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Stanford senior All-Americans Rachel Quon and Mariah Nogueira were selected in the second round of the inaugural National Women's Soccer League college draft Friday.

Quon, an outside back from Lake Forest, Ill., was the No. 9 overall pick by the Chicago Red Stars and Nogueira, a holding midfielder, was taken No. 13 by the Boston Breakers.

The seniors will join fellow Stanford captain Alina Garciamendez '13 in the NWSL. Garciamendez was taken by the Washington Spirit on Jan. 11 in an allocation of 55 national team players from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Garciamendez plays for the Mexican national team.

Former Stanford players Nicole Barnhart '04 (FC Kansas City), Rachel Buehler '07 (Portland Thorns FC), Teresa Noyola '12 (Seattle Reign FC), and Kelley O'Hara '10 (Sky Blue FC) also were allocation players.

The college draft consisted of four rounds with the eight teams choosing a total of 32 players. Only Florida State had as many players taken among the first two rounds as Stanford.

Quon, Nogueira, and Garciamendez were four-year starters and members of a 10-member senior class that went 94-4-4 over the past four years, including 52-0-1 at home, and 40-0-0 in conference play. In that span, the Cardinal won four conference titles, reached four College Cups, advanced to three finals, and won one national championship.

In 2012, Stanford went 21-2-1 and reached the College Cup semifinals, where it lost to North Carolina, 1-0, in double overtime San Diego.

Quon, Nogueira, and Garciamendez earned first-team All-America and All-Pac-12 honors. Nogueira, who carried a 3.63 cumulative grade-point average, also was the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's soccer.

Quon had two goals and seven assists and added a dynamic dimension to the Cardinal attack with her overlapping runs up the flank. Sometimes, she was pushed into midfield and even forward duties, such as when she scored the 79th-minute winner to complete a second-half rally that resulted in a 2-1 victory at UCLA in a matchup between the nation's top-ranked teams in a match was essentially for the conference championship.

Nogueira scored seven goals, all but one with her head. She was Stanford's primary target on set pieces and had a knack for scoring at important times. Of her 21 career goals, 15 tied the match or put Stanford ahead.

The NWSL, which begins play this spring, was created and is administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The federations for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will subsidize the salaries of the national-team players. The teams are Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Portland, Seattle, Sky Blue (based in Northern New Jersey), Washington (D.C.), and the Western New York Flash.

This is the third attempt at a domestic women's pro league, following the Women's United Soccer Association (2001-03) and Women's Professional Soccer (2009-11). Ten former Cardinal played in the WUSA and eight played in the WPS, which was founded by Stanford graduate Tonya Antonucci '90 and suspended operations in 2012.

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