Annabel FristAnnabel Frist
Jim Shorin / ISI Photos
Women's Lacrosse

Stanford Falls to No. 2 North Carolina

Frist sets career draw control record in 18-9 loss

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Aliya Polisky’s team-high four points and Annabel Frist's career night on the draw circle spearheaded the Cardinal offense, but a second-half surge from No. 2 North Carolina proved too much as No. 12/7 Stanford fell in its penultimate Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to the Tar Heels on Friday night, 18-9. Stanford falls to 11-3 on the season but slots 7-2 in conference action with a chance to lock up the No. 2-seed in the 2026 ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship next week. 

Polisky led the Cardinal with her second-consecutive four-point outing via a two-goal, two-assist evening while Lexi Rodell and Annabel Frist tallied two goals a piece. Martha Oakey joined Polisky with two helpers on the evening, ending the game with three points. Frist, however, also tallied six draw controls to lead the Cardinal, ending the night with 376 career draw controls to shatter Genesis Lucero’s program record that stood at 372 entering today. 

It was all Stanford (11-3, 7-2 ACC)  in the early going as the Cardinal jumped on the Tar Heels (12-1, 9-0 ACC) with a quick strike from Polisky just under two minutes into the contest. The Stanford defense, forcing the Tar Heels into a turnover on its first possession, gridlocked the hosts to five turnovers in the opening frame while allowing just one goal on four shots in a clinical first 15 minutes. The Cardinal ended the quarter with Martha Oakey finishing off a feed from Polisky in-tight to grab a 2-1 through 15 minutes. 

The hosts, however, answered back with a four-goal run to begin the second quarter including three off the eight-meter hash. Rylee Bouvier stopped the scoring run with her first of the day, finishing off a dish from Oakey to cut the deficit to two. Following a fourth eight-meter goal from the hosts, Stanford edged out the Tar Heels in the run of play with Lexi Rodell finishing off a nifty play from an eight-meter attempt before Ava Arceri snagged her 31st of the season with her signature jump shot to bring Stanford within one. However, UNC tacked on one late goal to take a 7-5 lead into the break. 

The runs continued in the third as once again UNC found paydirt on the eight-meter, rifling two goals in the first seven minutes to bring the lead back to four. The Cardinal, though, came storming back with goals from Frist and Polisky - the latter coming off the eight-meter hash - to bring the deficit to two.

Though the Cardinal defence continued to hold firm in play, UNC snuck through its third free-position goal of the quarter - and seventh of the game - before adding on a late-period tally to bring the Tar Heel lead back up to four. 

Though the Cardinal continued to battle in the fourth, UNC stormed out of the brief intermission with four goals in the first four minutes of the quarter to take a 15-7 lead. Sttanford bookended the remainder of the scoring with goals from Frist along with Rodell’s regulation-beater, but UNC held firm with an eventual 7-2 score in the fourth quarter to take the 18-9 win. 

No. 12/7 Stanford wraps up the weekend with its final nonconference game of the season, facing off against Elon on Sunday, April 12. Opening draw from Rudd Field against the Phoenix is slated for noon ET / 9 a.m. PT.