Date: 8/9
Position: Goalkeeper
Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Justice Stanford, Jr. (21 GP, 21 GS, 1,945:46 min, 0.93 GAA, 63 saves)
Other returnees (Yr., Hometown): Laurie Graves (R-So., Owens Cross Roads, Ala.)
Letterwinners lost (Key stats): None
Newcomers (Yr., Hometown/Previous school): Ailey Tebbett (R-Fr., Gainesville, Fla./Florida)
Miscellaneous Notes
- Stanford set new school records in fewest goals allowed (14), consecutive shutout minutes (636:06) and single-season goals against average (0.78) as freshman, and her GAA and shutouts total last season ranked sixth and tied for fourth, respectively
- She currently tied for fourth at USA in career shutouts (18), two away from the school record, and is the current record holder in goals against average (0.86)
- Stanford is the first USA goalkeeper to start every game since Melissa Drish in 2011, and the first to play every minute in a season since Kelsie Langford in 2006
- Tebbett transferred from Florida, where she redshirted the 2017 season
- Graves has not seen any game action in her two seasons
Richard Moodie
- On having depth behind Stanford: "What's comforting is we have such a good No. 2 and No. 3 as well to push her. Nothing is guaranteed right now; Laurie Graves had a good summer. Justice is returning, she's been our No. 1 and she left the spring in that position, but Laurie had a great summer playing in the WPSL. It's reassuring knowing you have a goalkeeper that can step in and play in those big games regardless. Justice has looked great and her WPSL team went all the way to the national final. There are goals for her as well. Last year she wasn't recognized individually and we've talked through the spring that I think she's the best goalkeeper in the conference, and she believes the same thing. Now she has to come out and prove it. It takes more than her efforts; the pushing every day from her coaches and the other players to put her there. But it can change at any given time because Laurie right now is trying to prove a point"
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On what he wants from Stanford during the preseason: "Consistency, because you see one extreme to the next with her. As a goalkeeper, if you make one mistake, it costs you a goal, and if you have the game of your life, you win the conference at home against Little Rock (in 2017). That's the hardest thing about being a defender and a goalkeeper. A striker misses four or five chances and you lose 1-0, no one is yelling at them; it's the one that made the mistake that led to the goal. For her, it's being consistent and confident. I think she is the best goalkeeper in the conference from what I saw last year. She looked good this spring. Her distribution is something she's always worked on and improved. Her leadership is something she's had to work on."
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On Stanford's strengths: "She's got a great personality and is very outspoken. That's what we want from our leaders. It's great when you're losing a Steffi Hardy back there and you add some new faces in the back four, having someone that knows what she wants, demands quality and perfection, that's reassuring. Her and Hannah (Godfrey) have a good relationship. For them to be our two captains in such important positions is only going to help this team. She's worth her weight in gold to this team."
Justice Stanford
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On the competition between the three goalkeepers: "We try to encourage each other as much as possible because at the end of the day, we are a team. If Laurie makes a good save, then I'm going to tell her 'Good job' no matter what. We're also competing for that first spot. It's pretty competitive. We also have a new goalkeeper coach and he's working us hard and making us move our feet a lot."
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On how she would evaluate her sophomore season: "My performance last year was OK, in my opinion. I thought I had a better freshman year, but I'm ready to come back and have a year that's even better than my freshman year. I had more goals scored on me and when I look back on how they were scored, I know I can do much better than that. It was about my technique, and I needed someone to tell me what I did wrong. Now that I have that, I think I'm going to do well this year."
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On working with a new goalkeeper coach: "He gives us feedback, so every time we do something, he's always telling us what we can do better. It's a good feedback to where we're learning a lot of new things that we didn't know before."
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