STANFORD, Calif. — No. 7/8 Stanford continues its home stand on Sunday, March 16, welcoming the No. 4 Yale Bulldogs to Cagan Stadium in a clash of two of the nation’s top programs. Opening draw is slated for 1 p.m. PT.
The Cardinal is also hosting its Kids Day & Camper Reunion on Sunday against the Bulldogs. Fans are encouraged to stick around after the game for postgame autographs from the junior class.
SEVENS
Stanford enters Sunday’s matchup having grabbed its third Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win of the season, dispatching Virginia Tech, 23-4, at Cagan Stadium on Friday afternoon. Having fallen into a 3-1 deficit early in the first quarter, Stanford went on a 22-1 run and held the Hokies to one goal in the remaining 51:58 of game action. In the win, five Cardinal recorded a hat trick while Sawyer Billings collected her first collegiate goal coupled with a defensive corps that earned 46:36 of shutout action.
Former ACC Player of the Week, Ava Arceri, led the Cardinal offensively during the two-game slate against New York opposition in No. 11/10 Syracuse and Cornell, amassing six goals and five draw controls through the weekend. Arceri collected her fourth consecutive hat trick - and fifth in the last six games - against the Big Red, having her first goal of the afternoon stand as the eventual game winner. Arceri also collected a hat trick against the Orange as her hat-trick tally with 2:14 remaining in regulation pushed the game to overtime. Arceri sits second on the team with 25 goals through nine games this season after another three-goal outing against Virginia Tech on Friday.
Stanford currently ranks inside the top-10 in all three women’s lacrosse polls entering the weekend. Last week’s ranking of No. 6 tied the program’s highest ranking in the polls since the 2012 preseason. Stanford’s No. 6 position in the ILWomen.com poll and USA Lacrosse Magazine poll was the highest in the regular season in program history.
Sophomore Aliya Polisky enters the Sunday having had her hat-trick streak snapped in the outing against Syracuse. However, the Tennessee native followed up the tilt with consecutive hat trick outings including a three-goal outing against the Hokies. Polisky has recorded eight hat tricks this season and 11 in her last 13 outings as she paces the team in goals with 29. She also sits tied with Ava Arceri in points with 35 this season.
Sophomore Elise Murphy and freshman Martha Oakey lead the team in assists with 23 and 16, respectively, entering Sunday. Murphy grabbed six helpers last weekend with three in both games against Syracuse and Cornell to extend her team lead and place her third in the ACC. Oakey, who grabbed three assists last weekend, sits 15th in the conference in assists and top-40 in the nation.
With a 8-1 start to the campaign, Stanford is enjoying its best start to a season since 2021 where the Cardinal went a perfect 11-0 in the regular season before falling in the NCAA Tournament to Denver (15-13). Prior to 2021, Stanford had only been undefeated through the first eight games once in program history, starting the 2011 season 8-0 before finishing 16-3 with an NCAA Tournament bid and MPSF Tournament championship.
Stanford boasts the second-best offense in the conference heading into the weekend, putting up 143 goals through nine games while grabbing the fourth-best average scoring margin at +7.4. Defensively, Stanford ranks third in the conference in ground balls per game (19.78) while placing fourth in caused turnovers per game at 10.22. The Cardinal is also one of the best draw control teams in the ACC, averaging 15.56 draw controls per game which ranks fourth.