[OCcardinal]

For the moment assuming no Bhuta, my estimated lineup next year looks like:

Winn - Holden - Klinger.  Subs: Thomas and maybe Harrison.
Kohler - Nguyen - Jung . Subs: maybe Johnson and maybe Bray.
Some 4 of Boamah, Freer, Emri, Murdock and Smith.  Subs: whoever doesn’t start. Maybe Tay.
Birkel. Sub: Jota

Not a lot of proven depth, but a decent though very young team with only 1 key senior. Losing a bunch of key players will do that. Not a lot of speed in the starting line up, but I don’t know how Winn profiles out. We will see what the incoming Frosh look like.

Some important additions to the roster for next year:

Bella Winn (transfer from UCLA) - Big 10 freshman of the year and TDS Soccer's #3 freshman forward of the year.  Made TDS' 10 best transfer portal moves list.  Can play mid or forward - curious whether she will see some time at attacking mid with Shae Harvey going pro. A redshirt freshman this past season following an injury, she showed immediate maturity with UCLA, becoming their leading scorer.  She scored the opening goal for UCLA against Stanford last September.

Ella Emri (presumed to be returning from injury) - the #20 overall recruit in 2024 (Murdock, by comparison was #161).  She was the third highest-ranked Stanford freshman in the TDS midseason ranking in 2024 (behind only Kohler and Klinger) before her season-ending injury.  In the games I watched she looked very solid in the center back position. If she's healthy I'm a lot less worried about Evans graduating.

Mia Bhuta (limited by injuries last season - not at her best) - My fingers are crossed that Mia Bhuta returns.  She was on the Hermann Trophy watch list before she was injured.  She's already a grad student this year so it seemed like her plan was to go pro, but perhaps with the injury she'd want another shot at a full senior season.

Stanford has the #2-ranked recruiting class in the country coming in.  Among the treasures joining the team will be:

London Young - the #4 overall recruit and #1 defender in the class of 2025. Lots of YNT experience. I'd be shocked if she doesn't start from day 1. One caveat - she has trained with the Washington Spirit. Hopefully she won't turn pro.

Peyton Marinos - The #14 overall recruit and #6 forward in the class of 2025.  May not start right away but should be at least a key backup.

Ella Krall - The #19 overall recruit and #9 forward in the class of 2025. Should be at least a key backup. A very good thing to have two such talented forwards in the class given the departures.  Stanford has 2 of the top 10 ranked 2026 forwards coming in.

It's hard to overstate how much we lost to graduation - a #1 overall recruit defender and three top 6 overall recruit forwards. Not to mention Harvey going pro. That's a lot of talent and maturity gone. But our frosh got some really good minutes/experience last season (especially Freer and Nguyen) and I'm excited to see what the above players can do.  And there may some other surprises in the 2026 class.

[OCcardinal]

For the moment assuming no Bhuta, my estimated lineup next year looks like:

Winn - Holden - Klinger.  Subs: Thomas and maybe Harrison.
Kohler - Nguyen - Jung . Subs: maybe Johnson and maybe Bray.
Some 4 of Boamah, Freer, Emri, Murdock and Smith.  Subs: whoever doesn’t start. Maybe Tay.
Birkel. Sub: Jota

Not a lot of proven depth, but a decent though very young team with only 1 key senior. Losing a bunch of key players will do that. Not a lot of speed in the starting line up, but I don’t know how Winn profiles out. We will see what the incoming Frosh look like.

Some important additions to the roster for next year:

Bella Winn (transfer from UCLA) - Big 10 freshman of the year and TDS Soccer's #3 freshman forward of the year.  Made TDS' 10 best transfer portal moves list.  Can play mid or forward - curious whether she will see some time at attacking mid with Shae Harvey going pro. A redshirt freshman this past season following an injury, she showed immediate maturity with UCLA, becoming their leading scorer.  She scored the opening goal for UCLA against Stanford last September.

Ella Emri (presumed to be returning from injury) - the #20 overall recruit in 2024 (Murdock, by comparison was #161).  She was the third highest-ranked Stanford freshman in the TDS midseason ranking in 2024 (behind only Kohler and Klinger) before her season-ending injury.  In the games I watched she looked very solid in the center back position. If she's healthy I'm a lot less worried about Evans graduating.

Mia Bhuta (limited by injuries last season - not at her best) - My fingers are crossed that Mia Bhuta returns.  She was on the Hermann Trophy watch list before she was injured.  She's already a grad student this year so it seemed like her plan was to go pro, but perhaps with the injury she'd want another shot at a full senior season.

Stanford has the #2-ranked recruiting class in the country coming in.  Among the treasures joining the team will be:

London Young - the #4 overall recruit and #1 defender in the class of 2025. Lots of YNT experience. I'd be shocked if she doesn't start from day 1. One caveat - she has trained with the Washington Spirit. Hopefully she won't turn pro.

Peyton Marinos - The #14 overall recruit and #6 forward in the class of 2025.  May not start right away but should be at least a key backup.

Ella Krall - The #19 overall recruit and #9 forward in the class of 2025. Should be at least a key backup. A very good thing to have two such talented forwards in the class given the departures.  Stanford has 2 of the top 10 ranked 2026 forwards coming in.

It's hard to overstate how much we lost to graduation - a #1 overall recruit defender and three top 6 overall recruit forwards. Not to mention Harvey going pro. That's a lot of talent and maturity gone. But our frosh got some really good minutes/experience last season (especially Freer and Nguyen) and I'm excited to see what the above players can do.  And there may some other surprises in the 2026 class.