No. 14 Stanford lacrosse (2-1, 1-0 MPSF) dominated its third game of the season on Sunday afternoon against No. 16 Ohio State (2-1), winning 18-7. Senior attacker Anna Salemo led the Cardinal’s offensive showcase with 4 goals and 2 assists, followed by junior attacker Kelsey Murray, who had 4 goals and an assist.

The Cardinal controlled the competition from the beginning of the game. Within the first 11 seconds of play, senior midfielder Lucy Dikeou won the first draw control and ran it down the field to fire in the opening goal. Dikeou finished the game with 5 draw controls, 3 goals and an assist. Stanford continued to pepper the goal, putting up six unanswered points in the first eight minutes of play.

It wasn’t until the ninth minute of the game that Ohio State answered with three goals in a row, moving the score to 6-3. The Buckeyes relied on their senior attackers, with Cian Dabrowski and Rainey Hodgson netting 3 goals and 2 goals and 1 assist, respectively.

Stanford outshot OSU 13-8 in the first half. A large part of the Cardinal’s offensive advantage was a result of their superior draw control, as they led the Buckeyes 9-4 in this category.

Moving into the second half, Stanford did not let up. The Cardinal added nine more points and only let in three. The Cardinal led the scoreboard in every stat of the game, most impressively with 28 shots on goal compared to OSU’s 15.

Looking ahead to this weekend, Stanford hosts Harvard (1-0) this Saturday, for the Crimson’s second game of the season.

Last season, Stanford played on the road in a back-and-forth scoring battle at Harvard that ended with a 15-10 Cardinal victory. This year’s matchup will be a greater test for the Crimson, since the Cardinal will have a home-field advantage and are coming off an important non-conference win against ranked opponent OSU.

“Playing at home in our stadium is great for us,” said head coach Amy Bokker. “The field has great width and a lot of space to move. And anytime you get to play in front of your home crowd is exciting.”

The game will begin this Saturday at noon at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.

Contact Sydney Shaw at sshaw17 ‘at’ stanford.edu.