One Week Into the Season, the Stanford Cardinal May Have Found Their Next Star

Lara Somfai is already an integral part of the Cardinal's culture

Feb 10, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; The Stanford Cardinal logo at center court before the game between the Stanford Cardinal and the USC Trojans at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

Are the Stanford Cardinal back? It may be too early to tell but if early indications are correct, Stanford women's basketball could be a major force in the world of college basketball.

On Monday afternoon, the program announced that one of its biggest additions of the offseason earned a very prestigious ACC award in only the first week of her college career. Lara Somfai, a five-star recruit out of IMG Academy, earned the ACC Rookie of the Week after a string of dominant performances in Stanford's first three games.

Somfai, a 6-foot-4 forward, joined Stanford with high expectations from the jump, with the program looking for someone to become the new superstar after struggling to find one last season, following the departures of Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen. A multi-tooled player, Somfai is known for her scoring ability as well as her relentless defensive efforts.

While spending her high school days at IMG in Florida, Somfai is a native of Adelaide, Australia, playing for Australia's national team in four separate tournaments. Leading Australia to a fifth place finish at the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2024, Somfai averaged a team best of 14.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in seven games played.

Somfai also played for Australia in the 2024 FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup, the 2023 FIBA U17 Women's Oceania Championship and the 2023 U16 Women's Asian Championship.

A McDonald's All-American, Jordan Brand Classic All-American and a Nike Hoop Summit Team World roster member, Somfai was viewed highly coming out of high school and will look to cement herself as a Stanford legend in the years to come.

Below is a press release sent out by Stanford Athletics on Monday morning.

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STANFORD, Calif. – Freshman Lara Somfai was named ACC Rookie of the Week for games played between November 3-9, the conference announced Monday. ACC women’s basketball weekly awards are voted on by the league’s Blue Ribbon Panel.

The Cardinal’s leading scorer and rebounder, Somfai averaged a double-double in Stanford’s three wins to open the season against UNC Greensboro (87-42), Santa Clara (79-58) and Cal Poly (90-55). The 6-foot-3 forward put up 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game. She had 15 and eight in her debut against the Spartans, 14 and 13 against the Broncos, and 14 and 10 against the Mustangs.

Somfai is tied for the national lead with two double-doubles and one of two freshmen in the country with multiple (Blair Baugus – Middle Tennessee). On Sunday, she became the first Stanford freshman with double-doubles in back-to-back games since Ashten Prechtel in 2019-20.

When she went for 14 points, 10 rebounds and three steals on Sunday against Cal Poly, Somfai became the first major conference freshman to do that since UConn's Sarah Strong against Villanova on March 9, 2025 (20 pts, 16 rebs, 3 stls) and the first ACC freshman to do it since Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo against Virginia Tech on Feb. 29, 2024 (23 pts, 12 rebs, 3 stls).

She is the first ACC weekly award winner for Stanford since it moved conferences prior to the 2024-25 campaign.

Somfai and the Cardinal return to the court at Washington State on Friday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.