STANFORD, Calif. — Having started the 2026 campaign with a perfect 2-0 start at home, Stanford women’s lacrosse is back on the road, heading back to the East Coast for a pair of games in Virginia this weekend. Stanford opens the two game slate in the commonwealth with a Saturday bout against No. 21/18 Virginia at noon E.T. / 9 a.m. PT.
Opening Draw
No. 2 Stanford (5-0, 2-0 ACC) heads back out East after starting the home schedule with a perfect 2-0 record. Stanford, which hosted its first of five Atlantic Coast Conference games at home in 2026, earned a clinical 8-6 win over No. 13 Syracuse to begin the weekend before the Cardinal dominated former Pac-12 foes USC on Sunday, downing the Trojans 18-4.
Stanford once again showed its poise on both ends of the field in its second ranked win of the season, limiting Syracuse’s offense to just six goals while the Stanford offense held its own. Against the Orange, the Cardinal never trailed in the game, earning a 4-2 lead through the first quarter before heading into the break deadlocked at 4-4. Stanford, which held Syracuse scoreless in the third, outscored the Orange 4-2 in the final frame to earn the 8-6 win. Five different players found twine on the day with Aliya Polisky leading the charge with four points and Mallory Hasselbeck earning three assists. Defensively, Stanford earned 11 caused turnovers while Lucy Pearson snagged five saves.
Against USC, Stanford opened up a massive lead to open the second half, turning in a 9-1 advantage in the quarter to lead the Trojans 14-3 through 45 minutes. Defensively, Stanford held strong on free position attempts, negating the lone one for the Trojans while forcing USC into 20 turnovers - 13 of which were caused by Cardinal players. Offensively, Polisky dominated as a feeder, earning six of her nine points on the day via assists - tying the record for fourth-most assists in a single game in program history while also setting a career, single-game high.
Stanford enters the week at No. 2 in all three polls (ILWomen/Kane, IWLCA, USA Lacrosse Magazine) for the first time in the program’s history. The No. 2 ranking is the highest by any team along the West Coast, surpassing USC’s No. 3 ranking it held for two weeks in 2017.
Reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Week Aliya Polisky leads the Cardinal through five games this season in all three scoring categories, holding the lead in goals (16), assists (10) and points (26) having earned a career-high six assists in the win over USC as part of a nine-point outing. Polisky’s six assists is the fourth most in a single game in program history. Following Polisky, Mallory Hasselbeck is second in points with an 8-9-17 line having deposited three assists in the win over Syracuse. Offensively, Stanford has 13 players who have recorded a goal with Elise Murphy earning a tally in the win over USC on Sunday.
Stanford currently ranks third in the conference in assists per game, averaging 7.60 through five games as Polisky and Hasselbeck have led as a one-two punch for the Cardinal. 11 players have recorded an assist for the Cardinal this season with Martha Oakey and Ava Arceri slotting behind Polisky and Hasselbeck for the top spots in helpers.
On the circle, Annabel Frist and Jordyn Case lead the team with 19 and 18 draw controls this season, respectively. Frist is second all-time in career draw controls with 337 and only needs 35 more draw controls to tie Genesis Lucero (2016-21) for the program record. Case, however, amassed 50+ draw controls last season and is vying to break that number following earning eight draw controls across two games last weekend.
Defensively, Rylee Bouvier leads the Cardinal having been named ACC Defensive Player of the Week this past week. Bouvier leads the Cardinal with 10 caused turnovers including earning four in the win over USC. Following Bouvier, Frist slots second with eight while defenders Kaleigh Sommers and Kate Bellissimo both have seven caused turnovers this season. Bellissimo and Sommers also lead the Cardinal in ground balls with both vying for the team lead with 11.
In cage, Lucy Pearson owns a perfect 5-0 record to begin the 2026 campaign having earned the start in every game this season. Pearson, owns a 5.42 goals-against average coupled with a .400 save percentage entering the weekend. The Cardinal senior currently ranks third all-time in goals-against average (8.97) and is now tied for sixth all-time in goalkeeper games played. Pearson has been a dominant part of Stanford’s defense that has limited the opposition to six goals or less in each of the last three games. Also earning minutes, Ella Morton saw action in the win over USC in what was her third appearance in 2026. Morton has made two saves on 11 shots faced so far in 2026.