Fans meet team, coaches at reception

 

Alex Eschmeyer at practice. (Stanford photo)

About 165 donors had a chance to dine, meet and mingle with SWBB players, coaches and staff at a reception Oct. 14 in the Hall of Champions.

They also heard head coach Kate Paye’s views of the upcoming season.

She praised the team’s “energy, enthusiasm and positivity” despite having only 12 players, with one of them, freshman Jordyn Wheeler, out for the season while rehabbing from ACL surgery.

Between the graduation of three players and the transfer of seven more, the team has only five returning players. They have been augmented by four freshmen (including Jordyn) and three transfers, but there are no seniors.

Therefore, Stanford has “one of the youngest teams in the country,” Kate said. But “we are young; we are hungry.”

TV announcer Mary Murphy served as emcee as the program opened. She singled out retired head coach Tara VanDerveer and retired associate head coach Amy Tucker, who were there.

She also named some of the team’s great alums before being joined by the players, who introduced themselves, their hometowns and majors.

The team has an international flavor with Jordyn from Canada and the two junior  transfers -- Inés Sotelo Míguez from Spain and Ilse de Vries from The Netherlands. Sophomore Charlotte Tuhy is the other transfer.

“We hit the jackpot in the (transfer) portal,” Kate said, adding that these three would make an immediate impact.

“Our theme this year is Together,” Kate said.

Returning players have helped to develop that team togetherness. For the first time in team history, they organized a player-only retreat, spending a weekend in Muir Woods.

They also arranged themselves into four pods to encourage one another, junior Shay Ijiwoye said. Shay and sophomore Nora Ezike played for Nigeria team during international competition in the summer.

As each player talked about herself, sophomore Hailee Swain interrupted classmate Alex Eschmeyer to say that Alex can dunk.

Kate’s coaching staff includes a new assistant coach, Steven Key. Returning assistant coach Jeanette Pohlen got married in Italy during the summer, but she wasn’t at the reception.

The team was to have closed scrimmage against Sac State on Oct. 17 before its exhibition games against Pacific at 2 p.m. Oct. 24 and against UC Santa Barbara at 8 p.m. Oct. 28, both in Maples.

Season play begins at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 2 against Arizona in Las Vegas. The home opener is at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 against Saint Mary’s.