CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Stanford reached the NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament for the fifth time in six years, and looks to take the next step in the development of the program when it travels to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for the first two rounds. No. 16 Stanford (15-2), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion, opens Friday against Big East champ Florida (14-5) for the right to play No. 2-ranked North Carolina (15-3), the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champ, on Sunday. Stanford hopes to advance past the first round for the second time in its history.
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The following is a closer look at Friday’s game:
What: First round of NCAA tournament
Who: No. 16 Stanford (15-2) vs. No. 10 Florida (14-5)
When: Friday, 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET)
Where: Fetzer Field
Surface: Grass
All-Time Series Record: Florida leads, 1-0
Live Stats: Click here
Forecast: 73 degrees, partly cloudy
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The following is a closer look at Sunday’s game:
What: Second round of the NCAA tournament
Who: Stanford-Florida winner vs. No. 2 North Carolina (15-3)
When: Friday, 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)
Where: Fetzer Field
All-Time Series Record: North Carolina leads, 2-0
Webcast: Look for links on GoStanford.com
Live Stats: Look for links on GoStanford.com
Forecast: 81 degrees, mostly cloudy, chance of showers
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The Nation’s Top Scoring Teams: Friday’s game matches the nation’s highest scoring teams, with Stanford leading at 16.35 and Florida at 16.05. Stanford has scored 278 goals in 17 games, with a season-high of 25. Florida has scored 305 in 19 games with a season-high of 21, reached three times. Winthrop leads the country in goals, with 308 in 20 games (15.40).
Season in Review:
• Stanford (15-2) has clinched at least a tie for fewest losses in a season. The record of 16-3 came in 2011.
• Won its first MPSF regular-season and tournament double since 2011.
• Perfect in conference regular season and tournament play for the ninth time in its 21-year history.
• Played three IWLCA top 20 teams: beat then-No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 10 Ohio State by 12-10 scores. Fell to then-No. 15 (now No. 7) Penn State, 17-15.
• Ended nonconference season with a 15-7 home loss to Cornell. In the next game, Stanford took a 10-1 lead at Denver in a 14-7 victory and has been rolling ever since.
• Beat USC, 16-11, in MPSF tournament championship played in Denver.
• Leads the nation in scoring (16.35 and draw controls (16.71).
• Denver native Lucy Dikeou is the only MPSF player among the 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award.
2015 All-MPSF:
First Team:
Adrienne Anderson, Jr., D; R. Santa Margarita, Calif. (Santa Margarita Catholic HS)
Lucy Dikeou, So., MF; Denver, Colo. (Kent Denver School)
Hannah Farr, Sr., MF; Hillsborough, Calif. (St. Ignatius Prep)
Rachel Ozer, 5th Sr., ATT; Moraga, Calif. (Campolindo HS)
Second Team:
Allie DaCar, Fr., G, Dublin, Calif. (Amador Valley HS)
Meg Lentz, Jr., MF; Cleveland Heights, Ohio (Cleveland Heights HS)
Team captains: Stanford’s team captains are seniors Hannah Farr and Meredith Kalinowski, and junior Meg Lentz. Farr was the 2014 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year and a four-year All-MPSF first-team selection. Kalinowski is a defender who had been a regular part of the rotation all four seasons. Lentz has switched from midfield to defense this season and has been an All-MPSF selection at both positions.
Stanford in the Rankings:
IWLCA coaches: No. 16
Brine media poll: No. 10
Lacrosse Magazine: No. 20
Lax Power computer: No. 10
RPI: No. 13
Family Ties: Stanford freshman midfielder Madison O’Leary is the daughter of Florida head coach Amanda O’Leary. In a twist to the story, Amanda’s father, Lonny Moore, was Stanford coach Amy Bokker’s P.E. teacher at Phoenixville Area High School in Pennsylvania. Moore would coach the Phantoms to state titles in football and wrestling, but his first was in girls’ tennis, on a team that included Bokker’s mother. Madison has played in 11 games for Stanford, picking up three groundballs and causing three turnovers. Amanda has a 96-26 record in six seasons at Florida.
Friday’s Opponent, Florida: The Gators are making their fifth consecutive NCAA appearance. Florida won the Big East tournament by thrashing Connecticut in the final, 20-6, after suffering an 11-10 upset loss to the Huskies in the regular season. That loss was the only blemish in conference for the Gators, who tied for the round-robin title at 6-1. Senior Shannon Gilroy is Florida’s all-time goal-scorer, with 204. She is No. 3 in the nation in goals 67) and No. 2 in points (89). Sophomore Mollie Stevens has scored in a program-record 23 consecutive games.
The Stanford-Florida Series: Florida won their only meeting, 13-11, in the first round of the 2011 NCAA tournament in Gainesville, Florida, ending Stanford’s best-ever season in terms of record. Lauren Schmidt scored three goals in a losing cause for Stanford.
Sunday’s Opponent, North Carolina: The No. 2 Tar Heels (15-3), the Atlantic Coast Conference won the NCAA championship in 2013, has reached the national semifinals seven times and the NCAA championship game twice. UNC is 22-15 all-time in NCAA tournament games and has made seven semifinal appearances (1997, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013), including four in the past six years. Carolina head coach Jenny Levy’s 22 NCAA tournament wins rank fourth in history.
The Stanford-North Carolina Series: North Carolina leads the all-time series, 2-0.
The Tar Heels won their most recent meeting, 13-10, in Chapel Hill, in the final game of Stanford’s 2009 regular season. Stanford also lost 12-5 in 2006, in Washington, D.C.
Stanford’s NCAA Tournament Results:
2014: First round: Duke 13, Stanford 8 (Notre Dame, Ind.)
2013: First round: Stanford 8, Notre Dame 7 (Evanston, Ill.)
Second round: Northwestern 15, Stanford 8 (Evanston, Ill.)
2011: First round: Florida 13, Stanford 11 (Gainesville, Fla.)
2010: Play-In Game: Stanford 15, Massachusetts 12 (Stanford, Calif.)
First round: James Madison 9, Stanford 8 ( Harrisonburg, Va.)
2006: First round: Northwestern 17, Stanford 9 (Evanston, Ill.)
National stat rankings: Also with MPSF rank in parentheses.
Team:
Scoring offense – 1st, 16.35 (1st)
Draw controls – 1st, 16.71 (1st)
Assists per game: 4th, 6.88 (1st)
Winning percentage – 5th, .882 (1st)
Scoring margin – 6th, 6.94 (1st)
Caused turnovers -- 46th, 8.06 (4th)
Individual:
Draw controls – 30th, Lucy Dikeou, 3.71 (3rd)
Kelly Myers, 50th, 3.25 (6th)
Goals-Against Average – 35th, Allie DaCar, 9.28 (3rd)
Goals Per Game -- 50th, Lucy Dikeou, 2.53 (3rd)
Goals -- 50th, Lucy Dikeou, 43 (4th)
Special situations: Stanford’s records in certain situations:
• When scoring first: 11-1
• When the opponent scores first: 4-1
• In games it has trailed: 6-2
• In games it has trailed in the second half: 2-2
When leading at halftime: 13-1
• When trailing at halftime: 1-1
• When tied at halftime: 1-0
• When leading with 10 minutes left: 15-1
• When trailing with 10 minutes left: 0-1
• When tied with 10 minutes left: 0-0
• In overtime: 0-0
• Largest deficit: Nine goals -- 15-6 to Cornell, in second half.
• Largest comeback: Trailed 8-5 to Colorado in first half, won 16-14.
• Record when holding opponents to 10 or fewer goals: 12-0
• Record when scoring 10 or more goals: 15-1
Winningest Coach: On March 8 with a 22-11 victory at Vanderbilt, Amy Bokker became the winningest coach in Stanford lacrosse history. Bokker, in her seventh season, achieved her 85th victory (she is now 96-36, .727) to surpass her predecessor, Michele Uhlfelder. who went 84-46 (.646) from 2001-08. There have been six head coaches in the history of the varsity program, which began in 1995.
Two-Sport Athlete: Senior midfielder Hannah Farr is a four-time All-MPSF first-team choice and the 2014 MPSF Player of the Year. She also is two-sport athlete, also playing on Stanford’s soccer team. Farr was a starting right outside back on the 2014 soccer team, which advanced to the NCAA semifinals. She also was a member of Stanford’s 2011 NCAA championship soccer team as a freshman. She is the first ever at Stanford to participate in soccer and lacrosse, and the second Bay Area recruit in program history, behind teammate Rachel Ozer.
Ranked Opponents: Stanford is 2-1 against ranked teams.
Feb. 20: at No. 19 Stanford 12, No. 12 Notre Dame 10
Feb. 28: No. 15 Stanford 12, at No. 10 Ohio State 10
March 24: at No. 15 Penn State 17, No. 9 Stanford 15
MPSF Rewind: Stanford captured its ninth Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament title, in Denver last week. Stanford earned the top seed as the regular season champ and a bye into the second-round of the six-team tournament.
MPSF Semifinal: Stanford 16, Colorado 5
• Kelly Myers, 6 goals; Stanford had a 12-0 run.
MPSF Final: Stanford 16, USC 11
• Hannah Farr, 4 goals; Card broke 5-5 tie with 5-0 run.
All-Tournament team: Freshman Kelly Myers was named MPSF tournament MVP after a combined nine goals and eight draw controls in the two games. Other Stanford players on the all-tournament team were Adrienne Anderson, Alexandra Crerend, and Hannah Farr.
Lucy Dikeou, Tewaaraton Nominee: Junior midfielder and Denver native Lucy Dikeou is the only MPSF player to be among 25 nominated for the Tewaaraton Award, the Heisman of collegiate lacrosse. Five finalists will be determined May 7, with a final ceremony May 28 in Washington, D.C. Here are some facts about her season:
• After the regular season, she was the only player in the country to average at least 3.30 pts., 3.80 draw controls, 1.60 groundballs, and 1.25 caused turnovers, and have a shot percentage over .500.
• Remvoing the shot percentage standard, Dikeou and Maryland’s reigning Tewaaraton winner Taylor Cummings were the only two in the country to reach each of those standards.
• Only player in the MPSF to rank among the top five in goals, draw controls, and caused turnovers.
• Team leader in points (57), goals (43), shots (83), shots on goal (64), draw controls (63), caused turnovers (21), game-winning goals (4), and free-position goals (12).
• In the past eight games, has had eight draw controls in three of them.
• Tied a Stanford single-game record by scoring seven goals in the regular-season finale at California, and also had eight draw controls.
Stanford’s Balanced Scoring: Eleven players have scored 10 or more goals. Only Jacksonville, also with 11, has as many. Here is Stanford’s list:
1, Lucy Dikeou, 43
2, Hannah Farr, 34
3, Alexandra Crerend, 31
4, Kelly Myers, 28
5, Rachel Ozer, 25
6, Kyle Fraser, 21
6, Mackenzie Tesei, 21
8, Alex Poplawski, 16
9, Kelsey Murray, 15
10, Elizabeth Cusick, 10
10, Dillon Schoen, 10
Stanford’s 20-Goal Games This Season:
April 26: Stanford 25, California 9*
Feb. 18: Stanford 22, Fresno State 7
March 8: Stanford 22, Vanderbilt 11
April 2: Stanford 22, Saint Mary’s 2
April 7: Stanford 22, San Diego State 10
* School single-game record for goals
Fifth-Year Senior: Rachel Ozer of Moraga, California, was the first Bay Area native to play for Stanford, when she arrived in the 2011 season. Ozer is the only fifth-year senior on the team and ranks among Stanford’s top-10 statistical leaders in several catagories. She graduated in June with a degree in atmosphere and energy engineering, and now is co-terming to earn her masters in mechanical engineering. Ozer ranked among Stanford’s career leaders in these categories: goals (126, sixth), assists (65, third), points (191, third), shots (267, sixth), and free-position shots (64, fifth).
Stanford’s all-time points leaders:
1, Megan Burker (2003-06), 207
2, Lauren Schmidt (2007-11), 197
3, Rachel Ozer (2011-15), 191
4, Kelsey Twist (2002-05), 189
No. 1 in Draw Controls: Stanford leads the nation in draw controls per game. Here are the national leaders:
1, Stanford (284), 16.71
2, Syracuse (331), 15.76
3, Robert Morris (266), 15.65
4, Jacksonville (294), 15.47
5, Louisville (260), 15.29
More Draw Controls: Stanford has been outdrawn only twice in 17 games: 16-8 by Notre Dame and 18-14 by Colorado. Stanford’s game-high is 28 against Vanderbilt, with 27 against San Diego State.
National-Team Goalie: First-year assistant coach Liz Hogan is an active member of the U.S. national team as a goalie. Hogan and Chelsea Gamble are new assistant coaches, replacing Brooke Eubanks and Lauren Schwarzmann, who were named head coaches at California and Mount St. Mary’s, respectively. Hogan, who coached at Virginia Tech last season, was a four-time All-Big East first-team selection at Syracuse from 2007-10 while playing for the legendary Gary Gait.
A Look Back: In 2014, Stanford finished 14-5 overall (7-2 in the MPSF) and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five seasons before losing to Duke, 13-8, in a first-round game at Notre Dame. Stanford went 4-2 against teams that were ranked in the IWLCA Top 20 at some point during the season, including an 11-10 victory at then-No. 6 Notre Dame after rallying from a 9-6 second-half deficit. Stanford finished second in the MPSF and advanced to the MPSF tournament final -- its 17th consecutive conference tournament final -- before losing to host Denver, 14-11. Stanford claimed the MPSF Player of the Year, junior midfielder Hannah Farr, and had balanced scoring, with seven players with 20 or more goals, all of whom returned.
