STANFORD, Calif. — No. 8 Stanford closes out the weekend home stand on Saturday, March 1, opening the month with a date against the Villanova Wildcats at Cagan Stadium. Opening draw is slated for 1 p.m.
PICK 6
No. 8 Stanford heads into Saturday’s matchup after dispatching the Pitt Panthers in its ACC home opener on Thursday, 16-12. A trio of Cardinal registered hat tricks on the afternoon (Aliya Polisky, Jordyn Case and Ava Arceri) while defensively, Sophia Brindisi and Amanda Lawson had career days defensively with Lawson recording a career-high four caused turnovers and Brindisi recording a career-high seven ground balls.
With a win against Pitt on Thursday, Stanford broke 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 17-straight wins across the now three-season stretch. During that span, Stanford has outscored its opponents 288-158 (+130).
With a five-point outing against the Cavaliers, junior Jordyn Case swept a trio of awards heading into Saturday, 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 Pitt, posting three goals en route to securing her fifth hat trick to begin the season and sixth-consecutive dating back to last season. She has recorded a hat trick in eight of her last nine 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 (8th) and assists per game (4th), spearheaded by sophomore Elise Murphy who leads the team - and the conference - in assists with 14 this season. The Cardinal sits third in the conference in assists per game, averaging just over eight assists per game while also claiming the fourth spot in the conference in goals per game (16.40) and points per game (25.00).
Lucy Pearson anchors a defensive corps that sits third in the conference in goals-against average, holding opposing offenses to 7.60 goals per game. Pearson, who tallied five saves in the win over UVA, sits 11th in the conference in save percentage at 39.7%. Defensively, Olivia Rose sits first in the conference in ground balls per game (3.60) while Rylee Bouvier is ninth in the conference in caused turnovers per game, averaging 1.60 per game including two in the win over the Cavaliers. Against the Cavaliers, Stanford had 10 players record a caused turnover, while as a team forcing four shot clock violations.
*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.