STANFORD, Calif. — No. 10/9 Stanford wraps up the regular season home slate this weekend, hosting the Denver Pioneers for Senior Day on Sunday, April 13. Opening draw from Cagan Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. PT. SEVENSNo. 10/9 Stanford enters Sunday’s matchup having won its penultimate ACC matchup against No. 15/14 Clemson on Thursday, […]
STANFORD, Calif. — No. 10/9 Stanford wraps up the regular season home slate this weekend, hosting the Denver Pioneers for Senior Day on Sunday, April 13. Opening draw from Cagan Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. PT.
SEVENS
No. 10/9 Stanford enters Sunday’s matchup having won its penultimate ACC matchup against No. 15/14 Clemson on Thursday, 14-8. With two goals separating the two sides heading into the second half, Stanford went on a 6-0 run in the third quarter courtesy of four woman-up goals as Aliya Polisky and Ava Arceri collected hat tricks in the process. Arceri finished with a team-high seven points while freshman Martha Oakey earned her team-leading 25th assist. Defensively, Lucy Pearson was tasked to make 13 saves on the afternoon while the Cardinal earned 14 caused turnovers, headlined by Olivia Rose’s three on the day.
With an outstanding defensive performance last weekend, senior defender Sophia Brindisi was named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Co-Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. Brindisi becomes the fourth Cardinal this season to be named to the conference’s weekly award list and second to be tabbed Defensive Player of the Week. The award is also the first of her career. Brindisi showcased her defensive prowess last week, earning a season-high four caused turnovers as well as three ground balls as the Cardinal earned an 8-7 win in South Bend, Ind.
Heading into Saturday, Stanford ranks inside the top-10 in all three women’s lacrosse polls for the sixth-straight week. Stanford earned a program high in the IWLCA Poll last week having been slotted in at No. 4. Prior to this season, Stanford’s highest ranking came in the 2012 preseason poll where the Cardinal was ranked sixth while Stanford’s No. 4 ranking is the highest ranking of any West Coast program since 2017 (No. 3 USC, IWLCA Week One Poll, Feb. 20, 2017).
Having grabbed her 13th hat trick this season, Aliya Polisky continues to hold the team lead in goals, securing her 48th of the year in the win over Clemson. Polisky started the season with six-consecutive hat tricks and has recorded a hat trick in seven of the last eight games for the Cardinal including a five-goal outing against No. 4 Yale in what was the second highest win in program history for Stanford. Polisky’s 57 points also leads the Cardinal in that regard as the sophomore currently ranks fifth in the conference in goals and ninth in points. Ava Arceri sits second in goals with 39 on the year and has scored in every game this season for the Cardinal while Lindsey Devir joined the 20-goal club after scoring twice against the Tigers.
Elsewhere offensively, Martha Oakey leads the Cardinal in assists after grabbing three of her 25 assists in the win over the Irish before nabbing one in the win over Clemson. Her 25 assists ranks ninth all-time in program history, surpassing Ali Baiocco’s 24 assists in the 2021 campaign while setting a new high for single-season assists by a true freshman. Sophomore Elise Murphy sits second on the team with 24 on the year after breaking a two-game scoring- and five-game assist drought with a 2-1-3 line against Notre Dame.
Stanford contains one of the strongest defensive corps in the country placing ninth in the nation in scoring defense, holding opposing teams to 8.80 goals per game. Leading the charge is junior goalkeeper Lucy Pearson who boasts a 8.99 goals-against average and .476 save percentage, both of which rank inside the top four in the conference. Pearson’s goals-against average sits at 11th best in the nation.
Elsewhere defensively, Stanford sits second in the conference in ground balls per game (19.13) and third in the ACC in caused turnovers per game (9.87) with Rylee Bouvier’s 23 caused turnovers and Olivia Rose’s 41 ground balls leading the way for Stanford. Rose currently slots in second in the conference in ground balls per game (2.73) while Bouvier’s 1.47 caused turnovers per game is good for 6th in the ACC. On the draw, Stanford is led by Dakota Uy, Amanda Lawson and Arceri who have all accumulated 40 or more draw controls this season.
