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Matias Falckenheiner
Women's Lacrosse

Women's Lacrosse 2025 Year in Review

Stanford ends conference debut with program records and best season in nearly a decade

STANFORD, Calif. — With the challenges of a new year in a new conference, the Stanford women’s lacrosse team not only showed its prowess as the best team in the west, but earned its best season in nearly a decade and the best under sixth-year Paul A. Violich Women's Lacrosse Head Coach Danielle Spencer. The Cardinal displayed toughness through adversity for the entire 21-game season, breaking numerous records and raising the bar for seasons to come. 

A Picture Perfect Start

Stanford entered its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference having been picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches poll, headlined by the return of a  trio of preseason All-Americans and Tewaaraton Watch List honorees in Annabel Frist, Lucy Pearson and Aliya Polisky. However, Stanford embodied a new team identity that showed through its perfect 6-0 start to the season, beginning with a pair of wins over former Pac-12 foes, No. 22 USC and No. 21/20 Colorado. 

Against the Trojans, Polisky tied her single-game high with seven goals to begin her season ledger while Elise Murphy - who had made just four appearances the season prior - nabbed four goals to begin her campaign. Against Colorado, the Cardinal utilized a 10-2 run in the second half in the rain to earn a 15-10 comeback win - setting the tone for what was to come in 2025. 

Following a 20-3 win over UC Davis to move to 3-0, the Cardinal hit the road for its first major challenge of the season - facing off against the No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers in its ACC debut. Down 3-2 through the first quarter, Stanford’s youth on offense took over to take a one-goal lead into the half. Defensively, the Cardinal stymied Virginia in the second half, outscoring the Cavaliers 7-2 in the half while forcing four shot clock violations as Stanford earned its first-ever win over UVA and its first win in the ACC. 

Stanford returned home from its visit to East Coast in prime form, earning its first ACC home win in a 16-12 decision over Pitt before fending off a late push from Villanova to move to 6-0 on the year. A week later, Stanford made the trip to The Empire State to face one of the conference’s best programs - Syracuse. 

In what was a dog fight at the JMA Wireless Dome that could not be settled in regulation, it was the No. 11/10 Orange that fended off Stanford in the second overtime period to hand the Cardinal its first loss of the season. In resilient fashion, however, Stanford ended its New York escapade in unnerved fashion, dispatching Cornell in the cold thanks to a near-second-half shutout to get back to winning ways. 

Card at Cagan

With eight games gone by in the campaign and a 4-0 start to the home slate, the Cardinal returned to The Farm for a season-long three-game homestand looking to extend its already program-best home win streak even further. Having broken the previous mark of 16-consecutive wins at Cagan with its 17th-straight win in the game against UC Davis, the Cardinal moved to 19-straight wins with a dominant outing against Virginia Tech, earning another valuable ACC win. 

Following the route of the Hokies, the Cardinal avenged last season’s one-goal defeat to the Yale Bulldogs in thrilling fashion at Cagan. Having surged ahead thanks to a six-goal third quarter, Stanford closed down the comeback attempt from the No. 4 team in the country with Lucy Pearson’s career-high 15th save in the closing minute of action proving the difference to give Stanford its second-highest ranked win in program history and highest ever ranked win at Cagan Stadium.

After the 11-10 thriller against Yale, Stanford once again set records, playing and hosting in the programs highest-ever ranked matchup as the No. 5 Cardinal hosted No. 1 Boston College. In front of the best crowd since 2012, Stanford fought well before a crowd of 1,177 fans but could not overcome a halftime deficit as the best win-streak in DI at the time was snapped at 20 games.

The Final Stretch

With six games left on the ledger, Stanford ran into its first road block of the season, battling hard in the elements in a gruelling 12-9 defeat at Army. However, Stanford bounced back with a convincing win against Louisville to put itself in prime position to earn a conference postseason tournament berth. 

With consecutive ranked ACC opponents on the docket, the Cardinal trekked up to South Bend and took care of business, holding No. 21 Notre Dame at bay to lock up a spot in the ACC postseason tournament with an 8-7 victory before earning the win in the inaugural matchup against No. 15/14 Clemson for its sixth ranked win of the season. 

Stanford held its home finale on Senior Day, honoring its eight seniors in Erin Schaefer, Sophia Brindisi, Ashley Thurston, Jordyn Case, Maddigan Miller, Kate Bellissimo, Allison Baldwin and Annabel Frist. Following the senior day festivities, Stanford locked up a third-place finish in the ACC with a dominant, 19-4 win over Cal just a few days later to solidify a 13-win regular season and a 7-2 mark in its ACC debut.

Postseason: Act 1

Stanford hit the road to Charlotte, N.C. for its debut in the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Tournament, earning the No. 3 seed and the right to avenge its regular season loss to Syracuse which earned the No. 6 seed. Having fallen into a three-goal deficit at the halftime break, Stanford went on a 10-2 run that included six different scorers in the second half while suffocating the Syracuse offense to grab its first ACC Tournament win, 15-10. 

Following the win over the Orange, Stanford looked to exact revenge against the No. 2 seed Boston College Eagles. In what was a tight game through a majority of regulation, it was the Eagles who pulled out the win, ending Stanford’s bid at an inaugural ACC Tournament crown. 

Road Warriors

WIth a 14-5 record, Stanford earned its second-consecutive appearance - and 13th overall - in the NCAA Tournament, grabbing an at-large bid as the No. 2 seed in the Gainesville pod and a chance at redemption with a first round matchup against No. 22 Denver. 

Having fallen to the Pioneers on Senior Day nearly a month prior, Stanford exacted revenge in the best way possible, earning its first NCAA tournament victory since 2016 and snapping a 10-game skid against the Pioneers with a 10-4 victory. On the strength of hat trick outings from Martha Oakey and Aliya Polisky - who tied the single-season goal record with her 62nd goal of the season in the fourth quarter - and a shutout performance from the Stanford defense, the Cardinal grabbed its first NCAA win in the Danielle Spencer era while setting up a soon-to-be thriller against Florida in the second round. 

38 hours after dispatching the Pioneers, Stanford battled the elements and the early morning start time in what was to be one of the most exhilarating games of the season for a chance to make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. 

In a back-and-forth affair through the first half, Stanford entered the final 30 minutes, unwavering in its belief it could mount a comeback as the Cardinal entered the half down 6-4. After trading blows with the Gators, Stanford snatched the final three goals of the quarter to take its first lead of the game heading into the final frame. Though Florida stormed out of the gates in the fourth to regain a three-goal lead, Stanford once again showed its grit, scoring three times inside a five-minute span to force the game into overtime. 

With neither side finding the breakthrough in the first half of overtime, the game was decided by a matter of inches as Florida’s final shot of the afternoon was deemed to have crossed the goal line before Lucy Pearson could shovel it back into the crease as Stanford’s season came to a heartbreaking end in the second round. 

A Season To Remember

Stanford ended the 2025 campaign with its second-most wins in program history and its best season since 2015 with a 15-6 record, proving itself as a formidable force in the best conference in DI women’s lacrosse. 

Aliya Polisky broke two program records in her sophomore year on The Farm, breaking the single-season record for shots with 150 on the campaign and securing the single-season goal record by tallying a hat trick in the season-finale against Florida for her 65th. Martha Oakey solidified the record for assists by a true freshman in a single season after tallying 28 helpers in her debut for the Cardinal. Both her and sophomore Elise Murphy’s 28 assists stand tied for eighth most in a single-season all-time. 

Ava Arceri had a career season as well, earning 56 goals which is tied for fourth most in a single-season all-time while her and Polisky became the second duo to record 50+ goals in a single season in the program's history. Defensively, Olivia Rose earned a career-high 31 caused turnovers on the season to place in a tie for fourth all-time. 

The Cardinal earned four ACC Player of the Week honors (Ava Arceri, OPOW; Lucy Pearson, DPOW; Jordyn Case, OPOW; Sophia Brindisi, DPOW) and two IWLCA Player of the Week nods (Jordyn Case, OPOW; Lucy Pearson, DPOW) during the campaign to put the nation on notice. 

For their efforts in securing Stanford’s third-place regular season finish in the ACC, Polisky, Arceri, Case, Pearson, Brindisi and Olivia Rose were named to All-ACC teams. Following the ACC tournament, Rylee Bouvier and Kate Bellissimo were named to the All-ACC Tournament Team. 

Following the season, Stanford continued to rake in the awards headlined by Aliya Polisky becoming the second player in program history to be named to three separate All-American lists (IWLCA Second Team, USA Lacrosse Third Team, ILWomen Third Team). Sophia Brindisi and Ava Arceri were also named USA Lacrosse and ILWomen All-American Honorable Mentions. Stanford also showed well in All-Region accolades with Polisky, Arceri, Brindisi and Rose being named to the All-West/Midwest Team.