Stanford University goalkeeper Katie Meyer’s death was “self-inflicted,” the County of Santa Clara announced Thursday.
The former Newbury Park High soccer star was found Tuesday in her college dorm, the university said in a news release Wednesday.
Meyer, 22, rose to national prominence as the heroine of Stanford’s NCAA women’s soccer national championship team in 2019, when she saved two penalty kicks in the decisive shootout against the University of North Carolina.
Meyer’s death is being investigated by the Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office in Santa Clara County, where Stanford is located.
“The County of Santa Clara is not releasing additional information about the case at this time,” a statement from the county’s public affairs office said.
More on Katie Meyer:
Meyer’s parents told NBC News on Friday that their daughter died by suicide.
“The last couple days are like a parent’s worst nightmare and you don’t wake up from it,” Gina Meyer said on the Today Show. “So it’s just horrific.”
The Meyers believe that fear over a pending disciplinary action at Stanford may have contributed to her death.
“Katie, being Katie, was defending a teammate on campus over an incident and the repercussions of her defending that teammate (were possibly resulting in disciplinary action),” Steven Meyer said on Today.
“We are not able to share information about confidential student disciplinary matters,” the university said, in part, in a statement to NBC News.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office also released more details Thursday. University police initially responded Tuesday morning to reports of an unresponsive woman inside a dormitory. The Palo Alto Fire Department pronounced Meyer dead at 10:45 a.m.
Sheriff’s personnel then responded at 11:33 a.m. to conduct a death investigation.
“The preliminary investigation shows no signs of foul play,” the sheriff’s agency said in a statement.
The Star does not generally cover deaths by suicide. After reporting on Meyer’s death this week and weighing her prominence in women’s sports, the information was deemed newsworthy.
A gregarious teammate and fierce advocate for women’s athletics, Meyer was studying international relations and history at the Palo Alto school.
The 5-foot-9 redshirt senior had twice been named to the Pacific-12 Conference’s Fall Honor Roll.
The Star All-County selection was a 4.3 GPA student at Conejo Valley Unified School District’s online Century Academy and a U.S. youth international. She also kicked on Newbury Park High’s football team.
One day after announcing that an undergraduate student died in an on-campus residence, Susie Brubaker-Cole and Bernard Muir, Stanford’s vice provost for student affairs and director of athletics, respectively, identified Meyer Wednesday morning in a joint statement by the university.
“Katie was a bright shining light for so many on the field and in our community,” the statement reads. “There are no words to express the emptiness that we feel at this moment.”
Reaction to Meyer’s death poured in locally and nationally. Many of Meyer’s former teammates honored her on Instagram.
The Pac-12 Conference, the National Women’s Soccer League and U.S. Soccer posted tributes to Meyer on Twitter.
A GoFundMe page created to support Meyer’s family neared $160,000 on Friday afternoon.
Members of the Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current honored Meyer’s memory before their NWSL preseason match Wednesday in Orlando, Florida. Players wore her initials taped to their wrists.
Feeling despondent?
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, for both English and Spanish speakers, can be reached at 1-800-273-8255 or suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
Joe Curley is a staff reporter for the Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. Follow him @vcsjoecurley on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Katie Meyer: Details emerge in Stanford goalie’s death
