Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year Sierra Enge reflects on her Pac-12 and NCAA titles

Dec. 6, 2022, 9:32 p.m.

With three Pac-12 titles and one NCAA championship win under her belt, redshirt senior Sierra Enge is no stranger to the collegiate soccer scene. Enge has continually established herself as a key player on the team by garnering multiple national honors and also being a part of the NCAA championship team in 2019. She’s started in more than 55 games and played in almost 80, totaling more than 75 shots on goals.

As the team’s captain for the second consecutive season this year, Enge guided Stanford women’s soccer to the Pac-12 championship. This is Stanford’s 15th title in program history. The Cardinal were on a nine-game win streak before clinching the title against Cal and proved unstoppable at Cagan Stadium throughout the year, winning all 11 of their home games. They ended their season ranked seventh in the nation.

While this season’s successes were important to Enge, the redshirt senior looks back on her Stanford career most nostalgic of the national championship victory she contributed to in 2019.

“To win the Pac-12 is a huge honor and it’s not to be taken lightly in any way,” she said. “But a national title is something different and I’ll never forget celebrating on the field. There are [only] a few people that can say they’ve won a national championship so I feel very fortunate to say that I have.”

Though Enge was officially on the team her freshman year, she didn’t make many appearances on the field until her second year as a redshirt freshman.

“It hasn’t been an easy journey and I’ve had to work really hard during my whole experience. But I definitely felt like with each year I was with this team and with this program, I got better,” she said.

Last week, Enge was recognized as the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Despite her rigorous practice schedule, she has continued to perform highly in her academic studies, which was a large factor in her recognition. The award honors one senior student-athlete in each sport through a nomination and committee selection process. Athletes are chosen based on their GPAs, athletic accomplishments and season performance. Enge joins eight other Cardinal women’s soccer athletes who have been honored since the award’s founding in 2007.

“It’s incredible and definitely came as a little bit of a surprise,” she said. “It was definitely really rewarding to get this award but it’s definitely a testament to how well our team did and how well we performed this year.”

Enge is currently wrapping up her master’s degree in communication and has already completed her bachelor’s in science, technology & society. She plans to pursue soccer professionally either in the states or overseas after graduating this quarter.

“I’m definitely going to be pursuing my passion for soccer and see where that takes me,” Enge said.

Grace Lee is a managing editor of Arts and Life, and was formerly a Magazine editor and a desk editor for news. She can probably be found poring over The Canterbury Tales or in the ceramics studio.

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