The best season in school history will continue for No. 4 Stanford field hockey (18-2), which earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, as announced on the NCAA selection show on Sunday.
The tournament will kick off on Saturday, with Stanford traveling to Connecticut to take on No. 8 Louisville (15-5) in the first round. This will mark Stanford’s sixth tournament appearance in the last eight seasons and 13th overall.
The Cardinal will be looking to carry their regular season momentum into the tournament as they continue to seek their first NCAA tournament victory in program history — Stanford has not made it out of the first round in any of its first 12 appearances.
However, this season might be the year to buck that trend, as the Cardinal have amassed a program-best 18 wins, including a sparkling 3-0 record against top-10 teams. However, Stanford is fresh off of a tough loss to Liberty in the NorPac title match for the second consecutive season, which it will need to put behind it before heading out east for the tournament.
Louisville is also coming off of a conference tournament loss of its own, to No. 11 Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Stanford is 1-4 all-time against the Cardinals and last faced them in a 2009 loss.
The time of the match on Saturday has yet to be released.