Cardinal Faces Road TestsCardinal Faces Road Tests
Al Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Soccer

Cardinal Faces Road Tests

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 1 Stanford continues nonconference play this week when it visits BYU on Thursday and Minnesota on Sunday.

The Cardinal (2-0-0) opened the season with a 5-0 win at UC Davis on Aug. 17 followed by a 5-1 triumph of San Francisco on Friday night at Liard Q. Cagan Stadium. Thursday's contest, which kicks off at 6 p.m. PT, will air on BYUTV. Sunday's 10 a.m. kickoff will air on Big-10 Network with live statistics for both games available at GoStanford.com.

Thursday's Opponent, BYU
• Stanford owns a 5-3-0 (.625) all-time record against BYU, most recently defeating the Cougars in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. Jordan DiBiasi scored both goals, including the game winner in the 75th minute with the game tied, 1-1.
• The Cougars (1-1-1) opened the season with a 1-0 win at Cal State Fullerton on Aug. 17, followed by a 2-2 draw at Nebraska on Aug. 20 and a 2-0 loss at Texas A&M on Aug. 24.
• Mikayla Colohan, Madie Gates and Lizzy Braby have one goal apiece, while goalkeepers Cassidy Smith and Sabrina Davis have combined for a 0.87 goals-against average.

Sunday's Opponent, Minnesota
• Stanford defeated Minnesota, 4-1, in its only ever contest against the Golden Gophers on Sept. 9, 2016. Jordan DiBiasi and Andi Sullivan each scored twice for the Cardinal, and Jane Campbell made two saves to earn the win.
• The Golden Gophers (3-1-0) started the season with wins against South Dakota State, Utah and Utah State before dropping a 2-0 decision against No. 22 Washington State on Sunday. Five players have scored one goal apiece, and April Bockin leads the team with two assists.

Stanford in the Polls
• Stanford retained its place atop the United Soccer Coaches top-25 poll, garnering 32 of 35 first-place votes – UCLA, North Carolina, Florida State and Penn State round out the top five.
• Nine of Stanford's regular season opponents ranked or received votes – UCLA (2), North Carolina (3), USC (7), Santa Clara (9), Washington State (18), Minnesota (RV), California (RV), Notre Dame (RV) and Washington (RV).

Streaks on the Line
• Stanford has won 24 games in a row, a streak dating to Aug. 25, 2017, when the Cardinal suffered a 3-2 loss at No. 8 Florida for its only loss of the season. Since then, Stanford has outscored opponents 90-7.
• The longest win streak in program history stands at 25 (2009; 2011-12), while the longest unbeaten streak stands at 28 (2011-12).
• Also dating to Aug. 25, 2017, is Stanford's streak of not allowing a goal from open play, which extended to 2,168:59 minutes on Friday. All seven goals conceded by Stanford during that time have come off of a corner kick, penalty kick or free kick.
• Stanford has trailed for a total of 8:59 minutes over the course of 2017-18.

September to Remember
• Stanford hosts seven matches in the month of September, including ranked opponents Notre Dame, North Carolina, Santa Clara, UCLA and USC.
• The Cardinal starts the home stand Sept. 7 when it hosts Notre Dame, followed by a matinee against No. 3 North Carolina on Sept. 9. Stanford wraps up nonconference play the following week when Cal Poly (Sept. 13) and No. 9 Santa Clara (Sept. 16) come to town, hosting Arizona on Sept. 21 to open league action. Stanford wraps up the month when it hosts No. 2 UCLA (Sept. 27) and No. 7 USC (Sept. 30).

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A Look Back
• The Cardinal improved to 20-0-0, all-time, against San Francisco on Friday with a 5-1 win at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. Making her collegiate debut, Sophia Smith scored once and assisted another. Catarina Macario added two goals, Jordan DiBiasi scored with two assists and Civana Kuhlmann upped her team-leading point total to five with one goal and one assist.
• Stanford began its 2018 campaign with a convincing 5-0 win at UC Davis on Friday. Michelle Xiao, Tierna Davidson, Alana Cook and Civana Kuhlmann scored and Alison Jahansouz handled the only shot she faced all day to earn the shutout.
• The Cardinal earned a 4-0 exhibition win over Fresno State on Aug. 10 with goals from Catarina Macario, Sam Tran, Xiao and Jordan DiBiasi. Lauren Rood did not face a single shot as Stanford outshot the Bulldogs 27-0.

Davidson's Duty
• Junior defender Tierna Davidson will miss the road trip while on duty with the United States national team for games against Chile on Aug. 31 and Sept. 4.
• Davidson earned her first senior United States national team cap against Denmark on Jan. 21. She became the first United States international since Julie Foudy to play every minute of her first five caps, earning starts against England, France and Germany in the She Believes Cup.
• She was one of three Americans to play every minute of the She Believes Cup, establishing herself as a key member of the squad entering 2019, a World Cup year.
• A key part of Stanford's starting XI, Davidson started all 25 games in 2017 and played nearly every minute of the season with three goals and six assists. She was named the College Cup's Most Outstanding Defensive Player, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist, first-team All-America and TopDrawerSoccer Best XI first team while earning a Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention.
 
Preseason Awards Wrap Up
• Stanford had an NCAA-high five student-athletes named to the watch list for the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, the highest individual honor in college soccer – Tierna Davidson, Catarina Macario, Jaye Boissiere, Tegan McGrady and Alana Cook each made the list.
• Davidson and Macario were named to TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Best XI first team with Cook and Jordan DiBiasi earning berths on the second XI. McGrady was picked for the third XI while freshman Sophia Smith was named to the freshman XI.
 
Coaching Updates
• Stanford's women's and men's soccer coaching positions were endowed through a gift from Louise '57 and Ray Knowles '56. Paul Ratcliffe assumes the role of Knowles Family Director of Women's Soccer, while on the men's side Jeremy Gunn transitions to the Knowles Family Director of Men's Soccer. Both graduates of Stanford, the Knowles have been important benefactors to the athletics department for many years. They had previously concentrated their philanthropy on scholarships for men's and women's golf programs – the positions are the 14th and 15th endowed head coach positions and 26th and 27th overall endowed positions in athletics.
• Hideki Nakada was promoted to associate head coach, as announced by Ratcliffe on Feb. 23. Nakada was named Stanford's top assistant in 2014, with the Cardinal going 81-7-6 in all competitions since his arrival.
• Kayley Sullivan was named volunteer assistant coach in July. Sullivan, a former Division I student-athlete at George Washington, is the older sister of former standout and 2017 MAC Hermann Trophy winner Andi Sullivan.

Plenty Coming Back
• The bulk of Stanford's 2017 team returns for 2018, losing seniors Andi Sullivan, Mariah Lee and Kyra Carusa – 76 percent of the Cardinal's program-record 91 goals and 85 percent of Stanford's 89 assists return from last season.
• As a freshman, Catarina Macario led the nation in points (50) and assists (16), joining Kelley O'Hara and Christen Press as the only Cardinal in program history to register 50 or more points. Macario's 17 goals broke Lindsay Taylor's freshman record and rank sixth, all-time, while her 16 helpers tied Press' program record set in 2009. Cardinal freshmen accounted for 35.4 of the teams points in 2017.
• Seven Cardinal who registered 12 or more points return – Macario (50), Jaye Boissiere (28), Jordan DiBiasi (28), Michelle Xiao (22), Civana Kuhlmann (22), Tierna Davidson (12) and Madison Haley (12).
• Stanford tied a program record with 19 shutouts last season, with goalkeepers Alison Jahansouz (15-1-0) and Lauren Rood (9-0-0) combining to allow just nine goals over 2250:00 minutes of play. Jahansouz's 11 shutouts tie for eighth, all-time, while her seven goals allowed ranks fifth in program history (min. 50% of games).
• Stanford returns a wealth of defenders after finishing last season on a 1,988:59-minute streak of not allowing a goal from open play. From Sept. 21-Oct. 29, Stanford went 788:28 minutes without allowing a goal. Defenders Alana Cook, Davidson and Kiki Pickett started a combined 74-of-75 games last season with Tegan McGrady pitching in five assists in 16 appearances at left back. The Cardinal also returns Sam Hiatt who, along with Pickett, will start the season at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in France with the United States. 
 
Off The Farm
• Goalkeeper Alison Jahansouz serves as an analyst at Asset Management Ventures in Palo Alto – she has also interned with Grand Rounds in San Francisco as a data analyst.
• Jahansouz also serves as a research assistant in the Engleman Lab at the Stanford Blood Center, previously working as a research assistant for Matt Spitzer in 2015 at the Stanford Blood Center, studying immunology for breast cancer treatment.
• Midfielder Michelle Xiao currently conducts research under the guidance of Dr. Geoff Abrams, studying the effects of microRNAs on tendinopathy -- as a part of the Stanford Bio-X USRP program, worked in the Stanford Soft Tissue Biomechanics Lab (STBL) analyzing MRI of knee cartilage to detect early osteoarthritic changes.
• During the summer of 2016, Xiao spent time in the medicinal chemistry research lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center working on synthesizing small molecules that could treat Alzheimer's Disease. She published a paper from this research in the Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters Journal titled "Design and Synthesis of New Piperidone Grafted Acetylcholinesterase".
• Defender Carly Malatskey currently manages Main Quad Rentals at Stanford, which primarily rents beds to Stanford students. Malatskey currently takes classes at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, studying innovation and organization as part of her science, technology and society major.
• In December of 2017, Malatskey participated in an Innovation and Entrepreneurship program in Israel, working with startups and larger companies such as Ebay and Intel.
• In 2017, midfielder Jaye Boissiere was a consulting intern with Z.S. Associates, a healthcare firm, after spending the summer of 2016 researching immigration policy at Stanford's political science department.
• Boissiere has also conducted research on Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia with the Maternal Fetal Medicine department at Stanford Hospital, where she was born.
• Senior Tegan McGrady interned at NBC Bay Area News in the summer of 2018.
• Forward Ceci Gee has coordinated and hosted multiple fundraising events in order to buy and deliver soccer gear for underprivileged girls' soccer teams in Nairobi, Kenya.
• In the summer of 2018, defender Alana Cook interned at SyncThink Inc. under former Stanford head of athletic training Scott Anderson.
• In the summer of 2018, defender Beattie Goad interned in Susie Nilsson's lab at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), focusing on stem cell and cancer research -- presented research at Stanford's human biology symposium on Aug. 10
• Defender Sam Hiatt volunteers at the Northwest Harvest Food Bank and Special Olympics.
• Forward Catarina Macario organized a collective soccer donation of equipment and clothing for children in Brazil.
• Defender Jojo Harber is a six-year member of the National Charity League (2012-17), spending time volunteering with the Special Olympics, YWCA and Northwest Harvest Food Bank.
• Defender Kiki Pickett is a participant in the Food From the Heart program and at the Unity Shoppe.
• Forward Madison Haley is a service coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club in South Dallas, having served as the treasurer for the National Honors Society as well as a tutor at Lee A. McShan Elementary School.
 
Champions Again
• Stanford captured its second national championship in 2017 after a 3-2 win over UCLA in the College Cup final on Dec. 3, 2017. Jaye Boissiere's goal in the 67th minute broke a 2-2 tie, and Stanford held on for its 22nd win in a row to claim the title.
• The Cardinal also won its 12th Pac-12 Conference Title and third in a row.
• Knowles Family Director of Women's Soccer Paul Ratcliffe was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the eighth time – no other coach has won the award more than twice.
• Tierna Davidson and Catarina Macario were named first-team All-America while a further eight returners eared All-Pac-12 recognition