Lawrenceville School senior Sophia Monaghan with her coach Hal Wilder as she signs a National Letter of Intent to play water polo at Stanford next year.
A Lawrenceville School senior signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Stanford University and play water polo.
Princeton resident Sophia Monaghan said she has dreamt of being a Cardinal since middle school.
“I’ve wanted to go to Stanford since I was in the seventh grade, when I looked at the school overall, the location, the pre-med program, the water polo team, I knew it was definitely where I wanted to be,” Monaghan said.
Monaghan has been a varsity starter all four years of her high school career. She was named MVP of the Eastern Championships as a junior. In 2012, She helped lead her team to its first title at the Beast of the East tournament outside of California.
Along with her school team, Monaghan is a member of multiple U.S. national teams. Monaghan and the U.S. Junior National Team earned a gold medal at the U-19 Pan-American Games.
“Sophia is an exciting prospect because she can play multiple positions and because she plays her best against higher-level, bigger competition,” Stanford women’s water polo coach John Tanner said. “She had a breakout tournament at junior pan ams this summer.”
At Stanford, Monaghan will compete as center-defender. Monaghan is eager to try a new position.
“I had played center before, but I wasn’t big enough to compete there nationally. I switched to center defender and found a position that I really love, something I’m good at, and I’m really excited to take my level of play to the next level at Stanford,” Monaghan said.
Monaghan is in the pool for both water polo and competitive swimming. She is on the school’s record-setting 200 meter freestyle relay team. She was also a member of the girls’ varsity crew team and performs with Lawrenceville’s singing group, The Lawrentians.
