STANFORD, Calif. — No. 7/6 Stanford is back in action this weekend, heading to western New York as part of a two-game set against No. 11/10 Syracuse and Cornell on Friday, March 7 and Sunday, March 9, respectively. Opening draw against the Orange is slated for 2 p.m. PT while Sunday’s match against the Big Red is scheduled for 9 a.m. PT.
PICK 6
No. 7/6 Stanford continued its stellar start to the season with a pair of home wins last weekend against Pitt and Villanova. Against the Panthers, a seven goal third quarter for the Cardinal was enough to help secure Stanford’s first home ACC win and break the program record for consecutive wins at Cagan Stadium, extending the unbeaten run to 17 games with a 16-12 win. Against Villanova, Ava Arceri’s fourth goal of the afternoon with six minutes left in regulation proved to be the game winner as the Cardinal secured a grudging 14-13 win to close out the weekend.
The Cardinal enters the weekend at No. 7 and No. 6 in the IWLCA and ILWomen.com polls, respectively, with the No. 6 ranking tying the program’s highest ranking in the poll since the 2012 preseason. Stanford’s No. 6 position in the ILWomen.com poll and USA Lacrosse Magazine poll are the highest in the regular season in program history.
Sophomore Ava Arceri was instrumental in securing a 2-0 weekend for the No. 8 Cardinal across a two-game home stand last week, accumulating a 7-2-9 scoring line which earned her Stanford’s second-consecutive ACC Offensive Player of the Week accolade. Arceri currently sits second on the team with 16 goals and has already surpassed her goal total from last year four-fold as the sophomore sits ninth in the conference in that regard. She has also recorded three hat tricks this season with all of them coming in the last four games. She also ranks third on the Cardinal in draw controls with 17 this season after securing seven last week.
Aliya Polisky continues to pace the Cardinal in scoring this season after grabbing her sixth-consecutive hat trick to start the season in the win over Villanova. Polisky has now secured seven-consecutive hat tricks dating back to last season and has earned a hat trick in nine of the last 10 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 (8th), spearheaded by sophomore Elise Murphy who leads the team - and sits third in the conference - in assists with 16 this season. The Cardinal sits fourth in the conference in assists per game, averaging eight assists per game while also claiming the fourth spot in the conference in goals per game (16.00) and points per game (24.00).
Lucy Pearson anchors a defensive corps that sits fourth in the conference in goals-against average, holding opposing offenses to 8.50 goals per game. Pearson, who tallied 10 saves in the win over Villanova, sits 9th in the conference in save percentage at 40.5%. Defensively, Olivia Rose sits first in the conference in ground balls per game (3.50) while Rylee Bouvier is third in the conference in caused turnovers per game, averaging 2.17 per game including three in the win over the Wildcats. Against the Cavaliers two weeks ago, Stanford had 10 players record a caused turnover, while as a team forcing four shot clock violations.