STANFORD, Calif. – An all-around dominant team performance that saw Lucy Dikeou and Alex Poplawski both score four goals led No. 14 Stanford to a 16-10 win over No. 8 Penn State Sunday afternoon at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
The Cardinal (5-1) wasted no time out of the starting gate as Lucy Dikeou won one of her six draw controls on the day and took only 54 seconds off the clock before depositing goal number 12 of the season into the net. Less than a minute later, Kelsey Murray followed suit for her 13th goal of the year. PSU fired back with two goals of their own to tie it 2-2.
Stanford kept the pressure up in the half, winning 11 of the 20 draw controls while forcing eight turnovers and scrapping for eight ground balls to keep ahead of the Nittany Lions. Dikeou lit up for all four of her goals in the half, while Kelly Myers showcased her status as a factotum with two goals, five draw controls and a caused turnover on the day as Stanford held a 12-7 lead at the break.
Penn State (7-2) came out to score the first goal of the second half, but it was all Stanford after that with the Cardinal winning six of the seven draw controls, and forcing five more turnovers. Allie DaCar was phenomenal in the half with seven saves on 16 shots by Penn State.
The Cardinal also scored four unanswered goals, with Alex Poplawski going back-to-back to pull her total to four on the day, while DaCar and the defense held PSU to 3-for-9 in free position shots to close out the win.
The Cardinal will hit the road this week as they set to travel to Johns Hopkins on Wednesday. Game time is set for 3 p.m. PT and will be aired live on ESPNU.
