Stanford (10-4, 5-1 MPSF)
No. 8 USC (12-3, 6-0 MPSF) • San Diego State (8-6, 2-4 MPSF)
Laird Q. Cagan Stadium • Stanford, Calif.
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STANFORD, Calif. – The Cardinal closes out MPSF and regular-season play this weekend as it sets to host No. 8 USC and San Diego State. Stanford will face the Trojans Friday at 5 p.m. PT and San Diego State Sunday at 1 p.m. PT at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. Friday's game is set to be aired on Pac-12 Networks with Jason Knapp and Julianne Viani making the call.
Last Time Out:
Stanford continued MPSF action against Cal Monday night with MPSF Offensive Player of the Week Kelsey Murray continuing her red-hot season with five of her six goals on the night in the first half alone. Six different Cardinal came out to score in the second half as Stanford edged away from Cal with a 15-12 win - its 14th straight win over the Golden Bears, giving Amy Bokker a 13-0 record all-time against Cal.
Prior to that, the Cardinal hosted Fresno State and Oregon, where it moved to 10-0 all-time against the Bulldogs with a 17-4 win. Murray had a banner night, scoring a career-best seven goals. Against the Ducks, Stanford fell behind 10-5 at the half, but surged in the second half to pull off a 17-13 win with Murray scoring five goals.
USC:
A rapidly-escalating rivalry has developed with the USC Trojans, who took the lead in the series history 4-3 against the Cardinal last season with three wins - one of which ended the Cardinal's season in the NCAA Second Round. MPSF and soon-to-be Pac-12 supremacy looks to be an intense rivalry between USC, Colorado and the Cardinal - stay tuned!
SDSU:
Another unblemished record is on the line for the Cardinal this weekend as well as it takes on the San Diego State Aztecs with a 5-0 record. Last season, Anna Salemo had a huge game for Stanford with four goals and two assists in her MPSF Rookie of the Year campaign as Stanford won 16-10.
Potent Offense:
The Cardinal returned five of its strongest offensive threats last year in Kelsey Murray, Anna Salemo, Kelly Myers, Elizabeth Cusick and Dillon Schoen.
Stanford is ranked 15th in the NCAA in scoring offense with a 14.71 average. Leading the way is All-American Kelsey Murray with 45 goals.
Offense May Win Games, but Defense...
The Cardinal has taken pride in its defensive prowess in its program history, but this year it has a daunting task in replacing two All-Americans in Adrienne Anderson and Meg Lentz. The duo combined last year with senior Alexa Mullins sending three new faces onto the defensive line. Freshmen Kyra Pelton and Mikaela Watson have filled that hole with junior Cameron Park.
The Cardinal is 43rd in the NCAA in scoring defense, though where Stanford really shines is in caused turnovers per game, where its ranked second in the MPSF and 21st in the NCAA with a 11.21 average.
Murray the Menace:
Redshirt junior All-American Kelsey Murray has amassed an incredible career in her years on The Farm. Overall, she's currently sixth in career goals for Stanford with 130. In addition to that, Murray has tallied a point for the Cardinal in every game she's played in since March 7, 2014 against Towson. That's 51 straight games of production for the senior.
Murray is also making marks on the rest of career records for Stanford - she's currently second in points with 204 and only needs three to tie for first with Megan Burker.
The senior also has the assist record in her sights as she has 74 to place her second in Stanford history - 14 shy of the all-time record.
Treat Your Elders With Respect:
The Cardinal is well aware of the adage after the return of Anna Salemo - the oldest MPSF Rookie of the Year. Salemo returned to Stanford lacrosse after a four-year break, including coaching the Mountain View High School girl's varsity lacrosse team. In her first season back she finished ranked 3rd in game-winning goals, 7th in the MPSF in goals, 9th in points and 10th in goals per game on the team. Bottom line - the southpaw isn't one you should ever take your eye off of.
Special situations:
• When scoring first: 9-1
• When the opponent scores first: 1-3
• When leading at halftime: 6-0
• When trailing at halftime: 3-4
• When tied at halftime: 1-0
• When leading with 10 minutes left: 10-0
• When trailing with 10 minutes left: 0-4
• When tied with 10 minutes left: 0-0
• In overtime: 0-0
• Largest deficit overcome: 4 goals – three times – last against Harvard 8-4 in second half.
• Largest deficit overall: 5 goals - against Colorado
• Record when holding opponents to 10 or fewer goals: 6-1
• Record when scoring 10 or more goals: 10-1