Lawrenceville School Athlete Signs National Letter of Intent with Stanford University

Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by The Lawrenceville School.

Lawrenceville School senior Sophia Monaghan, a resident of Princeton, has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Stanford University and play water polo with the two-time defending NCAA champion Cardinal squad.

"I've wanted to go to Stanford since I was in the seventh grade," said Monaghan. "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 helped lead the Lawrenceville School to its first title at the Beast of the East, the biggest high school girls' water polo tournament outside of California, in 2012. A varsity starter all four years of her high school career, she was named MVP of the Eastern Championships as a junior while being named to the Eastern Championships All-Tournament Team as both a freshman and sophomore.

A member of multiple U.S. national teams, Monaghan helped lead the U.S. Junior National Team to the gold medal at the 2012 U-19 Pan-American Games. The center-defender was also previously a member of the youth national team.

"Sophia is an exciting prospect because she can play multiple positions and because she plays her best against higher-level, bigger competition," said Stanford women's water polo coach John Tanner. "She had a breakout tournament at Junior Pan Ams this summer."

She will compete at center-defender for Stanford, a position that is relatively new to her. "I had played center before, but I wasn't big enough to compete there nationally," she explained. "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."

Lawrenceville fans know Monaghan not only for her water polo expertise, but also as a member of the School record-setting 200 meter freestyle relay team. She was also a member of the girls' varsity crew team and performs with Lawrenceville's "varsity" singing group, The Lawrentians. How does she manage all that and maintain her high honors academic status?

"I've gotten used to being really on top of my work because my parents are pretty adamant about school coming first, and Lawrenceville provides a really good environment to balance an array of activities and do well in all of them," she explained. "Sometimes I'll find myself doing homework on the way to water polo or staying up later than I intend to, but it's all about being disciplined and resisting the urge to procrastinate."

Founded in 1810, The Lawrenceville School offers a comprehensive, coeducational program for 819 students in grades nine through post-graduate, who come from 32 states and 34 countries. The School is located on 700 acres in the historic village of Lawrenceville, N.J. For additional information, please visit www.lawrenceville.org.