STANFORD, Calif. — No. 5 Stanford sets its sights on the 2026 campaign this weekend, hitting the road for the first of three-consecutive road contests as the Cardinal takes on UC Davis on Saturday, February 7. Opening draw against the Aggies from UC Davis Health Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.
Opening Draw
Stanford, which finished 2025 with its most wins since 2018, returns a majority of its offensive and defensive production from a season ago despite the departure of five players. The Cardinal also welcomes the addition of eight freshmen and transfer Mallory Hasselbeck to the squad while returning veterans Annabel Frist, Jordyn Case and Kate Bellissimo for their fifth-year season.
Stanford heads into the 2026 season with a plethora of preseason accolades headlined by five USA Lacrosse Preseason All-American honorees. Aliya Polisky was slotted on the second team while Olivia Rose was named to the third team. Lucy Pearson, Jordyn Case and Ava Arceri were tabbed as Honorable Mentions.
Stanford’s No. 5 ranking in both the IWLCA and ILWomen/Kane Polls is the highest preseason ranking all-time in the program’s history and the second highest by any program on the West Coast. Stanford finished the 2025 season ranked inside the top-10 and spent every week inside the top-20. Stanford claimed its highest poll placement ever in the ILWCA Poll on March 24, 2025 when it placed at No. 4.
The Cardinal also earned multiple preseason nods from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) after Stanford placed third in the regular season in 2025 in its conference debut. Polisky was tabbed as a Preseason All-ACC Team member while Arceri was listed as a Preseason All-ACC At-Large nominee while the Cardinal slotted third in the preseason coaches’ poll.
Offensively, Stanford returns 95% of its goals, 94% of its assists and 98% of its draw controls from a season ago. Junior Aliya Polisky returns having broken Stanford’s single-season goal mark with 65 last season while fellow junior Ava Arceri notched a career-high 56 goals in 2025.On the draw, the Cardinal returns four players who achieved 50+ draw controls in 2025 including Amanda Lawson who returns for her sophomore season following a team-leading 54 draw controls a season ago.
Elsewhere on the offense, Elise Murphy and Martha Oakey return to lend a helping hand after a stellar 2025 campaign that saw them both grab 28 assists which was tied for ninth all-time for the Cardinal.
Defensively, Stanford returns one of the best defenses in the country from a season ago, keeping 70% of its caused turnovers and all of its saves from 2025 as the Cardinal recorded the eighth best scoring defense in the country in 2025. Olivia Rose and Rylee Bouvier return for Stanford having led the Cardinal in caused turnovers while Lucy Pearson is back in the cage after recording the second-most minutes all-time in a single season by a Stanford goalkeeper with 1,197 and posting a career-high 160 saves.
Paul A. Violich Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Danielle Spencer leads the Cardinal in her seventh season at the helm having earned her first NCAA Tournament victory as a head coach in 2025. Spencer holds a 64-31 record with the Cardinal and is approaching her 100th career coaching victory this season, holding a 93-50 record in 10 seasons following a three-year stint at Dartmouth (2017-2019).