Despite losing the national player of the year in back-to-back seasons, there evidently has been little drop off for the Stanford women’s soccer team.
That was evident on Tuesday when the Cardinal moved up to No. 1 in the NSCAA and Soccer America rankings, marking the third consecutive season that Stanford has been No. 1.
In the NSCAA coaches’ poll, Stanford (6-0-1) moved up from No. 2, while top-ranked North Carolina fell to No. 7 after its collapse Sunday against unranked Texas A&M after holding a 3-1 lead.
The Cardinal was the obvious choice for No. 1 after rallying to beat defending national champion Notre Dame on Friday, 2-1, and No. 11 UC Irvine, 2-0, on Sunday.
The past two seasons, Stanford held the No. 1 spot all the way to the NCAA College Cup, before losing in the final each time by 1-0 scores, to North Carolina in 2009 and Notre Dame in 2010.
Stanford next plays at unranked Portland (3-3-1) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a match televised live nationally by Fox Soccer. Stanford then plays at South Bay rival and No. 19 Santa Clara (3-0-4) on Sunday at 8 p.m.
Senior Lindsay Taylor from Castilleja is Stanford’s leading scorer after seven matches. She has a team-leading six goals (plus two assists) for a team-leading 14 points. She also has taken 34 shots, most this season by a Cardinal.
Taylor was named to Soccer America’s National Team of the Week released Tuesday. She was also named the Pac-12 Player of the Week.