STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford won 25 games for the ninth consecutive season in 2015 and made history on May 10 by becoming the first host institution to win the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship. The national crown was the fifth in program history and the Cardinal’s fourth in the past five seasons. Stanford’s NCAA title capped a perfect 14-0 mark at Avery Aquatic Center and extended its home winning streak to 29 games.
The NCAA title was also the 106th won by a Stanford team and extended the school’s national-best streak of years with at least one NCAA championship to 39, dating back to 1976-77.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR (1): Kiley Neushul was named the recipient of the 2015 Peter J. Cutino Award when The Olympic Club of San Francisco held the 16th Annual Cutino Awards Dinner on June 5. Also the 2012 Peter J. Cutino award winner as a freshman, this season marked the second time Neushul was picked as the nation’s best and is now Stanford’s second two-time winner. Annika Dries won in 2011 and 2014. Five Stanford women have earned the honor seven times, including every year since 2011. In addition to Neushul and Dries, Brenda Villa (2002), Jackie Frank (2003) and Melissa Seidemann (2013) are the other Cardinal student-athletes to achieve the accolade, which was instituted in 1999. Neushul’s 222 career goals are third in Cardinal history. Her 63 in 2015 were a personal best and are tied for seventh in Stanford single-season history. The communication major scored in all but one of Stanford’s 27 games, putting up 18 multi-goal efforts and 12 hat tricks.
HOW IT WENT DOWN: On May 10, Neushul led Stanford to the program’s fourth national championship in the past five seasons with a 7-6 victory over UCLA at Avery Aquatic Center. The senior capped her collegiate career by converting a game-winning penalty shot with 11 seconds remaining to send the capacity crowd into a frenzy. She scored five of Stanford’s seven goals in the championship and was named to the tournament’s first team after scoring nine goals in three games.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR (2): On June 26, Maggie Steffens, who was also a finalist for the Cutino Award, was named ACWPC Player of the Year. The Most Valuable Player at the 2015 NCAA Championship, Steffens scored seven goals for the Cardinal, assisted on four others, and nabbed six steals. The 2015 MPSF Player of the Year, she finished her junior season with 53 goals and is 11th in Stanford history with 164 in her career. She posted 17 multi-goal efforts in 2015, including nine hat tricks. The Cardinal has boasted the country’s national player of the year at the conclusion of each of the past five seasons. Annika Dries won in 2011 and 2014, Kiley Neushul claimed the award in 2012 and Melissa Seidemann was the top vote-getter in 2013. Brenda Villa was Stanford’s first winner in 2001. Jackie Frank followed by nabbing the honor in both 2002 and 2003.
BEST IN THE WORLD: In early December, Steffens was named the FINA Women’s Water Polo Athlete of the Year for the second time. The American beat out five other finalists in Kami Craig (USA), Maica Garcia (ESP), Giulia Gorlero (ITA), Rita Keszthelyi (HUN), and Rowie Webster (AUS). The science, technology and society major delivered 12 goals helping Team USA earn a second consecutive FINA World Cup crown in 2014. She was second on the team in scoring with 11 goals in a gold medal effort at the 2014 FINA World League Super Final. Steffens is the first female two-time winner of the award, which was inaugurated in 2010. She was also named the FINA Women’s Water Polo Athlete of the Year in 2012 before making her collegiate debut with the Cardinal.
COACH OF THE YEAR: John Tanner was named ACWPC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in 2015.With Tanner at the helm, the Cardinal is the only women’s water polo program in the nation to have competed in all 15 NCAA Championships since its inception in 2001, and has finished in the top three in the country each season since he became head coach in 1998. He has posted a career coaching record of 456-64 on The Farm, including a mark of 159-12 the last six years.
ALL-AMERICANS: Steffens and Tanner headlined a group of six Stanford women’s water polo players that claimed spots on various ACWPC All-America Teams. The Cardinal had three of the seven-member ACWPC All-America First Team in Steffens, Kiley Neushul and Ashley Grossman. Gabby Stone was selected an ACWPC Third Team All-American following a season in which she averaged 8.16 saves per game and posted a 5.07 goals against average, good enough for second in the MPSF. Jordan Raney and Jamie Neushul rounded out Stanford’s honorees with their spots on the ACWPC All-America Honorable Mention squad.
RECORD ACADEMIC HAUL: A record fourteen Stanford women’s water polo student-athletes were named to the All-Academic list released by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC). Stanford’s 14 honorees were easily the most in the MPSF and the highest total in program history, surpassing the 12 academic All-Americans from 2013. The Cardinal has had at least 10 players on the ACWPC All-Academic list each of the past seven seasons. Lauren Norheim was named to the “outstanding” list while Shannon Cleary, Ashley Grossman, Jordan Raney, Maggie Steffens and Katie Dudley each earned “superior” honors. Jamie Neushul, Anna Yelizarova, Emily Dorst, Gabby Stone, Cassidy Papa, Natalie Chun, Dani Jackovich and Gurpreet Sohi rounded out Stanford’s accolades with “excellent” recognition.
CLASS OF THE CONFERENCE: Maggie Steffens was named MPSF Player of the Year and Jordan Raney MPSF Newcomer of the Year to headline Stanford’s six honorees when the conference announced its postseason awards on April 28. Steffens was joined on the All-MPSF First Team by teammate Kiley Neushul. Ashley Grossman and Gabby Stone landed on the All-MPSF Second Team while Jamie Neushul earned an All-MPSF honorable mention nod and Raney was the best of the nine-member All-MPSF Newcomer Team. Steffens is Stanford’s first MPSF Player of the Year since Annika Dries in 2011. Other Cardinal to win the award include Brenda Villa (2003 and 2001) and Ellen Estes (1998). Raney becomes Stanford’s fifth MPSF Newcomer of the Year award winner, joining Kiley Neushul (2012), Melissa Seidemann (2009), Amber Oland (2008) and Lauren Silver (2006). She collected a record five MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week honors during the year, including the final three consecutive weeks of the regular season.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Cardinal’s defense has been a constant ingredient in its success. Dating back to last year, Stanford has held its opponents under 10 goals in 44 consecutive games. The team limited 13 of its 27 foes to four goals or less this season.
OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: Stanford’s output against CSU Bakersfield on April 12 was its fifth time this season firing home 20 or more goals, the program’s most since it did so the same number in 1997 in what was its second year of varsity status. Entering this year, the Cardinal had reached that mark in a single game 11 times in the past 16 seasons. Stanford’s 13.00 goals per game average was just shy of last year’s 13.31 school record.
BALANCE: The Cardinal’s offense came from all over in 2015 and the team has nine 20-goal scorers for the first time since 2007 when Lauren Silver (65), Katie Hansen (63), Jacquelyn Gauthier (41), Christina Hewko (38), Jessica Steffens (35), Kelly Eaton (24), Alison Gregorka (22), Kelsey Holshouser (22) and Kira Hillman (20) accounted for 330 of Stanford’s 376 goals.
APPROACHING MARKS: Stanford boasted four 100-goal scorers in Kiley Neushul (222), Ashley Grossman (169), Maggie Steffens (164) and Anna Yelizarova (106). Neushul finished third in Cardinal history behind Melissa Seidemann (239) and Lauren Silver (239), while Grossman ended her career 10th and Steffens is 11th.
CONCLUDING A CAREER: In their four years on The Farm, seniors Emily Dorst, Ashley Grossman and Kiley Neushul led Stanford to a 105-8 record, a 41-1 mark at home, a 25-0 regular-season MPSF record and three national championships.
THE STANDARD: The Cardinal’s win over San Jose State on Feb. 1 was the 500th in the history of the women’s water polo program and Stanford is now 520-83 (.862) all-time. Stanford has won at least 25 games each of the last nine seasons and has finished among the nation’s top three each and every season under John Tanner.
- - - - - - - - - -
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- ACWPC All-Academic “Superior”
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic
- Two-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week (Feb. 3 and March 24)
- ACWPC All-Academic “Superior”
- ACWPC First Team All-American
- All-MPSF second team
- NCAA All-Tournament first team
- ACWPC All-Academic “Superior”
- MPSF All-Academic
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic
- MPSF All-Academic
- ACWPC All-America honorable mention
- All-MPSF honorable mention
- MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week (March 10)
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic
- Kiley Neushul
- Peter J. Cutino Award winner
- ACWPC First Team All-American
- All-MPSF first team
- NCAA All-Tournament first team
- MPSF/Kap7 All-Tournament Team
- MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week (March 31)
- ACWPC All-Academic “Outstanding”
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic
- ACWPC All-America honorable mention
- MPSF Newcomer of the Year
- All-MPSF Newcomer team
- Five-time MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week (Feb. 24, March 10, April 7, April 14 and April 21)
- ACWPC All-Academic “Superior”
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic
- FINA Women’s Water Polo Athlete of the Year
- ACWPC National Player of the Year
- ACWPC First Team All-American
- MSPF Player of the Year
- Peter J. Cutino Award finalist
- All-MPSF first team
- NCAA Tournament MVP
- NCAA All-Tournament first team
- MPSF/Kap7 All-Tournament Team
- MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week (April 14)
- ACWPC All-Academic “Superior”
- MPSF All-Academic
- ACWPC Third Team All-American
- All-MPSF second team
- MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week (Feb. 3)
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic
- ACWPC All-Academic “Excellent”
- MPSF All-Academic