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.
Another week, another win for Stanford football. The Cardinal defeated Arizona State 15-14 on homecoming weekend to bring the team its first Pac-12 victory in over a year. All 15 points came from junior kicker Joshua Karty, whose five field goals tied the Stanford all-time single-game record. The Cardinal head down to Los Angeles next weekend to take on UCLA.
Men’s golf returned home victors of the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate. Despite entering the final day of competition with a six-shot deficit, the Cardinal posted an 8-under-280 to win by one stroke. Junior Michael Thorbjornsen, who won the Ben Hogan Award earlier in the week as September Golfer of the Month, led the way with a third place individual finish.
No. 1 women’s golf dominated the field in the 2022 Stanford Intercollegiate, winning by 10 strokes. With competition starting on Friday and concluding on Sunday, the Cardinal finished 15-under 837, in large part to sophomore Rose Zhang, the individual champion. The team will wrap up its fall season at the Pac-12 Preview, set to begin Oct. 31.
No. 7 women’s volleyball welcomed both LA schools to Maples Pavilion this week, sweeping both of them. On Friday, the Cardinal took down UCLA thanks to a strong defensive showing in which they out-blocked the Bruins 11-2. The team followed it up with another dominant outing on Sunday, defeating USC with an astounding .605 hitting percentage. With the win, Stanford now holds sole possession of first place in the Pac-12. They’ll return to action on Friday when they head north to face Washington State.
No. 5 men’s soccer made the trip down to Southern California this week and returned home with two victories. The Cardinal defeated San Diego State 3-2 on Thursday in a nail-biter. Two goals in the final seven minutes, including the game-deciding goal from junior defender Ryan Dunn in the 90th minute, put Stanford on top. The team then played at UCLA, winning 1-0 to move the Cardinal into second place in the Pac-12. They’ll return home on Thursday to take on Oregon State in their home game of the entire month.
No. 7 women’s soccer has shown no signs of slowing down, extending their win streak to seven after beating both Oregon schools on the road. The Cardinal took down the Ducks 1-0 on Thursday after a sixth-minute goal from freshman forward Lumi Kostmayer provided all they needed for the win. On Sunday, fellow freshman Jasmine Aikey recorded her first career hat trick as Stanford handled Oregon State, 3-0. The midfielder scored all three of her goals in the second half. The team returns to The Farm to play Utah on Thursday.
Field hockey now sits at 0.500 after a pair of wins this week. On Thursday, the Cardinal upset No. 17 James Madison in overtime, with senior attacker Lynn Vanderstichele needing just 43 seconds in the extra period to win the game. They then traveled to play at Richmond, where two fourth quarter goals put Stanford on top, 2-1. Up next, they’re set to face Maine on Friday.
No. 3 men’s water polo began the weekend with a big win over No. 4 Pacific, defeating the Tigers 12-8. They then competed in the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament on Sunday, opening up play with a 10-11 loss against No. 9 Princeton but then quickly bounced back to defeat Bucknell in commanding fashion. The Cardinal bested the Bison 19-6.. Now sitting at 19-2, the Cardinal have a week to prepare for a Southern California road trip when they take on Long Beach State and USC next weekend.
It was all Stanford women’s tennis in the ITA Northwest Regional championships, as all four semifinalists were Cardinal players. Sophomore Alexandra Yepifanova took home the title, with senior Angelica Blake earning a second-place finish. The two will compete at the ITA National Fall Championships on Nov. 2.