Cardinal Crowned
BERKELEY, Calif. - Stanford earned the season sweep over California on Saturday, clinching the Pac-12 regular season championship in the process. This marks the second consecutive Pac-12 regular season title for the Cardinal and the 16th regular season conference championship overall.
Stanford improves to 10-6 on the season, including 8-2 in Pac-12 play. The Cardinal share the title with USC, but hold the tiebreaker over the Trojans, giving Stanford the top seed in the Pac-12 lacrosse tournament.
The game started as a back and forth affair, with the Golden Bears trading blows with the Cardinal. Ali Baiocco netted the first goal of the game and scored all four of Stanford's first quarter goals.
California had answers in the first period, however, and the contest remained close heading into the first break at 4-3 in favor of Stanford.
Stanford applied the pressure defensively in the second quarter, allowing only a single goal during the 15-minute period. At the other end of the field, the Cardinal reeled off six goals, including a hat trick from Annabel Frist.
Frist, Baiocco, and Kelly all tallied hat tricks in Berkeley while six total Cardinal netted at least one goal in the game.
The third quarter resembled the first as the teams were closely matched. California scored three times in the period while Baiocco and Humphrey each found the back of the net once, making it a 12-7 Cardinal advantage heading into the final period.
Baiocco, Lew, Frist, and Kelly all scored in the final quarter to push Stanford to 18 goals on the day. Ailish Kelly scored all three of her goals in the fourth, including one with 18 seconds left to play in the game.
California scored four of their own in the fourth quarter, but the Golden Bears were unable to halt the potent Stanford offense that has scored 18 or more goals in six games this season.
On defense, Kara Rahaim recorded 11 saves on the day and pushed her win-loss record to 8-5 on the season. Annabel Frist led the way in the ground ball department, scooping up six against California.
Galen Lew led the Cardinal in draw controls, grabbing six to push her season total to 56. She now sits in a tie for eighth all-time in the Stanford record book for draw controls in a season.
Ashley Humphrey led the team in points and assists once again, setting up six Cardinal goals while scoring two of her own. She moved her season assist total to 70 and her point total to 103, making her the first Stanford lacrosse player to ever eclipse the 100 points mark in a single season.
Ali Baiocco's six goals against California marked the sixth time this season she has scored five or more goals in a single game. She leads Stanford in total strikes this season with 53, the most goals she's ever tallied in a season.
Baiocco's total has her in a tie for second in the Stanford record book for goals in a season, just four shy of her former teammate Kelsey Murray's 57 from the 2017 season.
By earning the number one seed in the Pac-12 lacrosse tournament, Stanford will have a bye in the first round, facing the winner of Oregon vs. Colorado on May 5 in Tempe, Arizona.