STANFORD, Calif. — Following a thrilling, opening-night win at Cagan Stadium on Friday, No. 2/3 Stanford is back in action to close the weekend, hosting NR/RV USC on Sunday, February 22. Opening draw from Cagan Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.
Opening Draw
No. 2/3 Stanford (4-0, 2-0 ACC) remained perfect to start the season, grabbing its fourth win of the campaign in a chilly, tightly-contested affair in the Cardinal’s home opener against No. 13 Syracuse. Stanford, which never trailed in the contest, allowed its defense to take control, limiting Syracuse to six goals on the evening and a scoreless third quarter while accounting for 11 caused turnovers. Offensively, Stanford found its poise with Aliya Polsiky and Mallory Hasselbeck accounting having a hand in five of the Cardinal’s eight goals with the former earning a game-high four points as the Cardinal grabbed an 8-6 win to move to 2-0 in ACC play and earn its second ranked win of the season.
Stanford enters the week at No. 2 in the ILWCA DI Coaches Poll, which sets the highest ranking in any poll in program history while the Cardinal’s appearance at No. 3 in the ILWomen/Kane poll is the highest recorded rank in program history in that poll. Stanford’s previous program record ranking was at No. 4 which the Cardinal has earned three times in history. Stanford’s No. 2 ranking is the highest-ever recorded ranking by a team on the West Coast, surpassing USC’s No. 3 ranking it held for two weeks in 2017 (ILWomen Poll Weeks 1-2).
Aliya Polisky leads the Cardinal offensively after her four-point night against Syracuse, leading the Cardinal in goals (13) and points (17). Polisky tallied seven of her 13 goals on the campaign by tying her single-game high with seven in the game against Vanderbilt. Elsewhere offensively, Mallory Hasselbeck is second on the Cardinal in goal scoring, tallying seven times this season including a hat trick against Vanderbilt and two goals against Clemson. Stanford currently has 12 players that have recorded a goal this season entering Sunday’s contest. Stanford’s offense currently ranks second in the conference in scoring and leads the nation in shot percentage.
Lending a helping hand, Stanford notched five assists on eight goals against the Orange including Hasselbeck’s single-game high three assists as she leads the team in that department with six on the year. Polisky slots second on the Cardinal with four assists while 10 players have recorded a helper for the Cardinal through four games.
On the circle, Annabel Frist and Jordyn Case lead the team with 14 and 13 draw controls apiece, respectively. Frist, currently slots second all-time in program history with 332 draw controls and is 40 shy of tying Genesis Lucero (2016-21) for the program record. Case, however, notched a career-high 51 draw controls last season and nabbed three of Stanford’s six draw controls against the Orange on Friday to lead the team.
Stanford’s defense has proved formidable this season with four players sharing the team lead in caused turnovers including Ellie Johnson, Rylee Bouvier, Kaleigh Sommers and Annabel Frist. Kate Bellissimo and Amanda Lawson also share the team lead in ground ball pickups with seven so far this season. Stanford has also accounted for multiple shot clock violations against the opposition and has earned nine or more caused turnovers in the last three games.
In cage, Lucy Pearson leads the Cardinal having earned all four starts to begin the 2026 season, earning a 6.00 goals-against average coupled with a .417 save percentage. Pearson currently ranks third all-time in goals-against average (9.10) and is seventh all-time in games played with 45 so far. Stanford has also received time from Ella Morton and Shae Lembo, the latter of which made her season-debut against Vanderbilt and recorded her first action since the 2024 season.