Andrea DeMoor Kitahata (born January 1, 2003) is an American college

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a forward for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

. She represented the United States at the under-17 and under-20 level. She also played one season of college squash for Stanford.

Early life

Kitahata was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, one of three children of Ingrid DeMoor and Luther Kitahata, and grew up in

Hillsborough, California Hillsborough is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlinga ...

. She attended

San Mateo High School San Mateo High School is a National Blue Ribbon comprehensive four-year Public school (government funded), public high school in San Mateo, California, San Mateo, California, United States. It serves grades 9–12 and is one of the seven San Mate ...

. She captained her club team in the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

academy and later won a GA under-19 national title with FC Bay Area Surf. She also played squash growing up and was ranked fourth in the nation at the under-15 level, but gave up the sport after committing to Stanford for soccer. She trained with NWSL club

OL Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since J ...

the spring before college.

College career

Kitahata started all but one game for the

in her 2021 freshman season. She scored four goals and added a team-high six assists, being named to the All-

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

second team and freshman team. She started the first six games of her sophomore season before choosing to take a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

for her mental health, grieving the death of her close friend and teammate

Katie Meyer Kathryn Diane Meyer (January 20, 2000 – March 1, 2022) was an American college association football, soccer player who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for the Stanford Cardinal women's soccer, Stanford Cardinal. She l ...

earlier in the year. She later appeared in a documentary about mental health called ''It's Time We Talk About It''. Before returning to soccer, she filled in on Stanford's squash team in the spring of 2023, under her former club coach Mark Talbott, and played in the team's number-eight spot at MASC and CSA tournaments. Kitahata's return saw her record nine goals and nine assists in the 2023 season, again being named second-team All-Pac 12. She scored three of her goals in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, where Stanford's undefeated season came to an end in the final against

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

International career

Kitahata was called into training camp with the United States under-15 team in 2017. She won UEFA Development Tournaments with the under-16 and under-17 teams the following two years. She was also invited to train with the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

youth national team in 2018. She was going to play for the United States at the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, but the tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The next year, with the under-20 team, she scored seven goals in six games at the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, receiving the Silver Boot as the competition's second-highest scorer. She was selected to the roster at the

2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup () was the 10th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its ...

, where the United States exited in the group stage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitahata, Andrea Living people 2003 births Soccer players from San Francisco Sportspeople from Hillsborough, California American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Women's association football forwards United States women's youth international soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players Stanford Cardinal women's soccer players American female squash players