Quiet leader helps improve team

Junior Kristen Stanford has a very specific goal in mind. She wants to go to the NCAA Championship. But first, they have to get through the Collegiate Water Polo Association Eastern Championships.\nAs Stanford's coach and teammates noted, Stanford's leadership and work ethic will help carry the team there. Stanford said team leadership roles are fairly spread out over the upperclassmen and she tries to help out. Senior Molly Fonner thinks Stanford is a good leader.\n"She is not always outspoken, but she says what's on her mind when it needs to be said," Fonner said. "She leads in other ways."\nOne of those ways is Stanford's work ethic. "She leads by example more than verbally by working hard every practice," coach Barry King said. "She comes to practice early. She does the things that people look at."\n Stanford's hard work has definitely paid of this season and in her career. She is first on the team with 39 goals and is second in assists with 19. She also contributes on the defensive end with 30 steals, good for second on the team. \n In the game against Loyola Marymount, Stanford became the all-time leader in goals at IU with 140. She currently has 147 goals. Despite that accomplishment, Stanford doesn't take it too seriously.\n "I didn't even know about it when I set it," Stanford said. "I was kind of excited when I found out though. But we're a team. The more we play as a team, the better we'll be."\n King said that Stanford came to the program with a lot of physical skills but little knowledge of the sport. King believes that Stanford's work ethic has made her into the player she is.\n"She has a devotion to practice and has worked to become a pretty good player," King said. "She sets a standard that the team as a whole has adhered to."\nFonner believes that one of Stanford's best abilities may be her attitude.\n"She has a very positive attitude," Fonner said. "She has a lot of physical ability. She is a good offensive threat and plays good defense as well. She's willing to accept any challenge."\nKing knows that Stanford still has some things to work on in order for her and the team to be successful.\n"She needs to continue to convert the opportunities that she is getting," King said. "She needs to limit her turnovers and improve on defense. If we get the rest of the group to raise the level of their defense, we'll be right in the mix"