STANFORD, Calif. — No. 10/9 Stanford closes out its longest road stretch of the season this weekend, traveling to South Bend, Ind., to take on the No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday, April 5. Opening draw from Arlotta Family Lacrosse Stadium is slated for 10 a.m. PT.
SEVENS
No. 10/9 Stanford heads into the weekend standalone matchup after a 1-1 week against Army and Louisville to end the month of March. Stanford started the road stretch off with a narrow defeat to Army after the Black Knights utilized a 3-0 lead through 15 minutes to grind out a 12-9 win at home. However, Stanford followed the loss with a career day from freshman Martha Oakey against Louisville as the Virginia native collected her first collegiate hat trick coupled with a career-high four goal, six point outing against the Cardinals as Stanford nabbed a 15-2 win.
Heading into Saturday, Stanford ranks inside the top 10 in all three women’s lacrosse polls for fifth-straight week. Stanford earned a program high in the IWLCA Poll last week having been slotted in at No. 4. Prior to this season, Stanford’s highest ranking came in the 2012 preseason poll where the Cardinal was ranked sixth while Stanford’s No. 4 ranking is the highest ranking of any West Coast program since 2017 (No. 3 USC, IWLCA Week One Poll, Feb. 20, 2017).
Aliya Polisky continues to pace the Cardinal in points this season, amassing 49 through 13 games via a 42-7-49 line. Polisky, who started the season with six-consecutive hat tricks (seven-consecutive dating back to the 2023-24 campaign), grabbed two hat tricks last week against Army and Louisville to keep her hold of the goal-scoring title for the Cardinal. With her hat trick against Louisville, Polisky has set a new single-season high in hat tricks with 11 this season.
Ava Arceri has also joined the offensive ranks this season for Stanford, amassing 34 goals and 12 assists this season en route to 46 points which ranks second on the team heading into the weekend. Arceri also sits third on the Cardinal with 37 draw controls this season. With Arceri and Polisky, Stanford is one of only six teams in the conference to have two players with 40+ points this season.
Elsewhere offensively, Elise Murphy holds the team lead in assists (22) while freshman Martha Oakey sits second (21) as both players have earned 34 points this season. Murphy is enjoying a career year for Stanford, amassing 12 goals this season (4 of which coming in the season-opener against USC) while gathering 34 points which sits tied for third on the Cardinal. Oakey enjoyed a career day against Louisville, grabbing her first collegiate hat trick to go along with a six-point outing as the freshman’s 34 points is tied for third on the team while her 21 assists sits eighth in the ACC.
Stanford boasts one of the nations top scoring defenses, limiting opponents to 9.00 goals per game which is 11th nationally and third-best in the ACC. Spearheading the defense is Lucy Pearson who holds a 9.23 goals-against average which is fourth in the conference, coupled with a .452 save percentage which is good for ninth in the ACC. Rylee Bouvier leads the team with 21 caused turnovers this season including grabbing four against Army last week. Olivia Rose leads the ACC in ground balls (37) through 13 games while also placing 16th in the conference in caused turnovers per game (1.23) after grabbing a career-high five caused turnovers against Louisville.
Stanford continues to rake in awards this season with three players having been tabbed as Inside Lacrosse DI Women’s Midseason All Americans. Aliya Polisky makes the list after a preseason nod with a third team selection while Sophia Brindisi and Ava Arceri were both honorable mentions. Elsewhere, Jordyn Case made the second round of additions to the 2025 Tewaaraton Award Watch List as Stanford now has four players in contention for the nation’s top honor.