STANFORD, Calif. – A grueling schedule and injuries riddled the 2016 Stanford Women's Lacrosse season, which saw the Cardinal rally back to post one of its most successful seasons in program history including its second NCAA Tournament win in the first NCAA Tournament game hosted on the west coast.
The Cardinal proved again that it has taken huge steps in becoming a prominent program as well as bringing national attention to west coast lacrosse, emerging as victors in the first west coast NCAA Tournament game with a 9-8 win over James Madison at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
Stanford showed no fear in facing top opponents right out of the gate, with a tough loss to No. 7 Notre Dame on the road to open the season. The Cardinal fired back after, rattling off six straight wins – three against top-25 opponents: Ohio State, Penn State and Johns Hopkins in a thrilling overtime win with a goal by returning All-American and U.S. National Team member Lucy Dikeou.
The elation was short-lived though as Diekou suffered a season-ending injury in the next game against No.1 4 Stony Brook. The Cardinal composed itself to win the next six games to move to a No. 9 ranking before having its 18-game MPSF winning streak snapped by No. 5 USC.
The two elite west coast programs would meet again in the MPSF finals, which Stanford retained its 19-year streak of reaching the conference championship game – a record that spans the Cardinal's membership in three different conferences.
USC claimed its first MPSF title, and would pop up again in Stanford's horizon as the Trojans were selected to host the first-ever west coast NCAA Tournament games, slating the Cardinal against the JMU Dukes.
The Cardinal would go on to defeat the Dukes to advance to face USC for the third time in three weeks in a match-up that would send the victor the farthest in the tournament that a MPSF team had advanced in conference history. The Trojans fought off a late surge to take the win 14-8.
On the year the Cardinal remained potent both offensively and defensively as it finished ranked in the top-30 in the NCAA in nine categories as well as seeing at least one Cardinal finish the season ranked in nearly every statistical category in the NCAA.
Stanford added its eighth and ninth IWLCA All-Americans as well with Kelsey Murray and Meg Lentz collecting the honor. In her tenure, Amy Bokker has coached seven of Stanford's nine All-Americans.
In addition, the Cardinal saw seven players collect All-MPSF honors, including a Rookie of the Year award to Anna Salemo. Four Cardinal were placed on the first team and three were named to the second team.
Stanford also asserted its academic prominence as it not only led the conference, but also set a program record with 18 members of the 2016 team named to the MPSF All-Academic team.
Below are this year's achievements and honors for the team and players:
Team
- Sixth NCAA tournament appearance in seven years
- Second time in program history advancing past the NCAA first round
- 19th consecutive conference tournament final
- 15-5 season record
- Recorded wins over four top-25 programs
- No. 10 final ranking
- Top-10 final NCAA ranking in Draw Controls per Game (5th) and Free Position Percentage (6th)
- Finished ranked-top five in 11 of 13 categories in the MPSF
- Seniors finished with a record of 58-19, with four NCAA appearances and two MPSF titles
- Team was awarded the Thomas W. Ford Award, which is presented to the Stanford team whose student-athletes have demonstrated a special commitment to participation in local and national community outreach programs
Adrienne Anderson
- All-MPSF first team
- MPSF All-Tournament team
- MPSF All-Academic team
Alexandra Crerend
- MPSF All-Academic team
Elizabeth Cusick
- MPSF All-Academic team
Allie DaCar
- IWLCA All West/Midwest Region second team
- All-MPSF second team
- MPSF All-Tournament team
- MPSF All-Academic team
- MPSF Defensive Player of the Week (Feb. 29)
- Finished ranked 17th in NCAA in Save Percentage (.484)
- Finished ranked 22nd in NCAA in Goals-Against Average (8.07)
- Finished ranked 24th in NCAA in Saves (137)
- Finished ranked 47th in NCAA in Saves Per Game (6.85)
Laura Klein
- MPSF All-Academic team
Meg Lentz
- IWLCA All-America third team
- IWLCA All West/Midwest Region first team
- All-MPSF first team
- MPSF All-Academic team
- Finished ranked 98th in the NCAA in Draw Controls per Game (2.50)
- Summer Institute for General Management Scholarship recipient
- Dick and Anne Gould Captain's Award
- Stanford lacrosse Most Outstanding Player Award
Alexa Mullins
- MPSF All-Academic team
Kelsey Murray
- IWLCA All-America second team
- IWLCA All West/Midwest Region first team
- All-MPSF first team
- MPSF All-Academic team
- MPSF Offensive Player of the Week (Apr. 18)
- Finished ranked 24th in the NCAA in Points (71)
- Finished ranked 37th in the NCAA in Points Per Game (3.55)
- Finished ranked 39th in the NCAA in Assists (27)
- Finished ranked 48th in the NCAA in Goals (44)
- Finished ranked 50th in the NCAA in Assists Per Game (1.35)
- Finished ranked 56th in the NCAA in Free Position Goals Per Game (0.60)
- Finished ranked 73rd in the NCAA in Goals Per Game (2.20)
- Arthur F. Dauer Memorial Sports Performance Award recipient
- Tied for 3rd in Stanford single-season history in points
- Fourth in Stanford single-season history in assists
- Tied for 7th in Stanford single-season history in goals
Kelly Myers
- IWLCA All West/Midwest Region second team
- All-MPSF first team
- MPSF All-Academic Team
- Finished ranked 98th in the NCAA in Draw Controls Per Game (2.50)
- Finished ranked 113th in the NCAA in Free Position Percentage (0.280)
Maggie Nick
- MPSF All-Academic Team
Madison O'Leary
- MPSF All-Academic Team
- Stanford lacrosse Breakthrough Athlete Award
Alex Poplawski
- MPSF All-Academic Team
Anna Salemo
- MPSF Rookie of the Year
- All-MPSF second team
- MPSF All-Academic team
- MPSF Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 22)
- MPSF Rookie of the Week (Mar. 21)
- Finished ranked 120th in the NCAA in Goals (35)
- Finished ranked 146th in the NCAA in Goals Per Game (1.84)
Dillon Schoen
- All-MPSF second team
- MPSF All-Academic team
- Finished ranked 3rd in the NCAA in Free Position Percentage (.700)
- Finished ranked 26th in the NCAA in Free Position Goals Per Game (0.70)
- Stanford lacrosse G.R.I.T. Award
Hannah Smith
- MPSF All-Academic team
- Newly elected member of Phi Beta Kappa
Sandy Smith
- MPSF All-Academic team
Paige Southmayd
- MPSF All-Academic team
Mackenzie Tesei
- MPSF All-Academic team