Kathryn Diane Meyer (January 20, 2000 – March 1, 2022) was an American college soccer player who played as a goalkeeper for the Stanford Cardinal. She led Stanford to an NCAA championship in 2019, making two saves in the title game penalty shootout, and captained the team for the next two years. She trained with the United States youth national team from the under-16 to under-18 levels.
 Meyer during her tenure at Stanford | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kathryn Diane Meyer[1] | ||
| Date of birth | January 20, 2000[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Burbank, California, U.S.[3] | ||
| Date of death | March 1, 2022 (aged 22) | ||
| Place of death | Stanford, California, U.S. | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2014–2017 | Newbury Park Panthers | ||
| 2014–2016 | Eagles Soccer Club | ||
| 2016–2018 | Real So Cal | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2019–2022 | Stanford Cardinal | 50 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2016 | United States U16 | ||
Early life
editMeyer was born in Burbank, California, the middle of three children born to Steven and Gina Meyer, and grew up in Newbury Park.[3][4] In 2015, she was featured on the Nickelodeon reality show Soccer Superstar.[5]
Meyer attended Newbury Park High School for her first three years of high school before transferring to Century Academy in Thousand Oaks, California for her senior year. During her time at Newbury Park High School, she was also the kicker for the varsity football team for two seasons.[3][6] She played club soccer for Real So Cal and Eagles Soccer Club as well as the United States youth national team.[3][7] She committed to play college soccer for the Stanford Cardinal on October 10, 2015.[6]
College career
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Meyer became the Stanford Cardinal's starting goalkeeper after redshirting her freshman year.[8] She did not lose a game in her debut 2019 season, keeping clean sheets in 10 of 16 appearances.[3] She played a critical role at the NCAA tournament. In the semifinals, she saved a penalty kick by Mia Fishel in a 4–1 win over UCLA.[9] Stanford faced North Carolina in the championship game, which went into a penalty shootout after a scoreless regulation and extra time. Meyer saved Taylor Otto's opening penalty kick and the sixth-round kick by Tori Hanson to set up the Cardinal victory.[10][11] Meyer was recognized as the most valuable player of the match, and video of her goalkeeping went viral online.[11][12]
She became team captain of the Cardinal in the 2020 season, which was abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and made a career-high 49 saves in 14 games. She started all but one game as captain in her redshirt junior year in 2021.[3]
Meyer was pursuing a degree in international relations with a minor in history. She was part of the 2022 cohort for the selective Mayfield Fellows Program which develops Stanford students to lead technology ventures.[13]
International career
editMeyer trained with the United States national under-16 and under-17 teams in 2015 and 2016.[14][15] She represented the under-16s at the Tournament of Gradisca in Italy in and was named as an alternate to the under-17 team for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.[3] She trained with the under-18 team in 2017.[16]
Death
editMeyer passed away in her dorm room in Crothers Hall, a residential housing building on the Stanford campus, on March 1, 2022.[17][18] When asked about the situation surrounding her death, Meyer's mother said that she had received an email about disciplinary action, and that "She had been getting letters for a couple months... This letter was kind of the final letter that there was going to be a trial or some kind of something. This was the only thing we can come up with that triggered something."[19] Meyer, who had no legal representation in the action and suffered from anxiety and depression, received the email in the evening while on the phone with Stanford teammate and future U.S. National Team player Naomi Girma.[20]
Dee Mostofi, the Stanford Assistant Vice President, stated "We [the Stanford University administration] are not able to share information about confidential student disciplinary matters".[19] A statement by Santa Clara County on March 3, 2022, stated that the coroner's office determined the death to be "self-inflicted", with "no indication of foul play".[19]
The Meyer family filed a wrongful death suit against Stanford on November 23, 2022[21][13] in Santa Clara County Superior Court.[22] The suit reported that Meyer had been "facing disciplinary action for allegedly spilling coffee on a Stanford football player who was accused of sexually assaulting a female soccer player. Meyer's father said his daughter was defending that teammate, who was a minor at the time."[13] The complaint was through the Stanford Office of Community Standards and possible sanctions included having her diploma withheld.[23] It was reported that Meyer was hoping to attend Stanford Law School after graduating.[23]
In 2024, California State Assembly passed Assembly Bill 1575, or Katie Meyer's Law, introduced by Assembly member Jacqui Irwin.[24] Now moving onto the State Senate, the bill requires an outside adviser for a college student facing a disciplinary issue.[24]
College career statistics
edit| School | Season | Regular season | College Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Stanford Cardinal[3] | 2019 | Div. I | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| 2020–21 | 14 | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | |||
| 2021 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||
| NCAA total | 44 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 50 | 0 | ||
Honors
editStanford Cardinal
- Pac-12 champion: 2019
- NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship: 2019
Individual
- College Cup All-Tournament Team: 2019
- United Soccer Coaches All-West-Region: 2019 (third team)
- Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll: 2019, 2020–21
- CoSIDA Academic All-District-8: 2021
Source:[3]
References
edit- ^ "Kathryn Diane Meyer". Stanford University. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ Stanford Women's Soccer [@StanfordWSoccer] (January 20, 2022). "She's feeling 22, Happy birthday to team captain, @kdmeyer19!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Stanford Cardinal – 2022 Women's Soccer Roster – 19 – Katie Meyer". gostanford.com. Stanford Cardinal. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ Williams, Madison. "Parents of Stanford Goalie Katie Meyer Confirm She Died By Suicide on 'Today' Show Appearance". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- ^ Levine, Kellie (April 2, 2015). "Soccer Superstar: Freshman goalkeeper dives into reality television". Panther Prowler. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ a b Juan, Victoria (October 24, 2015). "Kick it to Win it". Panther Prowler. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ "Star Stanford women's soccer goalkeeper Katie Meyer, 22, found dead on campus". www.cbsnews.com. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
- ^ Joe Curley (4 December 2012). "Local Chatter: Former Newbury Park goalies Meyer, Dederick guide teams to Final Four". VC Star. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
- ^ Rosen, Haley (January 11, 2020). "Interview: Stanford GK Katie Meyer". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ Simmons, Rusty (2019-12-08). "Stanford women's soccer wins NCAA title on penalty kicks against North Carolina". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
- ^ a b Kim McCauley (10 December 2019). "Meet Katie Meyer, the trash-talking goalie who led Stanford to the college soccer championship". SB Nation. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
- ^ Charlie Foy (16 January 2020). "Who is Katie Meyer?". Rule of Tree. SB Nation. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
- ^ a b c "Meyer family sues Stanford for wrongful death". ESPN.com. 2022-11-24. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ "U-16 and U-15 Girl's National Teams Gather for Portland Camp". May 30, 2015. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015.
"U16 WNT to Kick Off 2016 at U.S. Soccer NTC". United States Soccer Federation. February 4, 2016. Retrieved 2024-09-22 – via TopDrawerSoccer. - ^ "U.S. U17 WNT heads to NTC in California". United States Soccer Federation. September 15, 2015. Retrieved 2024-09-22 – via TopDrawerSoccer.
"U17 WNT kick off World Cup year in Florida". United States Soccer Federation. January 1, 2016. Retrieved 2024-09-22 – via TopDrawerSoccer. - ^ "U.S. U18 WNT Training Camp in Virginia". United States Soccer Federation. August 2, 2017. Retrieved 2024-09-22 – via TopDrawerSoccer.
- ^ "Katie Meyer, 'larger-than-life' Stanford women's soccer captain, dies aged 22". The Guardian. March 4, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ Chan, Stella (March 4, 2022). "Stanford University star soccer player died by suicide, parents tell NBC". CNN. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Stanford's star soccer goalie Katie Meyer died by suicide, authorities confirm". Mercury News. 2022-03-04. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
- ^ "Katie Meyer's Parents Say Stanford Failed Her. The School Disagrees. - Sports Illustrated". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
- ^ Gabriel San Román (26 November 2022). "Family of Stanford soccer player Katie Meyer sues school over her suicide death". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ SFGATE, Katie Dowd (2022-11-24). "Katie Meyer's parents file wrongful death suit against Stanford". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
- ^ a b SFGATE, Katie Dowd (2022-11-24). "Katie Meyer's parents file wrongful death suit against Stanford". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ a b "Katie Meyer's Law: Bill named after Stanford soccer player passes through California Assembly". NBC Bay Area. 2024-01-31. Retrieved 2024-03-13.