford claimed five national championships for the second consecutive academic year, adding an IRA women's lightweight rowing crown. Of Stanford's 142 total national championships, the Cardinal's 117 NCAA titles rank as the most all-time, with UCLA (116) next on the list.
"With great humility, we proudly accept the Capital One Cup for both our men's and women's programs, highlighting what has been such a memorable athletic campaign," said Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir. "The Capital One Cup achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our talented student-athletes representing a broad array of sports across the board. We look forward to celebrating this historic sweep in several ways over the coming months."
Stanford claimed its second Capital One Cup men's program title, totaling 95 points and finishing ahead of runner-up Alabama (80) and third-place Duke (73.5). The Cardinal, which won its only other men's Capital One Cup in 2015-16, surged to the top of the standings thanks to men's soccer securing its third straight NCAA crown. Also posting top-10 finishes were men's water polo, men's cross country, men's gymnastics, men's swimming and diving, men's tennis and men's outdoor track and field.
The Cardinal repeated as champions on the women's side, finishing with 175 points to hold off runner-up UCLA (133) and third-place Florida (105). It's the fifth all-time women's Capital One Cup victory for Stanford, which collected NCAA titles in women's soccer, women's swimming and diving and women's tennis. Joining those three programs as top-10 finishers were seven others: women's cross country, women's volleyball, women's indoor track and field, women's water polo, women's outdoor track and field, women's golf and women's rowing.
2017-18 Capital One Cup Top-10 Standings
| Men's Standings | Points | Women's Standings | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Stanford | 95 | 1. Stanford | 175 |
| 2. Alabama | 80 | 2. UCLA | 133 |
| 3. Duke | 73.5 | 3. Florida | 105 |
| 4. Ohio State | 71 | 4. Nebraska | 78 |
| 5. Florida | 69 | T5. Florida State | 72 |
| 6. Georgia | 67 | T5. USC | 72 |
| 7. Yale | 61 | 7. Notre Dame | 70 |
| T8. Michigan | 60 | 8. James Madison | 60 |
| T8. North Dakota State | 60 | 9. Penn State | 57 |
| T8. Oregon State | 60 | 10. Duke | 56.5 |
| T8. Villanova | 60 |
Each school earns points based on its teams' top-10 finishes in NCAA Division I championships and in final official coaches' polls across 21 women's and 20 men's sports.
"The 2017-18 college athletics season was a historic one headlined by many firsts," said Byron Daub, Senior Director of Brand Sponsorships at Capital One. "So many athletics programs won their first national championships across a variety of sports. Stanford University becoming the first athletics programs to secure first place in both the men's and women's races for the Capital One Cup put an exclamation point on what was a great year for student-athletes and collegiate sports. Capital One would like to congratulate Stanford and all competing schools for making our eighth Capital One Cup season one that will go down in history." Stanford began its championship haul in December, becoming the first school to capture both women's and men's soccer titles in the same season. The women won their second national title, 3-2 over UCLA, behind a historic offense that scored a single-season, school-record 91 goals, 30 more than the next closest team.
One weekend later the men cemented their dynasty when they became just the second program to win three straight NCAA titles with a 1-0 double-overtime victory against Indiana. The Cardinal did not allow a goal throughout the entire tournament for the second straight year and upped its NCAA-record postseason shutout streak to 12 - a stretch of 1,214 minutes and 20 seconds.
In March, the Cardinal's women's swimming and diving squad had 16 different All-Americans combine for 56 All-America honors, five American records, eight individual national championships and five relay titles to win its second consecutive NCAA championship with the highest point total in 13 years (593).
Two months later, 15th-seeded women's tennis rallied past top-seeded Vanderbilt in the final, 4-3, to secure its 20th national championship. Stanford closed the season on a 20-match win streak and equaled its own record from 2016 as the lowest-seeded team to win a title.
Bolstered by victories in both the lightweight eight and four, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) awarded the team points trophy to Stanford, giving the Cardinal its fourth consecutive women's lightweight rowing team championship.
About Capital One
Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Florida Citrus Bowl) in 2001. Since that time, Capital One has sponsored programs including the Capital One Mascot Challenge and Capital One Academic All-America Program. In 2010, it created the Capital One Cup to recognize the best men's and women's Division 1 College Athletics Programs in the country and awards a combined $400,000 in student-athlete scholarships. As an NCAA Corporate Champion, Capital One supports all 90 NCAA Championships. In 2014, Capital One became an official sponsor of the Capital One Orange Bowl and the College Football Playoff.
Check out the official release on this announcement. The full Capital One Cup final standings can be viewed here.