ELON, N.C. — No. 12/7 Stanford lacrosse closed its final regular season road trip in fashion with a dominant 19-6 win over the Elon Phoenix on Sunday. With the win, Stanford finishes the regular season with a 6-3 record on the road while ending the nonconference slate with a 5-1 record.
Peep Wiliams led the Cardinal during Sunday’s outing claiming four assists as part of six points - both of which were career highs - while Aliya Polisky led the team with five goals. Jordyn Case earned a career-high four assists as nine different Cardinal scored in the contest including the first collegiate goals for Mae Flanagan and Ella Thomforde. Defensively, five players recorded a caused turnover while Ella Morton and Shae Lembo served in cage, as the former picked up her third win of the season while the latter earned a career-high two saves.
Stanford (12-3, 7-2 ACC) came storming out of the gates looking to avenge Friday’s loss to No. 2 UNC, quickly earning a 3-0 lead through the first five minutes of action with a brace from Polisky and a tally from Lindsey Devir. Though Elon (7-7, 3-2 CAA) answered just over two minutes later, Stanford rattled off four-straight goals - three of which were assisted - to take a 7-1 lead. Annabel Frist started the spree with goal No. 144 for her career before Williams sent home a behind-the-back finish off a Devir feed to put Stanford up 5-1. Ava Arceri and Martha Oakey joined the party as the Cardinal claimed the six-goal lead with under three to play in the quarter.
Elon, however, struck paydirt just before the end of the first quarter to claw within five as the Cardinal led 7-2. However, that was as close as the Phoenix would get on Sunday.
Stanford closed the half on an eventual 8-0 run with four different Cardinal tallying during the spree. Williams started the onslaught with a draw-to-goal finish just 13 seconds after the Elon tally before Polisky completed the hat trick on the power-play with under 20 seconds to go in the first quarter. Arceri snagged her final three goals of the game during the run, completing the hat trick just three minutes into the quarter following back-to-back tallies, while Polisky earned her fifth goal of the day to bookend the scoring in the half as Stanford led 15-2 through 30 minutes.
The Cardinal defense held firm against the Phoenix into the second half, being pierced only by a Mackenzie Coleman shot just over five minutes into the half as the shutout streak ended at 23:08. Though the teams continued to trade blows, the Cardinal continued to pester the Phoenix, holding the hosts to their second-lowest goal total of the season.
With the Cardinal leading 16-3 after Elise Murphy’s half-opening tally was answered by Coleman, Stanford continued to work on both ends of the field, answering any tally from the hosts with one of its own. Frist secured her third-consecutive multi-goal game with five left in the frame before Mae Flanagan secured her first collegiate goal, going top corner off the dodge to push the Cardinal ahead, 18-4, heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, Ella Thomforde secured her first collegiate tally as well, beating her defender one-on-one to end the scoring for Stanford. Though Elon would tally two goals in the final eight minutes of the frame, relief goalkeeper Shae Lembo and the Stanford defense kept any chance of a comeback at bay as Lembo secured her career-high two saves to seal an eventual 19-6 win.
No. 12/7 Stanford is back in action on Thursday, April 16 to conclude the regular season with an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) bout against Bay Area rivals Cal. Opening draw from Cagan Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.