STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford field hockey closes its two-game slate in The Tarheel State on Sunday, taking on the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels to complete the first weekend of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) action. First pushback from Chapel Hill, N.C. is slated for 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.
FIRST STRIKE
Stanford heads into Sunday’s contest following a narrow loss in its ACC opener on Friday, falling at No. 7 Duke, 2-0. The Cardinal, which had entered the weekend looking to avenge a 3-2 loss to No. 7 Michigan, saw the Blue Devils take a late first quarter lead that would eventually be the lone goal of the first half off of a penalty corner. Though Stanford remained the aggressor, Duke doubled its lead in the third quarter before sealing a furious Cardinal offense from getting on the scoresheet in the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils earned the 2-0 win.
With three goals in the last five games, Kate Nemec leads the Stanford offense with three goals in the season in seven matches. Nemec, who had potted just one goal in 32 games heading into the season, has set a new career-high in goals (3) and points (6). Elsewhere offensively, Liv Martin, Nadine Brenninkmeyer, Natalie Hoppe, and Maroussia Walckiers sit tied for second on the team in goals with all four earning two this season. Martin currently sits second on the team in points following an assist on Hoppe’s second of the season against Michigan.
Both Liv Martin and Nadine Brenninkmeyer recorded their first multi-goal games in the win over Ball State two weeks ago as both have set new career-highs in goals with two on the campaign. In total, 12 players have recorded a point this season for the Cardinal.
Defensively, Stanford is led by its two backers in Scout Butler and Cara Sambeth who sit near the team-lead in minutes played this season with 399 and 297, respectively. Butler leads the team in shots this season with 15 so far while earning one helper to her stat line while Sambeth has accrued one point on her tab courtesy of one assist. In the midfield, Natalie Hoppe sits second on the team in minutes played at 370 and currently leads all freshman scoring with two goals and four points in six appearances.
Anya Jackson and Daisy Ford have seen a majority of the action this season for the Cardinal with the latter earning six starts on the year. Jackson made her season debut in the shootout against Harvard and earned the start in the win over Ohio, earning one save on three shots faced as she owns a 1-1 record in 2025. Ford, who made a career-high 12 saves in the loss to Maryland, owns a 2-3 record this season following the weekend, boasting a .730 save percentage and a 1.68 goals-against average. Ford currently leads the conference in saves (27) and saves per game (4.50).
Stanford enters this weekend’s contest in its second season in the ACC, having earned a postseason berth in the conference tournament last season with a 2-6 conference record. The Cardinal earned wins over Cal and Wake Forest in 2024 before falling to No. 3-seeded Boston College, 3-2, in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals.
Heading into the weekend, Stanford owns the ninth-hardest schedule in NCAA DI field hockey and the third-hardest in the ACC. Barring the game against Michigan, Stanford takes on five opponents currently ranked in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Poll in the next six games including this week’s opponents in Duke and North Carolina who rank No. 2 and No. 7, respectively.