STANFORD, Calif. — A blistering start mixed with timely free-position scoring proved the difference on Saturday evening as the No. 2 Stanford women’s lacrosse team continued its undefeated start to the season, dispatching No. 11/12 Notre Dame from Cagan Stadium, 17-11. With the win, Stanford posts its best start to a season in a non-COVID affected season all-time with nine-straight victories to open the campaign.
Stanford (9-0, 6-0 ACC) dominated the early going with a trademark start: turning defense into offense. Having lost the opening draw control, the Cardinal defense earned its first caused turnover of the day with Rylee Bouvier’s 18th caused turnover of the season giving Stanford a rush chance. In transition, Martha Oakey wired a pass to Aliya Polisky who opened the scoring for Stanford just 96 seconds into the contest.
The Cardinal sieged upon the Irish on both ends of the field, limiting the Irish offense while forcing two turnovers before pulling ahead with a flurry of late period tallies. With Stanford amassing a three-goal lead following goals from Annabel Frist and Amanda Lawson, the Cardinal scored three times in a span of 95 seconds to grab a 6-0 late in the opening frame. Lindsey Devir opened the scoring run having finished off a feed from Mallory Hasselbeck before Ava Arceri tallied twice in the final minutes, scoring a free-position attempt before slotting home a feed from Polisky to put the Cardinal in the driver' s seat.
Stanford continued the barrage into the second quarter as Frist secured her final goal of the day via a free-position tally. However, Notre Dame found its footing in the second with consecutive tallies under two minutes apart to cut the Cardinal lead to five. However, Stanford was clinical on the eight-meter hashes to end the half as Polisky grabbed her hat trick with a pair of free-position tallies before Hasselbeck snagged her first of the day with 20 seconds left in the half as the Cardinal went into the break leading 10-4.
Facing the deficit, Notre Dame (6-3, 2-3 ACC) came out buzzing in the second half, quickly tabbing three goals to trim the lead back to three inside the first five minutes. However, Stanford’s free-position offense - which went 7-for-10 on the day - kept the Irish at bay. Following the trio of Irish tallies, the Cardinal slotted home three-straight from the eight-meter hash with Lexi Rodell charging the goal for her lone score of the afternoon before Arceri clinched a hat trick off of eight-meter shots, tallying twice just over a minute apart to put Stanford back ahead 13-7 with under four to go in the third. The Cardinal stretched the lead to eight heading into the fourth as Hasselbeck and Polisky slotted home assisted feeds as the Cardinal closed the third quarter on a 5-0 run.
Notre Dame, however, did not go away quietly, racking up three goals in the first five minutes to cut Stanford’s lead to five. The Cardinal defense, however, allowed just one final goal from the Irish to end the frame with a Kate Timarky free-position shot finding the net to close the gap to four goals. A gap the Irish would not overcome.
With the Stanford defense baiting the visitors into five fourth quarter turnovers, the Cardinal offense chipped away at the clock before posting a pair of power-play goals in the final two minutes. Elise Murphy snagged her second of the season off a feed from Hasselbeck with under two to go before the fifth-year snagged her fourth assists of the day with a feed to Rylee Bouvier who closed the scoring with just seconds to go as the Cardinal blitzed through to a 17-11 win.
Stanford’s defense continued to torment the opposition from the eight-meter hash with Notre Dame going 3-for-6 in the contest while the Cardinal gave up double-digit goals for only the second time this season. Offensively, Stanford boasted nine different goal-scorers while Aliya Polisky led the way with seven points on the evening.
No. 2 Stanford concludes the season-long three-game homestand next week as it hosts former Pac-12 opposition Arizona State on Saturday, March 21. Opening draw from Cagan Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. PT.