[Hieronymus]

I’m sad that I’m not actually knowledgeable :)
However Sakibomb is very knowledgeable

Of course you both are far more knowledgeable than me. But neither of you answered PVTree's question, hence I stand by my first sentence!  :)

And I appreciate Hieronymus staying up so late (or getting up so early) to chime in!

Alright I will take a shot at the lineup opening day. Note that the starting lineup will almost certainly have changed by the 2/3 point of the season - too many good Frosh to not have some in season changes.

Kitahata - Aikey - Montoya
Klinger - Harvey - Jung/Bhuta
Brandt - Murdock - Evans - Bhuta/Emri
                 Craig

7 of those players are locks barring injury, but Bhuta could go back to MF or stay at RB. If she does move to MF, I would peg Emri as the likely RB.  Jung could get bypassed during the season though I doubt it on opening day. Klinger and Murdock are reasonable guesses, and Craig is almost a given to be the day 1 GK.

Last year 2 Frosh started early and a third was starting by the end of the year.  I have 2 on the opening day lineup. That might be a little aggressive this year with only 3.5 spots “open.” We will see.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see 3 Frosh by the 2/3 point of the season again this year though.

Personally I think Stanford plays a lot better with Aikey at the midfield, and the roster currently shows her only as a midfielder. So I think we will see her start there more often then not unless our forwards struggle.

So who replaces her at forward?  It may be Kitihata in the middle and 5th year Samantha Williams at the wing.  Williams struggled with some injury issues last year but if she's healthy she definitely gives us starter level speed/talent on the wing. 

Of course Erika Grilione, Amalie Panam and Lumi Kostmayer are older and stronger.  Any of them could end up a starter up top.  Then of course there is freshman Jaden Thomas (a top 10 overall recruit) and fellow frosh Charlotte Kohler (a California Gatorade Player of the Year recipient), who both are exceptional talents up top and could surprise us.  I like our deep forward talent and we shouldn't need Aikey to play up there.

And I'm 90% certain that Buta will be starting at midfield.  She's a much better midfielder than defender. (Her lack of defensive experience lead to some unfortunate miscues in the national championship game.)  I reserve 10% because midfielder Eleanor Klinger was the top overall recruit before she reclassified to 2024.  But with Eleanor being especially young this year and Aikey, Harvey and Buta all so strong, I don't see her cracking the starting lineup, at least not for a while.

I agree a starting back line of Brandt - Murdock - Evans - Emri is likely.

I am not sure how much to make out of a positional listing for Aikey. The problem is Stanford almost always claims to line up with a 442 with Aikey at MF when it’s really a 433 with Aikey at CF. Typically though last year then she would shift to MF for about 15 minutes each half; so F/MF was an accurate description.

Overall, though I guess I had a different view. The other Forwards are all tricky, shifty types but without a lot of speed except for Williams who got hurt. Against better teams i think they get too compact and have no threat to open things up when Aikey is in the MF. Also neither Lumi nor Wolf were very effective last year; so CF was a bit of a lost cause when Aikey shifted to MF.

The wildcard is 5 Frosh in the top 20. I expect several to make an impact obviously per my starting 11, but we are just guessing as to which players step up quickly. And who emerges will impact where the more flexible players like Bhuta and Aikey end up playing. Ratcliffe has shown he has no fears about going with his best 11 even if that means some positional adjustments along the way or playing Frosh. I expect the same this year.

[Hieronymus]

I’m sad that I’m not actually knowledgeable :)
However Sakibomb is very knowledgeable

Of course you both are far more knowledgeable than me. But neither of you answered PVTree's question, hence I stand by my first sentence!  :)

And I appreciate Hieronymus staying up so late (or getting up so early) to chime in!

Alright I will take a shot at the lineup opening day. Note that the starting lineup will almost certainly have changed by the 2/3 point of the season - too many good Frosh to not have some in season changes.

Kitahata - Aikey - Montoya
Klinger - Harvey - Jung/Bhuta
Brandt - Murdock - Evans - Bhuta/Emri
                 Craig

7 of those players are locks barring injury, but Bhuta could go back to MF or stay at RB. If she does move to MF, I would peg Emri as the likely RB.  Jung could get bypassed during the season though I doubt it on opening day. Klinger and Murdock are reasonable guesses, and Craig is almost a given to be the day 1 GK.

Last year 2 Frosh started early and a third was starting by the end of the year.  I have 2 on the opening day lineup. That might be a little aggressive this year with only 3.5 spots “open.” We will see.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see 3 Frosh by the 2/3 point of the season again this year though.

Personally I think Stanford plays a lot better with Aikey at the midfield, and the roster currently shows her only as a midfielder. So I think we will see her start there more often then not unless our forwards struggle.

So who replaces her at forward?  It may be Kitihata in the middle and 5th year Samantha Williams at the wing.  Williams struggled with some injury issues last year but if she's healthy she definitely gives us starter level speed/talent on the wing. 

Of course Erika Grilione, Amalie Panam and Lumi Kostmayer are older and stronger.  Any of them could end up a starter up top.  Then of course there is freshman Jaden Thomas (a top 10 overall recruit) and fellow frosh Charlotte Kohler (a California Gatorade Player of the Year recipient), who both are exceptional talents up top and could surprise us.  I like our deep forward talent and we shouldn't need Aikey to play up there.

And I'm 90% certain that Buta will be starting at midfield.  She's a much better midfielder than defender. (Her lack of defensive experience lead to some unfortunate miscues in the national championship game.)  I reserve 10% because midfielder Eleanor Klinger was the top overall recruit before she reclassified to 2024.  But with Eleanor being especially young this year and Aikey, Harvey and Buta all so strong, I don't see her cracking the starting lineup, at least not for a while.

I agree a starting back line of Brandt - Murdock - Evans - Emri is likely.

I am not sure how much to make out of a positional listing for Aikey. The problem is Stanford almost always claims to line up with a 442 with Aikey at MF when it’s really a 433 with Aikey at CF. Typically though last year then she would shift to MF for about 15 minutes each half; so F/MF was an accurate description.

Overall, though I guess I had a different view. The other Forwards are all tricky, shifty types but without a lot of speed except for Williams who got hurt. Against better teams i think they get too compact and have no threat to open things up when Aikey is in the MF. Also neither Lumi nor Wolf were very effective last year; so CF was a bit of a lost cause when Aikey shifted to MF.

The wildcard is 5 Frosh in the top 20. I expect several to make an impact obviously per my starting 11, but we are just guessing as to which players step up quickly. And who emerges will impact where the more flexible players like Bhuta and Aikey end up playing. Ratcliffe has shown he has no fears about going with his best 11 even if that means some positional adjustments along the way or playing Frosh. I expect the same this year.