STANFORD, Calif. — Having secured its first-ever win in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) last weekend, No. 8 Stanford returns home to take part in a two-game slate this weekend, hosting Pitt on Thursday, Feb. 27 before tussling with Villanova on Saturday, March 1. Opening draw for Thursday’s tilt with the Panthers is slated for 3 p.m. PT while Saturday’s matchup is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT with both games airing on ACCNX.
PICK 6
No. 8 Stanford heads into Thursday’s matchup after a stellar weekend in Charlottesville, Va., as the Cardinal picked up its first-ever ACC win in its debut, while also earning the first program win over then-No. 7 Virginia, 13-7, last Saturday. The win was also the highest ranked win since February 20, 2011 where the No. 13 Cardinal took an 11-10 win over No. 5 Syracuse at Cagan Stadium.
With a five-point outing against the Cavaliers, junior Jordyn Case swept a trio of awards heading into Thursday, earning IWLCA DI and ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors while also claiming the ILWomen.com Player of the Week nod. Case scored in all four quarters against UVA and grabbed a 4-1-5 line while also dominating the draw circle, earning seven of Stanford’s 14 draw controls on the afternoon.
Aliya Polisky continued her dominant scoring outburst to start the season in the win over Virginia, posting four goals en route to securing her fourth hat trick to begin the season and fifth-consecutive dating back to last season. She has recorded a hat trick in seven of her last eight outings with the lone outlier coming in Stanford’s win in the Pac-12 Championship over Colorado (5/4/2024) where she recorded a 2-1-3 scoring line.
Offensively, Stanford ranks top-10 in the nation in scoring offense (9th) and assists per game (T-5th), spearheaded by sophomore Elise Murphy who leads the team - and the conference - in assists with 13 this season. The Cardinal sits fourth in the conference in assists per game, averaging nine assists per game while also claiming the fourth spot in the conference in goals per game (16.50) and points per game (25.50).
Lucy Pearson anchors a defensive corps that sits second in the conference in goals-against average, holding opposing offenses to 6.50 goals per game. Pearson, who tallied five saves in the win over UVA, sits eighth in the conference in save percentage at 45.8%. Defensively, Olivia Rose sits second in the conference in ground balls per game (3.25) while Rylee Bouvier is fourth in the conference in caused turnovers per game, averaging 2 per game including two in the win over the Cavaliers. Against the Cavaliers, Stanford had 10 players record a caused turnover and forced four shot clock violations.
With a win against UC Davis two weeks ago, Stanford enters Thursday’s contest with a chance to break its home win-streak record at Cagan Stadium set from the 2010-11 seasons.* Stanford has not lost at Cagan since the 2023 season-opener against Virginia (11-14) with the Cardinal grabbing 16-straight wins across the now three-season stretch. During that span, Stanford has outscored its opponents 272-146 (+126).
*Stanford set its home win-streak at Cagan beginning on February 28, 2010 with an 11-10 (2OT) win over No. 19 Ohio State as the Cardinal continued its unbeaten run for eight-straight games to end the regular season. Stanford extended the streak to nine games with a “neutral site” win over UMass at Cagan in the 2010 NCAA Tournament Play-In game. The Cardinal brought the home winning streak to its now record-long 16 games by going 7-0 at Cagan in the 2011 season before dropping the 2012 home opener to No. 1 Northwestern on February 10, 2012.