Laura Liedle

Classroom

Laura Liedle is a defender at Stanford University and has excelled in the classroom while also pursing learning opportunities beyond her classes. Liedle currently spends time as a research assistant for the Ashley Lab, which focuses on the application of genomics to medicine and leads the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. Additionally, she works on the ELITE athlete study, which focuses on characterizing genetic determinants of human performance by extracting DNA from elite athlete’s saliva from around the world. Liedle served as a research assistant in the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab in 2014, examining the use of targeting interventions to motivate individuals to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior using tools from effective science to measure change in emotion.

Character

Liedle is a hard worker and leads by example every day in practice and during games. Stanford Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe said, “Laura is an incredible person and has a phenomenal work-ethic. She leads by example and is highly respected by her teammates.”

Community

Liedle is an active member in the Stanford community and regularly volunteers individually and with her team at events. Liedle is a coach for Stanford GOALs, a seven-year community-based research study. The program is a family-based treatment of obesity for low-income Latino and African-American children and their families. The goal is to conduct a hands-on intervention to improve overall health of families. Liedle also volunteers with the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI), helping run after-school events for elementary school children to help them develop active and healthy lifestyles.

Competition

A four-year starter at outside-back for Stanford, Liedle is a reliable defender and one of the most active players on the field. She has started 70 of 71 games in her collegiate career. Stanford has held a 55-10-5 record during Liedle’s first three seasons with the team and appeared in two of the past three College Cups. Liedle is a 2014 All-Pac-12 selection, two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and was named to the 2012 Soccer America All-Freshman team. She was also a member of the 2014 U.S. Women’s U-20 National Team that won the World Cup Qualifiers in the Cayman Islands.