The Stanford Cardinal athletics programs have delivered another year of high-quality production. This season, Stanford has won four NCAA national titles coming from women’s and men’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving and women’s tennis. Here are a few of the stats showing how incredible Stanford sports were in the 2017-18 year.
3: Consecutive NCAA championships for men’s soccer. The Cardinal won its first title in the program’s history in 2015 and have been cranking titles ever since. The most recent championship came in a heated contest against Indiana, where junior midfielder Sam Werner nailed a sudden-death goal in overtime to lift Stanford to another title. The title signifies the amazing job head coach Jeremy Gunn and his staff have done since he became the head coach in 2012.
2,118: Rushing yards for junior running back Bryce Love in 2017, which broke Stanford’s single-season rushing record. After mercurial running back Christian McCaffrey went into the NFL after demolishing the college game, a big question mark was whether Love could replace McCaffrey’s production. Well, Love did just by breaking Stanford’s rushing record en route to a Heisman runner-up appearance.
19: Number of NCAA titles for women’s tennis. The best program at Stanford, and arguably, the entire nation, did what it has historically done — win championships. Tied at 3-3 against No. 1 Vanderbilt in the title game, the Cardinal relied on junior Melissa Lord to win one more match to claim the championship. Lord had suffered an injury which sidelined her until March, and the team faltered without her, being ranked as low as No. 46 (the lowest in the program’s history). With Lord back, the Cardinal went on a winning streak which saw themselves in the final against Vanderbilt. Lord split the first two sets, but clinched the title with a final set of 7-5.
91: Number of goals by women’s soccer on way to second national title. There isn’t one number to describe how dominant this team was on the offensive end, but goals scored is a good place to start. They set a program record with goals and had 30 more than the closest Division 1 school, and they had 99 more points than the next school. Goal No. 91 was the most special, though, as it came off the left foot of Jaye Boissiere while tied 2-2 in the final against UCLA to secure another College Cup for the program.
10: Total NCAA championships for women’s swimming and diving. The Cardinal won its second consecutive national title and conference title on the strength of an incredible group of athletes. Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel once again were amazing, but they were part of large group of 16 All-Americans on the Cardinal team. Stanford ended with 593 points, which were the most since Georgia in 2005 and 220 points higher than the second-place team Cal.
46-12: Baseball’s record this season under first-year head coach David Esquer, most wins since 2004. The Cardinal had one of their best seasons in 14 years, which culminated in the program’s first conference title since 2004 and the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament. Unfortunately for Stanford, it drew rivals Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA Regional this year. The Titans eliminated the Cardinal this season, but Stanford’s season as a whole was still noteworthy.
38: number of times women’s volleyball has made it to the NCAA Tournament, which is every single one since starting in 1981. The Cardinal came close to appearing in back-to-back NCAA championship games, but the journey ended with a loss to Florida in the semifinals. Stanford won the conference for the 17th time, this time on the strength of AVCA National Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer.
39.6750: Senior gymnast Elizabeth Price’s point total in the NCAA Championships — the highest total in women’s gymnastics history. Price finished third overall in her final meet and delivered a perfect 10 on the uneven bars, which was her fourth perfect score this season. Her additional accolades include her second Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year and Regional Gymnast of the Year.
2: Juniors drafted for the MLB on Monday. Nico Hoerner (picked 24th overall) and Kris Bubic (40th overall in the Competitive Balance Round) were picked by the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals, respectively. This is the first time Stanford has a pair drafted since 2013.
4: Number of consecutive Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships won by women’s lightweight rowing. The team won the last of these on Sunday morning on Lake Mercer.
3:04.84: School record in the 4×400 set by one of Stanford’s men’s relay teams. This time allowed the relay team to advance to the NCAA Championships held in Eugene, Oregon. It is made up of sophomore Julian Body, senior Isaiah Brandt-Sims, senior Frank Kurtz and freshman Gabriel Navarro. The same quartet also advanced to the finals for the 4×100 and is joined by one women’s relay team.
9: Number of consecutive trips to the NCAA title game for women’s water polo. The Cardinal have been in the championship game every year since 2010, winning five of them in that span. Stanford won in 2017, and it tried to do the same in 2018, but the title bid was denied by USC in the NCAA championship game.
Contact Jose Saldana at jsaldana ‘at’ stanford.edu.