Stanford University’s field hockey team will face James Madison University in the 2025 Conference Cup’s penultimate match on Sunday. The game is set to take place at Maryland’s Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in College Park, Maryland, with play beginning at 11 a.m. EST.
The Cardinal will wrap up their weekend in the Chesapeake Bay area after opening the tournament with a 3-1 loss to No. 4 Maryland on Friday afternoon. During that match, Daisy Ford made 12 saves, bringing her career total to 199, and Summer Knight-Thompson scored her first collegiate goal.
Ford’s performance marked the first time since the 2019-20 season that a Stanford goalkeeper has made at least 12 saves in one game. The last occurrence was when Kelsey Bing stopped 12 shots against Louisville on October 15, 2019.
Summer Knight-Thompson was named to the NFHCA Collegiate Watchlist before becoming the first freshman to score in a season opener for Stanford since Rose Winter did so against Northwestern in August of 2019.
The Conference Cup includes teams from four major field hockey conferences: Stanford represents the ACC, joined by Maryland (Big Ten), James Madison (Mid-American), and Villanova (Big East).
Stanford comes into this season after its debut year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, where it finished with an overall record of 8-9 and earned two ACC wins. The team reached the quarterfinals of the ACC Field Hockey Tournament as a No. 6 seed but lost to Boston College.
Since 1998, Stanford has posted a record of 14-13 in season openers and holds a road record of 9-7 for those games. Last year’s campaign began with wins over Ohio and Ball State but included a home-opening loss against Maryland.
For this year’s squad, Stanford returns nearly its entire roster from last season—23 players including ten seniors—and retains almost eighty percent of its offensive output from last year. Cara Sambeth returns after scoring six goals during the previous campaign; Liv Martin and Jenny O’Grady also return as last year’s assist leaders with five each.
Maroussia Walckiers rejoins after missing last season due to injury; she previously started most games during her career and has accumulated fifteen goals and six assists across three seasons. Newcomer Summer Knight-Thompson brings international experience from England’s U16 & U18 programs as well as domestic league success.
Defensively, Daisy Ford is back after leading all ACC goalkeepers in saves per game (5.53) last year while posting a .770 save percentage—third best in conference play.
Looking ahead, Stanford faces what is considered one of its toughest schedules yet: nine future opponents are ranked within the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Preseason Poll top twenty-five, including six currently ranked inside the top ten such as North Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Harvard, Michigan, and Boston College. Other ACC rivals like Syracuse and Wake Forest are also nationally ranked outside that group.
