Stanford attacker Ashley Humphrey played a key role for the Cardinal last season as a freshman, often acting as the scout player in practice and giving her teammates an idea of the opposing talent ahead.

But Humphrey never took the field in games. She chose to redshirt her first season, in large part because of Stanford’s West Coast-only schedule amidst the pandemic in 2021.

Now a redshirt-freshman, Humphrey has made immediate strides for the Cardinal. She has notched 20 goals and 49 assists already this season, leading the nation in assists per game and ranking second nationally in points per game.

“It was a really great year to prepare and get a sense for the speed of college lacrosse and physicality,” Humphrey said. “I got an extra year under my belt without actually using a year of eligibility.”

Coach Danielle Spencer said Humphrey’s talent was evident even last season. Humphrey is unafraid of challenges, Spencer said, and the coach has enjoyed watching her step up to the plate.

“We knew last year that she had great potential,” Spencer said. “It’s one thing to have potential and another thing to put it into action during games, especially in big games, as a freshman. That’s been exciting.”

With Humphrey leading the way, Stanford now ranks fourth in the country in assists per game. Spencer said she’s happy with any sort of goal, but she and her staff have placed an emphasis on assisted scoring because it ups the team’s shooting percentage. It’s been exciting and encouraging to see this strategy pay off on the national level, she said.

The Cardinals’ offensive style sets up assisted goals well, Humphrey said. But beyond that, Stanford’s coaching staff also encourages a sense of risk-taking that often pays off.

“Danielle emphasizes being brave and taking risks and throwing a pass that maybe isn’t wide open, but if you see a stick open, then you can hit it,” Humphrey said. “She has such a welcoming demeanor and is totally open to mistake-making and taking risks. We’re all about learning, so we just learn from it.”

This mindset has been one key to the Cardinal’s increasing momentum this season. Stanford, 1-4 at the end of February, now sits 6-5 and 3-1 in Pac-12 play.

A mix of COVID cases and injuries kept many players sidelined throughout the preseason, Spencer said, making it difficult to build chemistry. Facing competitive opponents like Syracuse, Denver and Richmond in February didn’t make things easier.

Stanford’s victory over then-No. 15 USC was an epiphany of sorts. The Cardinal had struggled to that point in close contests, including against Richmond and Denver. But the team held on against the Women of Troy, rallying to win in overtime. Humphrey, who scored the game-winning goal, called the victory a “total offensive-defensive effort.”

“Being able to finish out a really tough, hard-fought game was so rewarding,” Humphrey said. “That’s when we finally got to dance in the locker room after the game and really celebrate what we did on the field.”

The Cardinal have gone 1-1 since that victory, losing a close matchup to Colorado on Friday before routing Oregon on Sunday. Through the ups and down, Spencer said she has especially appreciated her team’s resilience.

“I’m most proud of being able to learn throughout the season,” Spencer said. “[We] have a short memory if we do lose, [and we] celebrate our wins. I’ve enjoyed the way our team has approached that. We never felt like we were down for the count when we were 1-4. I never got the sense that the team had lost belief in our ability to put together a great season.”