STANFORD, Calif. – Team USA will have a strong Stanford contingent for the upcoming FINA World League Super Final in Budapest, Hungary. Seven of the 15 players named to the women's national team roster are Cardinal.
Five are alumnae in Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul, Jordan Raney, Melissa Seidemann and Maggie Steffens and two are current undergraduates in Aria and Makenzie Fischer. Four players from USC, three from UCLA and one from Princeton fill out the remaining spots on the squad.
The United States opens the tournament against Hungary at 9:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday, June 4. The team will also face Canada and Russia in group play before the quarterfinal round begins on June 7.
Canada's roster for the event includes another Stanford alumna in Gurpreet Sohi, a 2016 All-American who won a pair of national championship during her collegiate career (2014, 2015).
The FINA World League Super Final is the first of three 2020 Olympic Games qualification events for Team USA in 2019. The U.S., which is coming off a gold medal at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament earlier this spring in Perth, Australia, has won the last five FINA World League Super Finals in addition to winning the event a record 12 times overall.
Fifteen athletes have been named to the roster with 13 selected for competition prior to the start of each match.
Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul, Raney and Steffens were on the roster for the United States' most recent FINA Intercontinental title in late March. Kiley Neushul led the Cardinal in scoring in Perth, pouring in 12 goals. Jamie Neushul had 11 in the six games, Steffens nine goals in her five appearances and Raney five scores.
Jamie Neushul, Kiley Neushul, Seidemann, Steffens and Aria Fischer combined for 31 of their team's 64 goals (48.4 percent) as the U.S. went a perfect 6-0 at last year's World League Super Final in Kunshan, China. Jamie Neushul and Seidemann tied as the United States' second-leading scorers in Kunshan with eight goals each. Steffens poured in seven, Kiley Neushul five and Fischer three.
Aria and Makenzie Fischer just wrapped up their collegiate seasons at Stanford, leading the Cardinal to its seventh NCAA title and fourth in the past six seasons with a 9-8 victory over No. 1 USC at Avery Aquatic Center on May 12.
Both first-team All-Americans, Aria was second on Stanford with 58 goals and third in the MPSF with a 2.42 goals per game average. She scored in 19 games, had 11 hat tricks and averaged a team-high 3.22 goals per game in the final nine games of the year. Also an All-MPSF and All-NCAA Tournament first team selection, Fischer poured in 12 goals to lead the Cardinal in scoring at the NCAA Championship, including five-goal performances in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
On Saturday, Makenzie Fischer became the sixth Stanford woman to win the Peter J. Cutino Award, given to the outstanding collegiate water polo player in the United States. The ACWPC National Player of the Year and MPSF Player of the Year scored a league-best 3.50 goals per game, the second-highest average in the conference over the past 15 seasons (Sarah Harris; Pacific; 2007; 3.64).
The junior scored in every one of the 24 games in which she played and poured in a career-high 84 goals, the second-most in Stanford history (Ellen Estes; 1998; 93) and a single-season record for a national champion. Fischer is sixth on Stanford's all-time scoring list with 205 career goals in just 74 games (2.77 goals per game). Estes (1997-98, 2001-02) is next on the list with 214 and Seidemann (2009-11, 13) and Lauren Silver (2006-09) are tied for the school record with 239.
Named the NCAA Tournament MVP, Fischer scored six times at the national championship tournament, including a hat trick in the final against USC.