Last Thursday, the Denver women’s lacrosse team headed down to Florida for the first round of NCAA tournament play. Denver fought hard in the game but fell short, losing, 4-10 to No. 10 Stanford. Denver ended their season with a 14-6 record. 

Senior attacker Lauren Black kicked off the game with a goal assisted by sophomore midfielder Olivia Ripple to give Denver the early lead. Stanford responded with two goals. Freshman attacker Eva Thomsen-Marr scored while Denver was up a man to tie the game. Black had another goal, assisted by Thomsen-Marr, to take the lead heading into the second quarter. 

Freshman attacker Caroline Bowers started the second quarter with a goal assisted by Thomsen-Marr, setting the score to 4-2. Stanford scored two goals in the last few minutes of the second quarter to tie the game going into the second half. 

The Cardinals shut down Denver’s attack unit fairly fast to start the second half of the game. Guarding Black and Ripple heavily and being quick to slide on cutters, Stanford prevented Denver from scoring for the rest of the day. 

Stanford pressed hard on the gas to give themselves a hefty lead to finish the game, 4-10. Stanford sophomore, Aliya Polisky, and freshman Martha Oakey both scored a pair of goals against Denver in the second half. This knocked Denver out of the tournament and ended their 2025 season. 

Denver went into the NCAA tournament ranked No. 22 while Stanford was ranked No. 10. Previously in the season, Denver beat Stanford on their home turf, 14-9. Overall, DU had a strong season, winning tough-matched games, causing upsets and winning the Big East league championship for the fifth consecutive year. 

On Sunday, Stanford lost in the second round to the University of Florida in double overtime.