STANFORD, Calif. — Having qualified for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Field Hockey Tournament for a second-consecutive season, Stanford field hockey is back in action on Tuesday, November 4, taking on the No. 2-seeded Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals. First strike from Louisville’s Trager Stadium is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT.
FIRST STRIKE
Stanford (7-9, 2-6 ACC) heads into Tuesday’s matinee having dropped its final regular season clash in a 3-1 loss to Cal in Berkeley last Thursday. In the game, Stanford nabbed the lead inside the second quarter with Natalie Hoppe’s fourth of the season putting the Cardinal ahead only 33 seconds into the frame. However, Cal nabbed the equalizer in the final three minutes of the half as the two sides entered the halftime break deadlocked, 1-1.
In the second half, Stanford continued to push for the lead, forcing the Golden Bears into two saves in the frame while Anya Jackson stood tall for the Cardinal with one save herself. However, Cal found the clinical touch inside the circle on two occasions in the final period, nabbing goals inside both the first and final five minutes of the fourth quarter to earn a 3-1 win.
With her fourth goal of the season, Natalie Hoppe leads the team in both points and goals this season having earned a 4-2-10 line in her freshman campaign. Following the highly-touted freshman, Stanford has four players tied with three goals on the campaign including Chantal Eiwanger, Gemma Townsend, Kate Nemec and Nadine Brenninkmeyer. Lending a helping hand, six players are tied for the team lead in assists with Anna Ghuliani joining the list following a helper on Hoppe’s tally against Cal. In total, 16 players have recorded a point for the Cardinal this season while 13 players have found the back of the cage.
Defensively, Stanford is led in minutes by Scout Butler who serves as one of two Cardinal to have started every game this season (Mia Clark). Butler leads the squad with 872 minutes registered while Cara Sambeth sits second with 779 minutes. Following Sambeth is Natalie Hoppe and Mia Clark who have 751 and 702 minutes, respectively. Clark and freshman Summer Knight-Thompson also hold the lone two defensive saves for the Cardinal this season.
Between the posts, all three Stanford goalkeepers have seen action this season with Daisy Ford and Anya Jackson combining to split time in the loss to Cal. Ford, who holds a 3-6 record in 12 appearances, owns a 2.13 goals-against average coupled with a .667 save percentage while making 11 starts. Ford also owns Stanford’s lone individual shutout this season. Jackson, however, owns a 3-3 record in 10 appearances in her sophomore campaign. She currently holds a 1.87 goals-against average coupled with a .698 save percentage in 4 starts. Kendall Dowd - who made her second appearance of the season in the win over UC Davis - registered the victory and has two saves on the season.
Stanford has played nine ranked opponents - including five in the top-five - in 13 games this season. 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. Tuesday’s battle against the Cavaliers would be the fifth top-five matchup of the season according to last week’s rankings.
With two goals against Davidson, Chantal Eiwanger earned her first collegiate multi-goal game and became the third Cardinal to record a multi-goal game after Nadine Brenninkmeyer and Liv Martin did so in the same game in what was a 6-0 win for Stanford over Ball State (9/4/25). Eiwanger also became the second Cardinal to score in consecutive games this season after Gemma Townsend scored in consecutive games against Boston College (10/12/25) and Wake Forest (10/17/25).
Stanford’s zero shots allowed against UC Davis is the least amount of shots the Cardinal has allowed since the 2022 season when Stanford held UC Davis to one shot with none on goal in what was a 5-0 win at Davis on September 25.