The Stanford women's team bounced back from a discouraging loss to Chico State to defeat Cal 51-17 on Saturday, and the Cardinal got a nice boost from No. 8 Lia Ferguson.

Having changed position from prop to No. 8, Ferguson has helped fill a hole left by the graduation of Dani McDonald. For that, she is our FloRugby Women's College Player of the Week.

"It was a good win," said Stanford head coach Josh Sutcliffe, whose team also got three tries and 21 points from Olivia Bernadel-Huey. "It’s going to be a competitive division with UC Davis returning as two-time defending champions and Chico State with a strong and experienced team."

But, added Sutcliffe, Stanford has some expectations, and Ferguson, a senior and native of Anacortes, WA, is a big part of that.

"She brings strong running, organization on defense and the ability to play the link between backs and forwards," Sutcliffe said. "This week she was pivotal as she did a lot of the unseen work that helped the team."

The Cardinal will look to continue their momentum in back-to-back home games this week, first against UC-Davis this Friday at 7 PM PT and then versus Humboldt on Saturday at 11 AM PT.