The No. 15 Stanford Cardinal (11-2, 7-0) had a comfortable weekend slate as they begin to wrap up their regular season play. The Stanford women took on the San Diego State Aztecs on Friday night and had a huge 22-10 victory. They closed out the weekend with a convincing 12-5 win over the USC Trojans, which put the Cardinal on track to be the No. 1 seed in the MPSF tournament.
The Cardinal came out very strong and went up 12-5 at the half. Fifth-year senior Rachel Ozer, junior midfielder Lucy Dikeou, sophomore attacker Alex Poplawski and junior attacker Alexandra Crerend each scored two apiece in the first half, enabling the Card to dominate with a balanced attack. Ozer opened up scoring in the second half with two consecutive goals and finished the game with five goals.
Alongside her was Dikeou who scored 4 goals and won 8 draws. She had 2 assists, caused 2 turnovers and earned 1 groundball. Also contributing 5 draw controls was freshman midfielder, Kelly Myers. Crerend additionally scored 3 goals, 2 assists and 3 draw controls.
The Aztecs had trouble keeping up with such a fast and diverse attack. The Cardinal had better possession throughout the game and were able to put much more pressure on the San Diego State defense, leading to a multitude of scoring chances. Stanford out-shot SDSU, 38-15.
On Sunday afternoon, Stanford once again cruised to a comfortable victory as they beat the USC Trojans 12-6. The Cardinal controlled possession for the majority of the game, with Dikeou and Hannah Farr unstoppable on offense.
This time around, Stanford utilized a patient and talented attack. The Cardinal had unloaded some highlight-reel plays, with impressive goals from Poplawksi, Dikeou, Ozer and Farr. Dikeou had another big game with 4 goals, 2 draws and 2 groundballs, as well as opening up the scoring with three consecutive goals. Dikeou scored 8 goals this weekend and showed tremendous work rate and speed both on the ball and going at goal.
To end the first half, Poplawski came through with an agile and skillful goal that showcased the sophomore’s burgeoning skillset. In the second half, Hannah Farr was very productive on the front line and scored 4 goals, using her strength on the ball and explosive speed to get behind the defense and take great shots. On offense, the Card had a 39-23 shot advantage and went 11-9 in draws.
With such a strong weekend, Stanford has built momentum as it moves towards the end of its season. Women’s lacrosse will finish with two more MPSF games with on Wednesday at UC Davis and on Sunday at Cal.
Contact Kristina Bassi at kbassi ‘at’ stanford.edu