The Lopes continued seeing the Cardinal in their regional tournament paths.
 
And they continue to see red.
 
For the 2^nd time in the last four seasons, the Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby team's hopes for a national tournament berth were thwarted by Stanford University as the 3^rd-seeded Cardinal knocked off the 6^th-seeded Lopes, 43-14, in the Round of 8 at the College Rugby Association of America Regional Tournament in Palo Alto, California, Friday afternoon. It's the 3^rd straight Stanford win in the growing rivalry between the two schools dating back to 2023 – with the second win coming in the CRAA National Championship match in 2024. The Lopes' consolation match this morning was called off by Arizona State University, who conceded a 28-0 forfeit win to GCU to officially end the Lopes' season.
 
The regular season played out in much the same way all season long for the Lopes' recipe for success: a quick start usually meant a win at the end. However, the Lopes struggled to maintain that early burst over the last two weekends, coming from behind in the regular season finale a week ago to run away in the 2^nd half in a 34-13 victory over the Sun Devils. The Lopes never got the chance to recover Friday in northern California, not finding the try zone until the 2^nd half in heading to the halftime locker room with a 19-0 deficit. Angelique Schrock's final score of her GCU career finally got the Lopes on the scoreboard, with GCU freshman Maya Warriax giving Lopes' fans a glimpse of a bright future with the final try of the day minutes later. Arianna Topping finished off the season going 2-for-2 in two-point conversions.
 
"80% of this year's team was different than last year," said Lopes' Head Coach Lindsey Mahoney. "We were pretty young, so it's our first year really building things up around this roster. We defended Stanford well all match long, and most of their tries came off individual efforts, so that's something to build on. Our rugby also looked really fast and creative, and the few mistakes we made are very correctable for next year."
 
The Lopes finish the 2025-26 season with an overall mark of 7-3 while finishing 2^nd in the Pacific Desert Rugby Conference with a 5-1 league record.