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LOS ANGELES — Aliya Polisky’s seven goals highlighted an all-round dominant display for the No. 20 Stanford women’s lacrosse team as it opened the season with a decisive 18-6 victory over No. 22 USC at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.
Polisky, who recorded her first five goals of the contest all in the first quarter, ended the afternoon with seven goals and eight points. The Cardinal produced seven different goalscorers on the afternoon including sophomore Elise Murphy, who recorded four goals. Ava Arceri (2), Rylee Bouvier (2), Jordyn Case, Lindsey Devir and Martha Oakey rounded out the scorers for Stanford.
The Cardinal dominated the opening 15 minutes, turning defense into offense en route to a 6-2 advantage in the early going. Stanford continued showcasing its dominance for the remainder of the first half, answering every counter from the hosts with one of its own to take a commanding 9-4 lead into the halftime break.
Stanford, which answered USC’s first goal of the second half with three of its own in a three minute span, allowed just one more goal for the Trojan’s at the 4:59 mark of the quarter.
From then on out, The Cardinal defense showed its prowess, holding USC to six goals for the second-consecutive meeting while causing 12 Trojan turnovers throughout the afternoon. In goal, Lucy Pearson collected her first win of the season, claiming five saves on 11 shots faced to anchor the Cardinal to a season-opening win and the largest margin of victory by either team in the series history.
Stanford is back in action this week, opening the home slate with a two-game weekend starting with a game against former Pac-12 opposition Colorado on Thursday, February 13. Opening draw from Laird Q. Cagan Stadium is slated for 3 p.m.
