GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Having secured its first NCAA Tournament win since 2016, Stanford is back in action, taking on the No. 4 seed Florida Gators in the NCAA Tournament Second Round on Sunday, May 11. Opening draw from Donald R. Dizney Stadium is slated for 11 a.m. ET.
SEVENS
No. 10/9 Stanford (15-5, 7-2 ACC) heads into Sunday having won two of its last three games including the first-ever NCAA Tournament win in the Danielle Spencer era on Friday. Having followed up a regular season double-overtime loss to Syracuse with a win in the ACC Tournament, Stanford earned a season-split with Denver, avenging its regular season loss with a 10-4 win over the No. 22 Pioneers in the NCAA First Round. The win marked the first time Stanford had beat the Pioneers in 11 tries and the first win since April 2016. Having battled back to force a four-goal deadlock into the halftime break, Stanford killed off two yellow cards in quick succession in the third while tallying the lone goals of the frame to take a 6-4 lead into the fourth quarter. The Cardinal eventually tallied four more goals including Aliya Polisky’s record-tying 62nd of the season while the Cardinal defense put together a nearly 38-minute shutout run and 15 caused turnovers to close out the 10-4 win.
The Cardinal heads into the tournament looking to advance past the opening weekend for the first time in program history. Stanford, which is now making its 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, has earned four wins in the tournament (2010, 2013, 2016, 2025) and is looking to after claiming its first postseason win in The Sunshine State in its third try. Stanford is looking to earn its first win against the No. 4-seeded Florida Gators who currently own a 2-0 record over the Cardinal as the two teams will face off for the first time since the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Stanford has been ranked in both the IWLCA and ILWomen.com Poll every week this season and ranked inside the top 10 in all both polls nine 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).
Aliya Polisky continues to hold the team lead in goals, setting a new career-high and tying the single-season record with 62 goals this season following a hat trick against Denver on Friday. Polisky tied her career high in goals with her 53rd against Cal before potting four goals in the win over #17 Syracuse in the ACC Tournament. Polisky, who has a career-high 16 hat tricks this season - started the campaign with six-consecutive hat tricks and has recorded a hat trick in seven 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 79 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 53 on the year and has scored in every game this season for the Cardinal while Rylee Bouvier had a seven-game point-streak snapped in the loss to BC after accruing 23 of her 35 total points across that span.
Elsewhere offensively, Martha Oakey and Elise Murphy lead the Cardinal in assists with both having claimed 27 on the campaign which slots both tied for 11th all-time in single season assists. Oakey’s 27 helpers is a new record for a true freshman after she grabbed her record-setting 27th in the win over Syracuse in the ACC Tournament. Murphy nabbed her 27th of the season in the win over Denver on Friday as she has now earned an assist in three of the last four games for the Cardinal. Murphy has also had two separate point-streaks of five games or more this season with her longest coming through the first nine games of the campaign.
Stanford contains one of the strongest defensive corps in the country placing 8th in the nation in scoring defense, holding opposing teams to 9.00 goals per game. Leading the charge is junior goalkeeper Lucy Pearson who boasts a 9.27 goals-against average and .468 save percentage, both of which rank top-five in the conference. Pearson’s goals-against average sits 10th best in the nation.
Elsewhere defensively, Stanford sits third in the ACC and top-20 nationally in ground balls per game (18.35) and 20th in the country in caused turnovers per game (10.20) with Olivia Rose and Rylee Bouvier earning 29 and 27 caused turnovers, respectively. Olivia Rose’s 50 ground balls lead the way for Stanford in that regard as she currently slots second in the conference in ground balls per game (2.50) while her 1.45 caused turnovers per game is good for 8th in the ACC. On the draw, Stanford is led by Amanda Lawson, Dakota Uy, Arceri, and Jordyn Case who have all accumulated 45 or more draw controls this season with Lawson and Case both earning 50 draw controls each.