The Sunday Slide: Stanford's Right to Brag

Good for Stanford.

If you follow USA Lacrosse Magazine on social media (please do, thanks), then you saw our panel of five picks all choose Virginia in Saturday’s matchup.

Making public picks is a gift and a curse. It’s fun, right? But it also provides bulletin board material. Stanford took it in stride (hopefully also had some fun with it?) and then went to Charlottesville and won handily after a 6-6 deadlock early in the third quarter.

Six players scored in a 7-0 Stanford run that blew the game open. Jordyn Case and Aliya Polisky did much of the heavy lifting with four goals apiece.

I saw the number of players who shared our picks graphic on their Instagram stories after the game. They’ve earned the right to brag, and I’m happy they did.

For their efforts, the Cardinal will be handsomely rewarded with a sizable jump in the USA Lacrosse Top 20. Just how far they climb remains to be seen. Check back Monday morning, of course.

The moral of the story is that February lacrosse remains unpredictable. But with the first month of the season ending this week, we have a far clearer picture than we did on Feb. 1.

Stanford’s next test comes March 7 at Syracuse. Perhaps our esteemed panel of pickers won’t predict a 5-0 sweep next time.