STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford field hockey concludes the opening weekend of the 2025 fall slate on Sunday, battling the James Madison Dukes in the 2025 edition of the Conference Cup. First pass-back from Maryland’s Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in College Park, Md. for Sunday’s penultimate match is scheduled for 11 a.m. EST.
FIRST PUSH-BACK
Stanford concludes its time in the Chesapeake Bay on Sunday having fallen in the opener of the 2025 Conference Cup to hosts, No. 4 Maryland, 3-1 on Friday afternoon. The Cardinal received career performances on both fronts with Daisy Ford recording 12 saves and Summer Knight-Thompson scoring her first collegiate goal.
Entering Sunday, Daisy Ford has recorded 199 career saves after stopping 12 shots on Friday. Ford became the first Stanford goalkeeper to record at least 12 saves in a game since the 2019-20 season when Kelsey Bing stopped 12 shots against Louisville on October 15, 2019.
Summer Knight-Thompson, who was named to the NFHCA Collegiate Watchlist, became the first freshman to score in a season-opener since Rose Winter did so in the 2019 season-opener in what was a 4-3 shootout loss to #15 Northwestern (8/30/2019).
The 2025 Conference Cup features teams from four of the major field hockey conferences with Stanford being slotted as the representative from the ACC. The Cardinal is joined alongside predetermined opponents Maryland (Big Ten) and James Madison (Mid-American) while Villanova also joins the quartet out of the Big East.
Stanford enters the 2025 season following a successful maiden campaign in the Atlantic Coast Conference a season ago, finishing 8-9 (2-6 ACC) while earning a trip to the ACC Field Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed before falling to the No. 3-seeded Boston College Eagles, 3-2. Stanford increased its win total from 2023 with four additional wins in the fall of 2024 and earned ACC wins over Wake Forest and Cal to solidify postseason field hockey.
Stanford is 14-13 in season-openers since the 1998 season following Friday’s result, amassing a 9-7 record on the road in those competitions. Stanford opened the 2024 season with a 4-1 win over Ohio in Muncie, Ind. in what culminated into a 2-0 start for the Cardinal after a 5-0 win over Ball State two days later. Stanford’s last home opener occurred in 2023 where the Cardinal opened against the Terrapins in what was a 4-0 loss on The Farm.
The Cardinal returns 23 players for the 2025 squad - including 10 seniors - maintaining nearly 80% of its offensive production from a season ago. Cara Sambeth returns after a six-goal campaign in 2024 while Liv Martin and Jenny O’Grady return having sat atop the team leaderboard in assists last season with both players bagging five.
Maroussia Walckiers returns to The Farm for her fifth season after a medical redshirt in 2024 and is poised to add to the Stanford offensive regime. Walckiers had started 46 of her 50 career games and has tallied 15 goals and six assists in three competitive seasons. Meanwhile, incoming freshman Summer Knight-Thompson can bring more firepower to the Cardinal offense after a stellar career in England where she earned caps with England’s U16 & U18 programs while earning a Super Six’s Championship in England’s premier indoor hockey league.
On the defensive end, Preseason All-ACC honoree, Daisy Ford, returns between the posts after starting in all 17 games for the Cardinal last season. Ford led the ACC in saves per game last season (5.53) having turned in a career-high 94 saves in all competitions. Her .770 save percentage also ranked third in the conference.
Stanford boasts one of the toughest schedules in 2025 with nine future opponents having been ranked inside the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Preseason Poll including Friday’s opponent, Maryland, who is slotted at No. 4. Following the weekend, Stanford’s future opposition includes six teams currently ranked inside the top-10 including North Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Harvard, Michigan and Boston College. Fellow ACC foes Syracuse and Wake Forest rank outside the top-10 at No. 11 and No. 20, respectively.