STANFORD, Calif. - No. 18 Stanford earned an important 8-6 victory over No. 19 USC on Saturday afternoon at Cagan Stadium. The Cardinal now sits alone at the top of the Pac-12 with a 5-0 conference record, one win ahead of USC and Colorado in second with a 4-1 record.
Stanford is now 9-3 on the season after earning its fourth win in a row on Saturday.
In a tightly contested game, the Cardinal flexed its muscle on both ends of the field. The offense was led by Jordyn Case who tallied five five points on three goals and two assists, as well as a game high nine shots.
On the defensive end, Stanford caused 15 turnovers, led by Annabel Frist and Madison McPherson with four each. Lucy Pearson faced 20 shots in goal, making six saves while allowing only six goals for a save percentage of .500.
The six goals allowed in the game was Stanford's third best defensive effort of the season, trailing only the five goals allowed to San Diego State and Davidson.
Stanford's defense also held the Trojans to their second lowest goals total this season. The Cardinal only allowed a single goal during both the second and fourth quarters.
Jay Browne, Annabel Frist, Aliya Polisky, and Rylee Bouvier each netted two points in the game, coming from one goal and one assist each. Ailish Kelly rounded out the scoring for Stanford, adding a goal as well.
Frist led the Cardinal in draw controls, collecting three while Ailish Kelly was second with two. Frist now has 318 draw controls in her career, tying Genesis Lucero (2018-21) for the most in Pac-12 history.
As a team, Stanford outperformed USC in shots (35-20), shots on goal (15-12), thanks in part to the stifling defense which caused more turnovers (15-6) to give the Cardinal more possessions.
Stanford shifts its focus to new conference opponent UC Davis on April 20 at 1 p.m.