In the MPSF Tournament final against Oregon this Sunday, the Stanford women’s lacrosse team struggled early but never gave up as it earned its seventh consecutive conference tournament title. Stanford took down the Ducks with a 12-10 victory.

Stanford came out flat in the first part of the game, and Oregon took advantage. The Ducks exploded out of the gates with high energy, building up a 7-0 lead against the Cardinal with 14:28 left in the half. After the seven goals, Stanford head coach Amy Bokker knew she had to make a change in order to keep the team in the game.

Freshman goalie Lyndsey Munoz took over in the cage for senior Annie Read and made seven huge saves, which changed the momentum and kept the Card in the game. Munoz played the rest of the game and only let in three goals. For her remarkable efforts, Munoz was rewarded Tournament MVP.

With 15:02 left to play in the first half, Stanford got on the board with a goal by junior midfielder Emilie Boeri, coming off a feed by senior Sarah Flynn. Boeri’s goal seemed to be what the Cardinal needed to spark its momentum. The goal began a run of four straight Stanford goals to get the score back to 7-4 at the 2:10 mark in the half. Oregon added one late goal to make the score 8-4 as both teams headed in for halftime.

Right off the bat in the second half, senior midfielder Karen Nesbitt put the ball in the back of the net and set the energy for Stanford. Flynn followed that up, putting one in with 23:25 left in the game for her 143rd career goal, tying a Stanford record.

The Ducks’ lead was pushed to back three with a goal at 22:32 by Alex Breiner. Stanford came back with three straight goals to tie the game—sophomore midfielder Jacqueline Candelaria knocked in two, and Nesbitt scored another to even the score with 17:16 left.

Oregon refused to give up the lead easily, scoring again to regain the lead at 10-9 before Stanford tied the game back up at 10 with a free-position goal from senior midfielder Leslie Foard.

It was a back-and-forth struggle for both teams, but with 6:24 remaining, Stanford gained its first lead of the game on a clutch goal by Foard, the MPSF Player of the Year.

With 5:26 left, Flynn set the Stanford record for career goals with her 144th, securing a victory and the MPSF title for the Cardinal.

The victory gives Stanford an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, where it will be one of 16 teams in the field. The Cardinal will find out next week whether it will host a first-round game or have to go on the road.