Parade Magazine could not wait until Natalie Sanderson’s season to end to announce the Buena High senior as its 2001 national high school girls soccer player of the year.
Could not wait more than a couple of weeks into her senior season to inform Sanderson of the decision, either.
Sanderson would finish the season with 40 goals and lead Buena a share of the CIF-Southern Section Division II title with Mission Viejo.
In Sanderson’s case, statistics did not matter when the panel of collegiate coaches made their decision.
Her skills were honed through club and high school soccer and appearances on seven age group national teams beginning with the under-14 squad. To become the best, Sanderson had played with and against the best.
So it was no surprise that Sanderson would be selected as the Ventura County Star’s player of the year three times and the CIF-Southern Section Division II offensive player of the year twice.
Buena won the Division II section title in Sanderson’s junior season with a 32-0 record. The following season, the Bulldogs would close out with a 19-game winning streak before tying Mission Viejo 1-1 for the title. She finished with 130 career goals despite being often double- and triple-teamed.
Sanderson would be named the 2001 Gatorade California Soccer Player of the Year and make the national high school soccer All-American scholastic team for the second time.
In her first collegiate game for the Stanford University women’s soccer team, the freshman had a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win over Fresno State. Sanderson scored the game-winning goal against Denver in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. She finished the season fourth on the team with 11 goals.
As a sophomore, Sanderson had the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in her first collegiate start. Stanford was ranked No. 1 in the nation and reached the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament. Another game-winning goal came the following season in double overtime against St. Mary’s.
For her collegiate career, Sanderson had 40 starts in 76 games, scoring 33 points on 11 goals and 11 assists. She was a four-time PAC-10 academic team selection.
Sanderson is employed at Nike World Headquarters.
She and her husband and two children reside in Portland, Oregon.