STANFORD, Calif. – Makenzie Fischer has been named a finalist for the Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year award.
The award recognizes an individual sport athlete and team sport athlete whose performances over a 12-month time span have been exceptional. Past team-sport winners include Maya Moore, Ashleigh Johnson, Carli Lloyd, Candace Parker, Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach. Fan voting is open now through Aug. 2 and can be accessed by clicking here.
The public and the Women's Sports Foundation's Awards Committee select the award winners by a 50-50 vote. The winner will be the athlete who receive the highest combined share of a public vote (50 percent of composite) and the Awards Committee vote (50 percent of the composite).
A 2016 Olympic gold medalist, three-time FINA world champion and two-time NCAA champion, Fischer put together one of the most impressive offensive seasons in MPSF history in 2019. The Peter J. Cutino Award winner, 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 Melissa 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. Stanford won its seventh NCAA title and fourth in the past six seasons with a 9-8 victory over the No. 1 Trojans at Avery Aquatic Center on May 12.
A mechanical engineering major with a 4.027 GPA, the junior is a two-time a CoSIDA academic All-American and in late June was named the Academic Team Member of the Year for Division I at-large programs.
Consistently one of the United States' top scorers Fischer put in eight goals at the FINA World League Super Final in June as Team USA won gold and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She also scored ten goals at last week's FINA World Championships to help the U.S. secure its third consecutive title at the event and her country's 53rd consecutive victory overall.