Welcome to This Week in Sports. We are The Daily’s sports editors, Zach Zafran and Ells Boone, and we’ll be walking you through the major games, events and stories from the past week, as well as providing a brief preview of what’s coming up this week.
The Cardinal football team snapped its 11-game FBS losing skid by beating rival Notre Dame 16-14. The defense played its best game of the season and was a huge factor in the win. With the Legends Trophy in tow, Stanford returns to the Farm to face Arizona State at 1 p.m. this Saturday.
No. 1 Men’s water polo suffered its first setback of the season, losing to No. 3 UCLA 10-6 this past Saturday. The Cardinal had previously beat the Bruins on Sept. 25. The team will now look to get back in the win column next weekend with three games set to be played against Pacific, Princeton and Bucknell.
No. 9 women’s soccer earned its biggest win of the season so far, and on a special night, taking down undefeated No. 1 UCLA 1-0. Freshman Elise Evans scored the game’s only goal on the cusp of halftime to deliver the Cardinal the win. The team will now head north to take on Oregon and Oregon State this weekend.
On the men’s side, the Cardinal got back in the win column on Saturday thanks to a 2-0 victory over Saint Mary’s. It was a much closer game than the scoreline suggests. The score remained 0-0 for the first 70 minutes until Stanford scored twice in a minute with a penalty from senior midfielder Cam Cilley and a free kick headed home by redshirt junior midfielder Mark Fisher. A Southern California trip to face San Diego State and UCLA is next for the Cardinal.
Both men’s and women’s swim and dive kicked off their respective seasons this past Thursday and handily defeated Utah. The women’s side won’t be back in action until Oct. 28 when they travel up to Pullman, Wash. to face Washington State. The men’s team has an alumni meet this Friday, but its next official competition will be Nov. 4 against Cal.
The No. 7 women’s volleyball team extended its winning streak to six games after sweeping Arizona and handing Arizona State a 3-1 defeat, both in the Grand Canyon state. After two straight weeks on the road, the team will now return to Maples Pavilion to host the Los Angeles schools this weekend. UCLA is first up at 8 p.m. on Friday, with USC at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Men’s tennis had a great showing at the ITA All-American Championships, with sophomore Max Basing reaching the semifinals and freshman Nishesh Basavareddy winning the consolation final, good for fifth place overall. The ITA National Fall Championships are set for Nov. 2 through Nov. 6. Junior Arthur Fery, who reached as high as No. 1 in all of collegiate tennis last spring, is on a leave of absence from Stanford this quarter as he competes in the M25 circuit in the U.K. He will be back on the Farm in January.
The men’s cross country team went out to Madison, Wis. on Friday and won the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. The women’s team finished in seventh. Junior Ky Robinson won the eight-kilometer race. Cross country is now two weeks away from the Pac-12 Championships set to be held in Riverside, Calif. on Oct. 28.
Field hockey lost a close one 1-0 to rival Cal on Friday. Next up, JMU will travel across the country to face the Cardinal on Thursday at 3 p.m.