The Stanford women’s lacrosse team opened their season with two big wins last weekend. The Cardinal opened at home on Wednesday against Fresno State, which doubled as their MPSF opener. Stanford defeated Fresno with a 22-7 running-clock victory.
Sophomore attacker Kelsey Murray led the offense with five goals and four assists for a career-high nine points. All of Murray’s scoring was in the first half and helped the Cardinal build a 12-3 halftime lead. Her five goals are tied for 10th-most in a single game in Stanford history and her four assists are tied for fourth.
Alongside her were senior attacker Kyle Fraser with four goals and junior midfielder Lucy Dikeou and junior attacker Alexandra Crerend, who both scored three, and freshman midfielder Kelly Myers earned two goals and two assists in her collegiate debut. Overall, 13 players contributed points. Defensively, freshman goalie Allie DaCar started and made three saves in the first half of her collegiate debut.
However, on Friday, Stanford faced a much tougher opponent when they took the field against the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame entered the game leading the series 9-6, but Stanford had left with victories in their previous two meetings. This time, Stanford beat the Irish 12-10.
The win wasn’t statistically convincing, as Stanford was outshot 37-16. However, while Stanford did allow several shots to be taken, many were low-percentage and low-angle shots. The Cardinal defense held Notre Dame’s top scorer, Cortney Fortunato, to no goals and one assist. She had scored 46 goals last year, but junior Adrienne Anderson’s shut-down defense kept Fortunato quiet.
On the offensive end, Stanford had some trouble maintaining and winning possession through draw controls. Notre Dame had 16 overall draw controls, compared to Stanford’s eight. However, possession was generated by goalie DaCar’s eight saves or by Notre Dame’s missed shots.
“It’s a matter of working as a unit to force bad shots on cage,” head coach Amy Bokker said. “Notre Dame had a ton of shots, but our defense worked really hard to put them in position to not get the good looks they wanted. We forced some real low-angle or weak-handed shots and that was our objective going into the game.”
Fifth-year senior attacker Rachel Ozer scored four goals, and senior midfielders Hannah Farr, Crerend and Dikeou had two goals each. Dikeou also tallied four draw controls. Lastly, Myers and Murray had one goal apiece.
Notre Dame did not give up, though, and finished the game very strong. They scored three goals to end the games with 3:28 left. But Stanford sealed the victory, as Farr controlled the draw afterward, and clinched the team’s third consecutive victory over the Fighting Irish in their all-time series.
After the weekend, Stanford swept the MPSF honors. Ozer was named Offensive Player of the Week, Anderson was Defensive Player of the Week, and goalie DaCar received Rookie of the Week. All three made huge contributions all over the field, leading the team to two great season-opening victories. Stanford’s record is now 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the MPSF conference.
The Cardinal return to action Feb. 28 at No. 11 Ohio State to continuing their challenging non-conference schedule.
Contact Kristina Bassi at kbassi ‘at’ stanford.edu.