CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Following a comeback win over No. 6 seed in No. 17 Syracuse, Stanford is back in action on Friday, April 25, taking on the No. 2 seed in No. 2 Boston College in the semifinals of the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championships. Opening draw from American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. is slated for 8 p.m. ET.
SEVENS
Stanford (14-4, 7-2 ACC) enters Friday's contest after a statement 15-10 win over the No. 6-seeded Syracuse Orange on Wednesday night. Stanford, which jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, fell into a deficit leading into the half as the No. 17 Orange rattled off seven-straight goals en route to an 8-5 lead through 30 minutes. However, the Cardinal stormed back to life in the second half, ending the game on a 10-2 run with both Rylee Bouvier and Aliya Polisky ending the game with four goals apiece. Defensively, Stanford earned 16 caused turnovers during the evening while Lucy Pearson and Ella Morton combined for nine saves in cage as the Cardinal earned its 12th game of holding the opposition to 10 goals or less.
No. 13/12 Stanford has been ranked in both the IWLCA and ILWomen.com Poll every week this season and ranked inside the top 10 in all three polls seven times this season. Stanford earned a program high in the IWLCA Poll on March 24 having been slotted in at No. 4. Prior to this season, Stanford’s highest ranking came in the 2012 preseason poll where the Cardinal was ranked sixth while Stanford’s No. 4 ranking is the highest ranking of any West Coast program since 2017 (No. 3 USC, IWLCA Week One Poll, Feb. 20, 2017).
Stanford enters Friday’s contest in the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship Semifinals having faced two of the three teams remaining in the bracket. The Cardinal holds a 1-1 record against those teams. Stanford took a home win over Clemson (14-8) while in the bottom half of the bracket, Stanford has the opportunity to play spoiler and earn a season split against Boston College after falling to the Eagles 17-9 in the regular season in California.
Aliya Polisky continues to hold the team lead in goals, tying her single-season high with her 53rd of the year against Cal before earning a four-goal outing against the Orange. Polisky, who has a career-high 15 hat tricks this season - started the campaign with six-consecutive hat tricks and has recorded a hat trick in six of the last 7 games for the Cardinal including a five-goal outing against No. 4 Yale in what was the second highest win in program history for Stanford. Polisky’s 72 points also leads the Cardinal in that regard as the sophomore currently ranks fourth in the conference in goals and sixth in points. Ava Arceri sits second in goals with 48 on the year and has scored in every game this season for the Cardinal while Rylee Bouvier has earned 14 points in the last two games after joining the 20-goal club in the win over Cal.
Elsewhere offensively, Martha Oakey leads the Cardinal in assists after grabbing three of her 27 assists in the win over the Irish before nabbing one against Syracuse. Her 27 assists ranks 11th all-time in program history, surpassing Ali Baiocco’s 24 assists in the 2021 campaign while setting a new high for single-season assists by a true freshman. Sophomore Elise Murphy sits behind Oakey with 26 assists and has earned points in four-consecutive games after starting the season on a nine-game point streak.
Stanford contains one of the strongest defensive corps in the country placing 7th in the nation in scoring defense, holding opposing teams to 8.82 goals per game. Leading the charge is junior goalkeeper Lucy Pearson who boasts a 9.07 goals-against average and .469 save percentage, both of which rank inside the top five in the conference. Pearson’s goals-against average sits at 12th best in the nation.
Elsewhere defensively, Stanford sits third in the conference in ground balls per game (18.59) and fourth in the ACC in caused turnovers per game (10.06) with Olivia Rose and Rylee Bouvier earning 28 and 26 caused turnovers, respectively. Olivia Rose’s 46 ground balls lead the way for Stanford in that regard as she currently slots first in the conference in ground balls per game (2.72) while Bouvier’s 1.39 caused turnovers per game is good for 10th in the ACC. On the draw, Stanford is led by Dakota Uy, Amanda Lawson and Arceri who have all accumulated 45 or more draw controls this season.