NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 6 Stanford Returns Envious Amount of Talent

Opening day of the 2026 NCAA Division I women's lacrosse season is Feb. 6.

Throughout the month of January, we'll pose three burning questions for each team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Division I Women's Preseason Top 20, presented by CWENCH Hydration, starting with No. 20 James Madison and finishing with No. 1 North Carolina.

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Stanford was one goal away from their first NCAA tournament quarterfinal appearance, a bittersweet ending to a season in which the Cardinal surprised many with their third-place finish in their ACC debut. 

Stanford won’t be able to surprise anyone this year, not with most of the team returning — plus the return of two-time All-American and two-time Pac-10 Draw Specialist of the Year Annabel Frist, who missed all of last year. Adding to that, incoming transfer of Mallory Hasselbeck from Boston College is a player head coach Daniel Spencer is especially excited about.

There isn’t a team in the country that has the returning numbers the Cardinal do. They bring back 95 percent of their goal scoring, led by program single-season scoring leader Aliya Polisky. They return 94 percent of their total assists, led by Elise Murphy and Martha Oakey. And they even return 98 percent of their total draw controls, with four players who had at least 51 apiece. 

Defenders Sophia Brindisi and Allison Baldwin are their biggest graduation losses, and yet Stanford still has 70 percent of its caused turnovers back. Spencer’s seventh season could be historic.

How is the team handling higher expectations?

Stanford was thrilled to win its first NCAA tournament game since 2016, but it wanted more. That message stayed with the Cardinal over the summer after a second-round overtime loss at Florida. 

The Cardinal are determined to make more noise in the ACC and the NCAA tournament, and with so much back, the continuity helps.

“After the spring we said, 'Let’s not start the fall at ground zero,’” Spencer said. “'Let’s start the fall where we left off and use everything that we learned, use our successes and our failures from this season to kind of power us forward to achieve those higher level goals that we have.’”

The danger that the Cardinal are protecting against is looking too far ahead at their biggest goals — their fruits — at the expense of their process — the roots — it takes to get there. They have asked the team to put aside the big targets and keep their focus on the daily habits, behaviors and standards that will help them excel.

“Part of why we talk about that is that if you’re not careful, all this talk about these big goals can actually create a lot of pressure and anxiety,” Spencer said. 

What does Frist’s return mean?

The design major had an opportunity to join a promising startup company but chose to return for a fifth year after missing all of last year following two knee surgeries. The two-way middie hasn’t played a full season since 2023, so maybe some forget how good she is. 

At the time of her injury 12 games into the 2024 season, she was fourth nationally with 10.5 draws per game. In 48 career games, she has 125 goals, 40 assists and 48 caused turnovers. 

While she was sidelined last year, she still served as an influential team captain, and that leadership comes naturally. Her complete package was on display in the fall.

“She’s just a huge addition to our team,” Spencer said. “She’s just a huge presence for us in the midfield and on the draw with the type of player she is, but also with the type of leader that she is.”

Frist is one of four fifth-year players for the Cardinal. Kate Bellissimo is an aggressive defender, Jordyn Case is moving to midfield (Stanford was just 3-3 without her last year) and will alternate with Frist at draw and on the circle. Hasselbeck fits as an unselfish, vocal leader on attack.

How does the defense remain elite?

The defense must replace a pair of starters from its eighth-ranked scoring unit, yet it still feels plenty strong. Lucy Pearson returns in goal, and Stanford brought in former Johns Hopkins men’s offensive coordinator Brian Kelly to work with its goalies. He brings a fresh perspective to the team and the position. 

Bellissimo will help down low, and starters Olivia Rose and Ellie Johnson are also both back in front of Pearson on D. Rose is a third-team preseason All-American.

“Having those four returning helps it not be like a full retool on defense,” Spencer said.

Stanford is optimistic that its defense won’t have much pressure to begin with, not with a draw unit that should be among the best in the nation and an offense that returns its top seven scorers from a year ago. The offense was young last year, but it’ll be the backbone while the defense solidifies.