May 10, 2011
Free Webwast of Saturday's GameNCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket
Complete Round 1 Release
Up Next
Stanford (16-2, 6-0 MPSF) will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face Florida (15-3, 5-1 ALC) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Cardinal is returning to the tournament for the second-consecutive season and the third time in school history. The first round matchup will be Saturday, May 14, at 10 am, PST.
Webstream/LiveStats
Saturday's game will not be on TV, but will have a free live webcast available from Florida's official athletic site. The broadcast will begin at 9:50 a.m. at the following link: http://www.gatorvision.tv//mediaPortal/player.dbml?&id=429619&catid=0&DB_OEM_ID=6500Gametracker for the game will also be available.
Stanford and Florida
This will be the first-ever matchup between the two schools in lacrosse. This season the two schools had five common opponents in Denver, Northwestern, Ohio State, Syracuse and Vanderbilt. Stanford finished 3-2 against these schools with losses at Vanderbilt and a one-goal loss at Northwestern. Florida was 6-1 against these schools with the only loss coming against Northwestern in the ALC Championship game.
In the Postseason
Stanford will be participating in the NCAA tournament for the third time. Stanford is 0-2 in NCAA tournament play with a loss at Northwestern in 2006 and at James Madison in 2010. Overall, Stanford is 33-4 in postseason play, including 32 wins in conference tournament play and last year's win over Massachusetts in the NCAA play-in game. The Cardinal has won seven consecutive MPSF conference tournaments and 13 conference tournaments overall. The domination of the MPSF and previously the Western Women's Lacrosse League and the Mountain Pacific Lacorsse League has given Stanford the title as the top team from the West Coast for well over a decade.
Stanford Offense
Sarah Flynn leads the Cardinal in goals with 48, but 10 players have double-digit goals and six have at least 20. Leslie Foard leads Stanford in points with 60. She has scored 41 goals and contributed 19 assists and was named conference player of the year. Foard is tied for the team lead in assists with Anna Boeri with 19. Four Cardinal players have double-digit assists, including Anna's twin sister Emilie Boeri and 2009 and 2010 MPSF Player of the Year Lauren Schmidt. Schmidt is third on the team with 32 goals and 46 points. Karen Nesbitt has contributed 26 goals, while Emilie Boeri has 26 goals to go with her 11 assists. Jackie Candelaria has 24 goals as the sparkplug off the Stanford bench.
In the Record Books
Stanford has rewritten the record books this season led by Sarah Flynn taking over as the career leader in goals with 144. In addition, Leslie Foard has tied Megan Burker for the single-season record for draw controls with 51.
Stanford Defense and Goaltending
In the goal, Annie Read has started all 18 games, compiling a 15-1 record. She has made 111 saves and is allowing just 10.14 goals per game this year. Freshman Lyndsey Munoz has also done a nice job in relief, compiling a 1-1 record and making 30 saves. Munoz played the final 45 minutes of the MPSF Final, helping Stanford recover from a 7-0 deficit by allowing just three goals. Munoz was named the tournament MVP for her efforts. She is helped out defensively by Paige Farmakis who is second on the team with 25 ground balls and is third with 14 caused turnover. Elizabeth Adam, Ashley Aruffo and Catherine Swanson complete the rest of the Stanford defense that is allowing just 9.83 goals per game.
Seven Straight
The Cardinal is coming off an eventful MPSF tournament where it won two games in three days. Stanford opened with a 20-11 win over California in the semifinals, before falling behind 7-0 to Oregon in the final. The Cardinal then roared back to defeat Oregon 12-10 after not taking a lead until just 6:24 remained in the game. Lyndsey Munoz took over in goal after the 7-0 deficit and allowed just three goals the rest of the way. Munoz was named the conference tournament MVP after making six saves in the final 45:28.
Senior Class
This season's senior class has amassed a 57-20 record during their careers that has ended in a MPSF Conference Tournament title in each of the players four seasons. This season the seniors led Stanford to the highest-ever national ranking of No. 6 in the country and wins over two ranked teams. The class will be making its second appearance in the NCAA tournament and is looking to break through as the first group to win an NCAA game and advance in the tournament. This year's seniors are Ashley Aruffo, Sarah Flynn, Leslie Foard, Karen Nesbitt, Annie Read, Maggie Sachs and Lauren Schmidt.