Know Your Dash- Stephanie Ochs

Stephanie Ochs grew up in California and attended Patrick Henry High School. She played on her high school soccer team all four years she was at PHHS. Her senior year she was named the schools Female Athlete of the Year and named first team All-CIF. In addition to playing for her high school team she also played club soccer for Surf Soccer.

Ochs was recruited by a number of colleges including Washington and Boston College but chose to attend the University of San Diego. She played in every match her freshman year starting 13 of those games. She had 2 assists and 3 goals two of which were game winners against Iowa and San Francisco. As a sophomore she started every match scoring 8 assists and 6 goals. At the end of the year she was named first team All-WCC and second team All-NSCAA. In 2010, her junior year she once again started every game this time scoring 7 assists and 8 goals. This lead her to being named first team All-WCC again as well as be named the USD Torero Female Athlete of the Year an award she would get again as a senior. In her final season with USD she once against started every game scoring 8 goals and an amazing 14 assists. She was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.

After college she was taken in the first round of the 2012 WPS Draft by the Boston Breakers. But the league folded a few weeks after the draft. So for 2012 she went to play for the Western New York Flash in the WPSL Elite as the team won its third championship. With the creation of the NWSL in 2013 she was taken as the number one selection in the 2013 NWSL Supplemental Draft by the Washington Spirit. She played in all 22 games for the Spirit scoring 1 goal and 2 assists before going on loan to Canberra United in September 2013. In her first 7 games with the W-League team in Australia she scored 4 goals. The Houston Dash traded Danesha Adams to the Spirit for Ochs in January 2013. As player on the USWNT U-23s she was named MVP of the Four Nations Tournament in 2013 after scoring 2 goals and 3 assists.

A forward with a ton of speed Ochs is great with the ball at her feet and knows how to put it in the back of the net. Still young her game continues to develop which can only lead to more and more goals.