Stanford University 2026 [R]

Discussion in 'Women's College' started by cachundo, Dec 30, 2025.

  1. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Time to start a new thread for 2026.

    Last season's thread can be found at Stanford University 2025 [R]



    Portland Thorns Sign Stanford University Midfielder Shae Harvey [link]

    Congratulations to Shae in joining a top club, and joining other alum Sophia nee Smith and Sam Hiatt.

    Huge loss for Stanford, in addition to graduating very productive seniors, and 60% of goals scored.

    For 2026, at least 9 players moving on. With 215 combined starts for the 2026 edition, there will be a lot of growing pains for a young and inexperienced edition.

    Historically, Stanford’s College Cup editions have ~300 combined starts in them.

    7 noobs projected to suit up for 2026. At least 1 early enrollee.

    Looking ahead to the ACC schedule, it will do us no favors. We are projected to face all/most of the successful ACC programs.

    5 home games against the lot of FSU, Clemson, Notre Dame, Louisville, Wake Forest, NC State.

    5 away games against the lot of Duke, UNC, Virginia, Vtech, BC, Syracuse

    Pick your poison

    Cal won’t be on the ACC schedule, but may still be ultimate game for both teams, albeit as a non-conference opponent
     
    whatagoodball and TimB4Last repped this.
  2. Tom81

    Tom81 Member+

    Jan 25, 2008
    Good luck to your 26 edition.
     
    cachundo and whatagoodball repped this.
  3. DrBud

    DrBud New Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Sep 8, 2025
    So the Enigma has left the building and is the first sign a professional contract. Good for her! And not surprised.

    the loss of senior leadership, and as mentioned, scoring will be a real test next year. My fingers are crossed. Twice.
     
    cachundo repped this.
  4. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    News dump day


    Congratulations to Andrea Kitahata, signed by Gotham FC



    Congratulations to Jasmine Aikey, signed by Denver Summit FC


    Sammy Smith, the 2025 US national champion in the classic sprint, wins another national title in 2026. Sammy Smith is your 2026 US national champion in freestyle sprint [link]. Congratulations!

    Sammy's gold medal race. www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_JMX2NUAPU&t=18610s

    Sammy had a 3-second lead, a huge lead in skate skiing, and could have glided into the finishing straight. but almost blew it when she did not maintain discipline, got out of her tuck very early, and her chaser got into her draft. Pure athleticism got Sammy over the line, with the all-important leg lunge to get that chipset finishing 0.07 seconds faster. Whew! Congratulations!

    Sammy’s most intriguing race, to me, is not the freestyle sprint where she won the US title. It’s the 10-K classic, a WOG medal event. Finished 5th, a junior skier in a field of Olympic hopefuls. THAT, is quite an achievement. Hopefully, Sammy gets the call-up to Milan.

    Unlike other Olympic hopefuls, Sammy trains on roller skis while going to school at Stanford and doesn’t see the white stuff until the quarter ends. 2 weeks later, she shines at the US Championships.

    If the phone doesn’t ring this January, pick up an Anschutz rifle, coz biathlon is the only WOG event that the US have not medalled in. Hopefully, Campbell Wright will medal this year.
     
    whatagoodball repped this.
  5. SakiBomb25

    SakiBomb25 Member

    Nov 13, 2004
    Looks like Stanford also picked up Bella Winn, the Big 10 Freshman of the year in 2025, out of UCLA. Hopefully she'll help with the lack of scoring next year as well.
     
    cachundo and whatagoodball repped this.
  6. Byu77

    Byu77 Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Nov 21, 2021
    How did Sammie play this year? What’s her soccer trajectory looking like?
     
  7. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    That’s good news. Her production and experience makes her a strong candidate to start up front. Hopefully she can be productive up front the next two years. Spring entrant perhaps? Winter Q has already started.




    Congratulations to Jasmine Aikey – the 2025 MAC Hermann trophy winner [link]



    Aikey is the 7th Stanford player to win the prestigious award, joining these Stanford legends:

    2009 – Kelley O’Hara
    2010 – Christen Press
    2011 – Teresa Noyola
    2017 – Andi Sullivan
    2018 – Catarina Macario
    2019 - Catarina Macario


    More Sammy Smith sightings.

    After Sammy Smith won the 2026 US Cross Country Skate Sprint, a few days later Sammy won a 2nd national title.

    Sammy Smith is the 2026 US Cross Country Classic Sprint champion. Congratulations!

    [​IMG]

    Watch Sammy’s 2nd national title

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2g4D_VSGok&t=17860s

    Won by almost 4 seconds, 1.8% faster than second place. This time, Sammy maintained discipline and stayed in her tuck in the penultimate straight, not allowing anyone to catch her to make it more competitive than it should have been. Congratulations!
     
    whatagoodball repped this.
  8. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Smith Achieves Winter Olympic Dreams [link]



    Congratulations to Sammy Smith for being selected to the US Olympic Cross Country Ski Team. What an achievement!

    Whoa! 12th at Oberhof last week? The biathlon circus was there the week before [www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmrA6qM1brw].

    [​IMG]


    The Thuringian Forest in January is typically windy and draped in dreadful fog and mist. The wind was so ferocious on a Friday that the women's sprint was moved up to Thursday. Then Saturday and Sunday were the most beautiful days I've seen in Oberhof in 10 years.

    Congrats to Sammy! Now that the pressure of qualifying is off, enjoy the Olympic experience. Bringing home a medal would be nice as well. :thumbsup:
     
    whatagoodball repped this.
  9. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Sammy Smith, about playing soccer for Stanford, and/or qualifying for OWG26:

    “I never considered taking the fall off for soccer, because it’s really important for me to be there with my team,” Smith said. “I love to play soccer, and I love to play for Stanford

    There are four Stanford undergrads going to compete in the Milan OWG.

    24-yo Pre-Med major Brandon Kim. National speed skating champion

    22-yo Quantum Physics major Eileen Gu. Ever heard of her? Double Olympic champion freestyle skier

    22-yo Symbolic Systems major Zoe Atkin. World Champion freestyle skier

    An expected Stanford showdown between Eileen Gu and Zoe Atkin in the Halfpipe and Superpipe looms in the medal round.

    All three champions skipped Fall to train/compete for Milan.

    Then there’s the outlier – 20-yo XC skier Sammy Smith. Stayed during the FallQ at Stanford, played soccer, and risked Olympic qualification. There were four ways for her to qualify, but by staying in school, Sammy earned ZERO points in the FIS World Cup standings.

    Sammy only had one way to qualify. Earn enough points, IN ONE RACE, to vault her into the Top 50 in FIS World Cup Sprint points. Sammy had to ski the race of her life in Oberhof. And she did. [ link ]

    [​IMG]

    What Sammy did was unbelievable. And she had only been skiing for 3 weeks before Oberhof.

    In the biathlon world, Oberhof is the venue that competitors love to hate. For Sammy Smith, Oberhof is special – it’s where she qualified for the Milan OWG. Congrats! :thumbsup:
     
    whatagoodball, cpthomas and TimB4Last repped this.
  10. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
  11. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Biathlon World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    kontiolahti
    Club:
    Manchester United FC

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