STANFORD, Calif. - The Cardinal used a consistent and powerful offense to dismantle ASU on Friday night, 19-11. The Cardinal won its third game in a row to improve to 4-4 on the season and 2-0 in Pac-12 play while the Sun Devils fell to 3-3 and 2-1 in conference games.
Stanford scored five goals or more in three of the quarters today, including six in the first. Ailish Kelly got the action started with an early player advantage goal, just one of four strikes for Stanford's second leading scorer.
Ali Baiocco joined Kelly in scoring two goals in the first quarter to help the Cardinal jump out to a 6-3 advantage at the first break. The fifth-year attack player led Stanford in goals on the day with five.
The Cardinal's attacking prowess was on display throughout the contest, with six players scoring at least two goals. But it was Ashley Humphrey who stole the show, tallying eight points on six assists and two strikes.
This was the fifth time this season Humphrey tallied at least five assists in a game and she currently paces the NCAA with a total of 37 assists. The redshirt freshman is only five assists away from a program record in a season and has eight games remaining in the regular season.
Annabel Frist returned to lineup after missing the game against UC Davis and picked up right where she left off. The Cardinal's leading scorer notched three goals and an assist on the day while also snagging two ground balls and causing three turnovers.
While Stanford was able to carry an 11-5 advantage into halftime, the Sun Devils found some momentum out of the break. Three goals in a row cut the deficit to an 11-8 Stanford lead.
The Cardinal responded with its own scoring spurt, tallying five unanswered goals to pile on an eight goal lead heading into the final quarter.
Kara Rahaim earned her third victory of the season in the cage, saving 14 shots on the day while allowing only 11 goals. She gathered two ground balls as well to help lead the Stanford defense.
Ali Baiocco paced the team in ground balls, snagging five to go along with her five goals and an assist. Six different Cardinal snatched draw controls against ASU, with Frist bringing in four and Mackenzie Chapman grabbing three of her own.
The fourth quarter was more even than the previous three as each team found the back of the net three times. It wasn't enough to bring the Sun Devils back into the game, however, and Stanford held on to win by eight goals.
The Cardinal will play the second game of the two game home stand on Sunday against No. 15 USC.