ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A second half shutout and a clinical offensive push propelled No. 6/5 Stanford lacrosse to the finish as the Cardinal stymied Penn State, 7-5, on Friday evening. With the win, Stanford moves to the second round for the second year in a row while tying the program wins record with its 16th of the campaign.
Aliya Polisky and Lindsey Devir led the charge for the Cardinal offensively as both players recorded a brace while the Cardinal defense cut off the Nittany Lions with 11 caused turnovers and nine Lucy Pearson saves.
With 1:46 remaining in the first half, Penn State took the lead with an Emma Kelly tally that pushed the Nittany Lions ahead in what was a back-and-forth affair through the majority of the first half. However, the Kelly tally would stand as the last the Nittany Lions would funnel through as the Cardinal defense took charge.
Stanford (16-4, 8-2 ACC) was the instigator in the early going, wuickly amassing a 2-0 lead inside the first four minutes of the contest. Lindsey Devir snagged her first of the day off a feed in front from Jordyn Case while Aliya Polisky sliced her way through the Penn State defense to give the Cardinal the two-goal cushion.
Penn State (12-7, 5-3 Big Ten), however, stormed back late in the frame with tallies of their own, answering the Polisky tally a minute later before capping the scoring in the frame with two minutes remaining. Penn State later grabbed its first lead of the game just under two minutes into the second before the Cardinal figured back with Jordyn Case’s free-position tally to draw level, 3-3. Though Annabel Frist on an unassisted tally answered a go-ahead goal off the eight-meter from PSU, it was the Nittany Lions and Kelly’s final tally that pushed the Nittany Lions ahead at the break,
From then on out, the Cardinal defense showed its veteran poise.
In the third, Stanford limited PSU to just five shots with Pearson snagging four saves in the frame. Defensively, the Cardinal forced PSU into four turnovers with four Cardinal earning team-high two caused turnovers on the day including Kaleigh Sommers, AManda Lawson, Kate Bellissimo and Annabel Frist. Offensively, Stanford snagged the lone goal of the frame to tie the scoreline with Polisky's 46th of the season pushing the Cardinal level.
In the fourth, Stanford continued to show its poise in its half including in the opening minutes. Lucy Pearson stepped up just under two minutes into the frame to deny Penn State on the goalline, replicating an Anna Colpack goal line save in the first half, to keep the shutout alive. Under a minute later, Stanford regained the lead with Lindsey Devir slotting home her brace from the eight-meter hash to give the Cardinal a 6-5 advantage.
Having snagged the lead just moments prior, Stanford doubled down with its second tally in 68 seconds as Lexi Rodell found a seam inside the Nittany Lions defense and sent home a catch-and-shoot feed from Polisky to give Stanford a two-goal cushion for the second time.
The goal that clinched the win!😤
— Stanford Lacrosse (@StanfordWLax) May 9, 2026
📺 ESPN+#GoStanford x #Together pic.twitter.com/qEMKTwuGqO
WIth time winding down, Stanford clamped down defensively, forcing three Nittany Lion turnovers including two caused by Sommers and Kate Bellissimo to negate late opportunities for PSU. The Cardinal, which had ample opportunity to add to the scoreline late in the frame, wore down PSU to the end, running out the remaining two minutes of clock to clinch the 7-5 win.
Stanford is back in action on Sunday, May 10 for the second round of the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament, taking on hosts No. 7 Michigan. Opening draw from the UM Lacrosse Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.