Stanford women’s lacrosse opened its season last Sunday with the informal Play Day tournament, a showcase for the Northern California teams that belong to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) conference.
The teams featured in the tournament were Stanford, Cal, Saint Mary’s, Oregon and UC Davis. The Cardinal used this round of games as a proper warmup for the season, which officially starts with a trip to Notre Dame at the end of next week.
Women’s lacrosse performed exceptionally well last year, landing its ninth MPSF title in the last 11 years with a victory over USC. The team also made it to the first round of the NCAA Championships for just the sixth time in school history, losing in a hotly contested match against No. 10 Florida.
Throughout the year, the Cardinal were consistently ranked in the top 20, even ascending up to No. 15 by the end of the season. The 2015 team also placed first in the nation in goals and draw controls, a trend that it will look to continue this season.
This year the team will be adding seven new freshmen to the squad. While this is one less than the eight that were added last year, in a team of 30, adding seven new players can completely change the team dynamic.
The freshman class hosts multiple U.S. Lacrosse High School All-Americans, giving the team added potential. These players include Greta Meyer, Areta Buness, Genesis Lucero and Shahpar Mirza.
The team also features many acclaimed returners. Defender Adrienne Anderson was named an IWLCA third-team All-American as a junior last year, one of just seven players to be named an All-American in school history. Several other players also made the all-MPSF team.
Another new addition to the team is assistant coach Kristen Carr. Carr played for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a volunteer assistant coach there for a year. She also worked as an assistant coach for the University of Delaware for three years.
Carr is a veteran player and is currently a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. She will bring much playing and coaching experience to the sideline.
The Cardinal will start their season in South Bend on Feb. 13.
Contact Laura Sussman at laura111 ‘at’ stanford.edu.