She found out Saturday amid her short visit to Stanford. She was in Palo Alto, visiting friends and she also watched the top-ranked women’s water polo team beat No. 3-ranked UCLA, 9-8.
Next year, as a freshman, she’ll most likely end up backing up Amber Oland, who will be a junior, along with the Cardinal’s other goalie, Kim Hall. For Baldoni, it will be like she’s starting over.
She was behind great goalies at CdM too when she was starting out, following in the line of Brittany Fullen, who’s now at UCLA, Tumua Anae, who’s at USC, and Kate Murphy, now at UC Santa Barbara.
“It’s going to be a lot of hard work,” Baldoni said. “But it will be worth it.”
Baldoni is looking forward to it. Her love for defending five-meter shots shows she’s not one to back down from challenges. Plus, she knows she fits in well with the Cardinal. She has friends there already she said. And at Stanford, she’ll join Mimi Bury, the former Newport Harbor standout who shared the Dream Team Player of the Year honor with Baldoni last year. Also, fellow CdM senior Victoria Kennedy, who is on this year’s Dream Team, is headed to Stanford as well.
“I’m really excited,” Baldoni said during a phone interview from Palo Alto. “I know the girls and I just love the team. It should be a good experience.”
Baldoni had quite an experience during her time at CdM.
As a freshman, she was a call-up to the varsity during the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs. She had a save during the title game when the Sea Kings won the championship.
