Stanford Women's Athletics Program Captures Second Consecutive Capital One Cup Title

MCLEAN, Va., June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF), an official NCAA® Corporate Champion, today announced the final women's standings for the Capital One Cup, which is awarded to the best men's and women's Division I athletics programs in the country.  Capital One congratulates Stanford University for winning the women's Capital One Cup for the second consecutive season, with a record 152.5 points.

Stanford will be awarded the Capital One Cup trophy during this year's ESPY award ceremony on July 11^th at 9PM EDT. The school, which will also receive $200,000 toward student-athlete scholarships, won national championships in soccer and water polo during the 2011-12 season.  Across the 20 women's sports represented in the Capital One Cup, the Cardinal had nine top-10 finishes aside from the two national championships, including: basketball, cross country, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, outdoor track and field, rowing, swimming and diving and tennis, illustrating the growth in collegiate athletic opportunities for female student athletes since the birth of Title IX on June 23, 1972.

Stanford outlasted Pac-12 rival UCLA (110 points) for the title, as the Bruins held the early lead after the Capital One Cup's fall standings, thanks to its volleyball national title and No. 7 finish in the final soccer coaches' poll.  Alabama (100 points), which finished in third place in the Capital One Cup standings, made a late–season run at the trophy, highlighted by national championships in softball and golf this spring.  Sitting outside the top 20 in the Capital One Cup standings in late May, the Crimson Tide bolted to their best finish, topping last year's finish in which they tied for 18^th place.  Rounding out the top 10 were LSU, Duke, Oregon, USC, Cal, Florida and Maryland.

Below are the official Capital One Cup final standings for the 2011 – 2012 season, with the top-10 point earners in women's athletics listed.  The complete standings can be found at CapitalOneCup.com/standings or Facebook.com/CapitalOneCup.

"It was another exciting race for the Capital One Cup trophy and, once again, Stanford proved to be too tough," said Capital One Cup Advisory Board member Jennie Finch, a two-time Olympian and member of the 2001 Arizona team that won the NCAA softball national championship.  "With their national championship in water polo this spring, the Stanford women capped off a dominating year and everyone associated with the Cardinal athletics program should be proud.  The magnitude of their achievement is even more significant given that it occurred during the 40^th anniversary of Title IX, through which an award like the Capital One Cup was made possible."

"Congratulations to Stanford for reclaiming the Capital One Cup trophy in very impressive fashion," said Roger Ferguson, Vice President of Advertising and Sponsorships at Capital One.  "We're excited to crown the Cardinal women's program as the best during the 40^th anniversary of Title IX.  By creating the Capital One Cup we wanted to shine a spotlight on women's college athletics and help promote its continued growth in popularity." 

"Stanford is very excited to repeat as the women's Capital One Cup winner, especially in the year Title IX celebrates its 40^th anniversary," said Bob Bowlsby, Stanford Director of Athletics.  "Stanford has a long, proud history of being a leader in women's athletics and this award helps demonstrate that.  Thank you to Capital One for your continued support of collegiate athletics."

Highlights from the spring athletics season:

• Stanford claimed the water polo title for the second year in a row
• Alabama won its first-ever national championships in women's golf and softball
• Northwestern lacrosse took home its seventh national title in eight years
• Florida won its second consecutive tennis championship, defeating top-seeded UCLA
• In total, 99 schools earned points in the Capital One Cup women's standings in 2011-12

This is the second year of the Capital One Cup.  Schools earn points based on their teams' top-10 finishes in NCAA Division I championships and in final official coaches' polls across 19 men's and 20 women's sports as they compete to win the Capital One Cup trophy and a combined $400,000 to fund scholarships for student-athletes. The race for the men's Capital One Cup is once again going down to the wire with the upcoming College World Series determining the winner.

The Capital One Cup winners will be honored at the ESPY Awards in July.  Last year the University of Florida won the men's Capital One Cup and Stanford University claimed the women's Capital One Cup. Beyond Finch, other Capital One Cup Advisory Board members include Barry Larkin, Lisa Leslie, Doug Flutie, Brandi Chastain, Rece Davis and Clark Kellogg.

About Capital One      

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., and ING Bank, fsb, had $216.5 billion in deposits and $294.5 billion in total assets outstanding as of March 31, 2012. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One and ING Direct offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.

Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN's Capital One Bowl Week. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot team, Capital One Academic All-America Program, and supports all 89 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.

NCAA is a trademark owned or licensed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.  All other licenses or trademarks are property of their respective holders.

Contact: Chris O'Neill, 804-284-5443
[email protected]

SOURCE Capital One