STANFORD, Calif. — No. 11/13 Stanford is back in action this week, traveling to Berkeley, Calif., to take on the Cal Golden Bears in the regular season and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) finale on Thursday, April 17. Opening draw from California Memorial Stadium is slated for 4 p.m. PT.
SEVENS
No. 11/13 Stanford heads into Thursday’s contest after going 1-1 last week, earning a defining 14-8 win over #15/14 Clemson on Thursday before dropping a close contest to Denver on Senior Day by a score of 14-9 on Sunday. Stanford surged in the Thursday tilt against Clemson, opening the second half with an eventual 8-1 run through 17:50 elapsed in the half to grab an 11-3 lead early in the fourth that the Cardinal saw through to the final buzzer. Against Denver, Stanford fought in a grudging back-and-forth affair through the first half before the Pioneers earned a 7-3 advantage in the second half to ride out victors, 14-9.
Stanford has been ranked in both the IWLCA and ILWomen.com Poll every week this season and ranked inside the top 10 in all three polls seven times this season. Stanford earned a program high in the IWLCA Poll on March 24 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).
The Cardinal heads to Berkeley in a tie for the No. 3 seed in the ACC Postseason Tournament, occupying the spot with Duke (12-3, 6-2 ACC). With a win on Thursday, Stanford would at least lock up a top-four seed barring any other results around the conference. The Cardinal can place no higher than the No. 3 seed but no lower than the No. 6 slot.
Having grabbed her 14th hat trick this season, Aliya Polisky continues to hold the team lead in goals, securing her 51st of the year in the game against Denver. Polisky started the season with six-consecutive hat tricks and has recorded a hat trick in eight of the last nine 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 62 points also leads the Cardinal in that regard as the sophomore currently ranks fourth in the conference in goals and seventh in points. Ava Arceri sits second in goals with 40 on the year and has scored in every game this season for the Cardinal while Lindsey Devir joined the 20-goal club after scoring three goals this past week.
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 behind Oakey with 24 assists and has earned points in consecutive games after having been held off the scoresheet in her previous two outings before Clemson.
Stanford contains one of the strongest defensive corps in the country placing 14th in the nation in scoring defense, holding opposing teams to 9.13 goals per game. Leading the charge is junior goalkeeper Lucy Pearson who boasts a 9.31 goals-against average and .464 save percentage, both of which rank inside the top six in the conference. Pearson’s goals-against average sits at 13th best in the nation.
Elsewhere defensively, Stanford sits second in the conference in ground balls per game (19.00) and third in the ACC in caused turnovers per game (9.94) with Rylee Bouvier’s 25 caused turnovers and Olivia Rose’s 41 ground balls leading the way for Stanford. Rose currently slots in third in the conference in ground balls per game (2.56) while Bouvier’s 1.63 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 44 or more draw controls this season.