ELON, N.C. - Senior Kelsey Murray set a school record with 10 points and tied another program-best with five assists to lift No. 25 Stanford women's lacrosse past Elon, 17-10, on Sunday to finish off an East Coast sweep.
Murray scored five times as the Cardinal led from start-to-finish. Murray, who is the program's all-time career leader in goals and assists, is the first Cardinal on record to reach a double-digit point total in a single game. The Wilmette, Illinois, native is the fifth player in school history with five assists in a game, and the first since Lucy Dikeou did so against Vanderbilt on March 6, 2016 (Claire Hubbard accomplished the feat twice).
Stanford (3-2) led 9-2 at the break, and increased its lead to as many as 10 before the Phoenix scored five straight to close to within 14-9 with 6:48 to play. But Murray scored twice in the final minutes to keep Elon (0-5) at bay.
Sophomore Julia Massaro was largely responsible for Stanford's big lead as she won a season-best six draw controls, and scooped up a team-high three ground balls. Freshmen Galen Lew and Ali Baiocco combined for five goals, including the first career hat trick for Lew, who also finished with a career-high four points. Meanwhile, senior goalkeeper Allie DaCar, who allowed a combined four first-half goals during the East Coast trip, made eight saves.
Stanford scored the game's first five goals. Murray started and ended that streak. She scored the game's first tally just 1:11 into the contest, and then gave the Cardinal a 5-0 lead just five minutes in.
The team's traded goals until the 12-minute mark. DaCar and the Cardinal kept the Elon off the scoreboard for the rest of the half. Lew and Murray each scored in that time to give Stanford a seven-goal lead at the break.
?? trick for Murray!
— Stanford WLAX (@StanfordWLax) March 4, 2018
?? leads Elon, 9-2
5:18 left in the half #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/NPMxBLokdM
Elon scored first after halftime, but Stanford tallied the next four goals by four different players -- Dillon Schoen, Taylor Scornavacco, Maggie Nick and Lew -- to go up 13-3 with 22:49 to play.
After Scornavacco scored again to make it 14-4 at the 19:29 mark, the hosts rallied. However, Murray stopped a five-goal streak to put Stanford up 15-9 with 5:22 left, and the Phoenix never threatened again.
Stanford, which won at No. 16 Duke on Friday, outscored its East Coast counterparts, 32-15, over the weekend.
The Cardinal hits the road again next weekend with its first-ever Pac-12 road trip. The conference begins its inaugural season when the Cardinal takes on Colorado at 2 p.m. on Friday. Stanford then heads to Oregon to take on the Ducks in a nationally televised game on Pac-12 Network at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
A post shared by Stanford Women's Lax (@stanfordwlax) on Mar 4, 2018 at 9:26am PST
#GoStanford