STANFORD, Calif. — On the heels of its second Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win, Stanford field hockey is back on the road this week, heading back to North Carolina for a pair of bouts against No. 5 Wake Forest and Davidson. Stanford stacks up against the Demon Deacons on Friday, October 17 at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT in Winston-Salem while Sunday’s contest in Davidson, N.C. against the Wildcats is slated for 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.
FIRST STRIKE
Stanford heads into the weekend having nabbed its second ACC win of the season last Sunday, defeating Boston College in overtime after dropping a close bout to No. 5 Syracuse on Friday evening. Against the Orange, Stanford did well to fight back having given up the opening goal just over five minutes into the contest as Mia Clark registered her first collegiate goal off of a strike from a penalty corner found the back of the cage just four minutes into the second half. However, the Orange answered quickly, nabbing a goal off a penalty corner of their own two minutes after the Clark tally to earn a 2-1 win.
Conversely, Stanford brought the firepower early on Sunday with Gemma Townsend opening the scoring under two minutes into the contest. Townsend, who had last tallied in her season-debut against Ohio, was able to slash home a shot from 10 meters to give the Cardinal an important 1-0 lead. The Cardinal, looking to keep the shutout, held strong for 59 minutes, but a late tally by the Eagles pushed BC level and the match into an extra sudden-death frame. In the overtime period, however, Stanford and goalkeeper Anya Jackson made a decisive stop before the offense took flight with freshman Natalie Hoppe clinching the win with her third goal of the season that gave the Cardinal a 2-1 win.
Following her third collegiate goal, freshman Natalie Hoppe leads the Cardinal in scoring this season with seven points through 12 games. Sitting tied with Hoppe for the team lead in goals, Kate Nemec is second on the team with six points courtesy of her three goals in the campaign. Liv Martin and Summer Knight-Thompsen sit tied for third in scoring with both nabbing a 2-1-5 line through 12 games. Lending a helping hand, Mia Clark and Cara Sambeth are tied for the team lead in assists with both earning two. Offensively, Stanford has 13 players who have recorded a point this season including 10 players who have scored a goal.
Defensively, Stanford is led in minutes by Scout Butler who serves as one of three Cardinal to have started every game this season (Mia Clark and Maroussia Walckiers). Butler leads the squad with 657 minutes registered while Hoppe sits second with 567. Following Hoppe is Cara Sambeth and Mia Clark who have 564 and 538 minutes, respectively, with Clark registering the lone defensive save this season for the Cardinal.
Between the posts, Daisy Ford and Anya Jackson have both split time in recent weeks with the former recording decisions in the last two games. Ford enters the weekend with a 3-5 record and sporting a 2.16 goals-against average coupled with a .686 save percentage. Ford also leads the conference in saves per game at 3.89. Jackson, meanwhile, has served as a second-half specialist in recent weeks, earning a 2-2 record in seven appearances in 2025. Jackson boasts a 1.81 goals-against average and .719 save percentage while making three starts this fall.
Stanford currently sits sixth in the ACC standings with two conference games remaining for the Cardinal. Having dispatched both Louisville and Boston College - who both sit below the Cardinal without a conference win - Stanford needs at least one more ACC win to inch closer toward a second-consecutive trip to the ACC Tournament. Stanford can lock up a postseason spot as early as Friday with a win over Wake Forest and a Boston College loss as the Eagles host Duke.
With another top-five matchup, Stanford plays its ninth ranked matchup - and fifth top-five matchup - this season on Friday against No. 5 Wake Forest. The nine ranked matchups this season is the most since the 2019 season when the Cardinal faced 11 Top-25 teams including four in the top-five.
Heading into the weekend, Stanford owns the 10th-hardest remaining schedule in the country as it takes on the Deacs on Friday who currently rank seventh in the last RPI. To end the ACC slate, the Cardinal take on Cal which ranks 16th in the latest RPI rankings following a win over Syracuse last week.