This Thursday, Stanford women’s soccer (13-1, 6-0 Pac-12) looks to keep its win streak alive against the Ducks (7-7-1, 1-5), entering the final stretch of conference play.  With five games left in the regular season, the Cardinal will look to maintain their national number one ranking and their lead in the Pac-12.

Stanford is coming off an exciting victory against Washington, where the Cardinal finally broke through the Huskies’ defense in the 86th minute. In one of the final plays of the game, junior midfielder Michelle Xiao found fellow junior Kyra Carusa late in the game to propel the Cardinal to a win at home.

While Stanford’s offense has been fantastic all season, it’s the pairing with the rock solid defense that has made the team successful this year. In the Washington game, after Stanford’s late goal, the Huskies launched one last counter-attack that left sophomore Goal Keeper Lauren Rood one-on-one with the rival attacker. Rood managed to make a diving save to keep Stanford on top.

Her efforts were recognized by the Pac-12 conference, who named her and teammate Tierna Davidson “Pac-12 Players of the Week.” Rood has allowed only a single goal all season, and her .14 goals-against average leads the Pac-12 and ranks second in the nation. Part of what’s made that possible is the defensive duo in front of her, made up of Davidson and junior Alana Cook. Both have started the last 11 games, and have not conceded a single goal in that stretch.

The Ducks will not be an easy challenge. In their last match up, the Ducks defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 3-0. They tallied 23 shots on goal, while goalkeeper Halla Hinriksdottir successfully fended off ASU’s 5 shots on goal. During the game, the Cardinal will be missing Andi Sullivan, who left after the Washington win to train with the United States Women’s National Team.

The game starts 6 p.m. on Thursday and will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks. Live statistics will be available on gostanford.com.

Contact Julia Massaro at jmassaro ‘at’ stanford.edu.