Katie Meyer who helped Stanford win 2019 soccer championship, dies at age 22.
Stanford senior goalkeeper Katie Meyer, whose penalty kick save was one of the most memorable moments of the 2019 NCAA women’s soccer championship, has died, the school said.
The school first mentioned a death in an on-campus residence on Tuesday, but did not release a name until family had been notified. It did not give a cause of death. The school said counseling staff has been on-site at her residence hall and athletics counseling staff has been working with student-athletes.
Meyer was a senior majoring in International Relations with a minor in History. She was also a resident assistant and captain of the Stanford women’s soccer team. She has one older sister and one younger sister and had turned 22 in January.
It was her celebration during penalty kicks of the 2019 NCAA women’s College Cup title game that endeared her to fans across the nation while also irking others. Stanford and North Carolina were tied after regulation and still sat 0-0 through the two overtime periods. It sent the match to penalty kicks for the first time in NCAA championship history.
Meyer saved the first penalty attempt, but the sides built to a 4-4 even score. That was when Meyer saved another shot to keep it there and gave a fired-up celebration to the camera near the goal post. Kiara Pickett scored to give Stanford the 5-4 edge and the program’s third title.
While many loved it, others said it crossed the line and some lobbed sexist comments. Meyer addressed those comments — and noted that she was 19 at the time, and therefore had never “been there before” — in an interview with Just Women’s Sports in January 2020.
“Going forward, I hope that if girls react that way again, which they will, because women are fierce, and everyone likes to play and be competitive — I hope the reaction stays positive. In the end, I’m happy a conversation was started about women being competitive because that’s what we are. We get heated in the moment. You can find that competitiveness anywhere, from lawyers, to moms, to someday, the future female president. People just need to take a step back and ask themselves, why do I think this? Why am I so shocked by a woman showing her passion?”
