Lacrosse Looks to Continue Great Start, Plays Twice This Week

DAVIDSON, N.C. — Off to its best start in school history, Davidson women’s lacrosse looks to continue the hot start when it hosts Elon Wednesday night under the lights at Richardson Stadium and then plays host to Old Dominion Sunday.

The Opening Draw Control…
Davidson (3-0, 0-0 A-10) will play Elon (2-2, 0-0 CAA) Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. as it looks to win its second straight home game and fourth overall to open the 2019 season. Then over the weekend, the Wildcats will welcome ODU (1-4, 0-0 CAA) for a 1 p.m. Sunday contest at Richardson Stadium. The Monarchs have a busy week, playing No. 25 Virginia Tech at home Wednesday and then at High Point Friday night.

The All-Time Series/Last Meeting vs. Richmond & VCU …
The series vs. the Phoenix is just four games old, with Davidson trailing 3-1. The two teams first met back in 2014. Both teams last met in 2017 at Elon. The Phoenix used mini runs of 3-0 and 4-0 in the first half to go up 9-3 and eventually took a 15-7 win. Annie Brockett had four points on two goals and an assist, while Jordan Wood scored twice. Kendall Thielemann had a goal and an assist in the defeat.

The series vs. the Monarchs is only two games old, dating back to 2014. It is tied 1-1 with both teams winning on their home field. The last meeting took place in 2015 when Davidson’s comeback bid on the road fell just short as it nearly erased a six-goal deficit in the second half before falling to the Monarchs, 10-8. Down 8-2 after the Monarchs scored 30 seconds into the start of the second half, the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run to get within one with 16:24 remaining. Their momentum ended there as the ‘Cats were held to just one goal the rest of the way.Annie Brockett paced the offense with four points on two goals and two assists, both team highs, while Emily Rademacher netted a goal and added two assists.

Quick Hits
Record Watch…
A few Wildcats are slowly climbing the record books. Sarah Kopp is currently ranked in the top-10 in draw controls with 123, good for fourth-most on the career list. Her 43 caused turnovers are six away from reaching the top-10. Sophia Sgroi is also in the top-10 in draw controls, sitting with 93 for 10th place. Junior Shayne Antolini and sophomore Olivia Carey are making their mark in the assist category, with Antolini sitting at 47 for 7th place, while Carey has 30 and needs eight to move into the top-10 all-time.

Weekly Awards…
Feb. 11: Junior Delaney Guhman claimed her first Atlantic 10 women’s lacrosse weekly award when she was named the league’s defensive player of the week for games played from Feb. 4-10. Guhman helped Davidson open its 2019 season with a 12-4 win on the road at Winthrop with an impressive showing between the pipes. She earned her first collegiate victory by allowing just four goals, only one of them coming in the second half, while picking up six saves for a .600 save percentage. In addition, the Greensboro, N.C., native scooped up a couple groundballs.

Feb. 18: Freshman Braeden Dial claimed Davidson’s second straight weekly award when she was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for women’s lacrosse for games played from Feb. 11-17. The freshman from New Canaan, Conn., had a stellar outing in her second collegiate game in helping Davidson take a 13-8 home win against Furman on Saturday, Feb. 16. Dial led the team with a season-high four goals on seven shots, while adding a groundball and a draw control. Dial scored the first and second goals of the game for the Wildcats in helping it race out to a 9-1 lead in the first half. She then ended the scoring on the day with the final goal. Dial put six of her seven shots on goal.

A-10 Preseason Poll…
Coming off a second straight trip to the semifinals in the Atlantic 10 Championship last year, Davidson was picked to finish fourth by the league’s coaches in the 2019 preseason poll. The Wildcats received 63 points, one more than George Mason, and were picked behind Richmond (95, five first-place votes), UMass (94, five first-place votes) and Saint Joseph’s (73).

Richmond was picked to repeat as A-10 Champions after tying a program best with a 16-4 record and downing UMass 12-11 in an overtime thriller over the top-seeded Minutewomen, who had their nine-year championship streak snapped. UMass had also been picked to finish first in the preseason poll for the past 10 consecutive seasons until this year.

The 2019 Atlantic 10 Women’s Lacrosse Championship will be held April 25-28 at George Mason Stadium. The Championship will feature a bracket of six teams.

Last Time Out… Feb. 23
DAVIDSON — Seven players scored two or more goals and Davidson rolled to its third straight win to start the year with a 22-6 road win at Gardner-Webb. Davidson ran its record to 3-0, its best start in program history, and scored the most goals since 2014.

In a 2-all game four minutes in, the Wildcats broke up the close affair by running off a 6-0 goal run to take an 8-2 lead and never looked back. Braeden Dial had another four-goal outing and added two assists for a season-high six points. Freshmen Gianna New and Emily Weld each tallied a hat trick for the first time this year, followed Sophia Sgroi, Sam Rippley, Katie Woodruff and Sarah Kopp with two goals apiece. Rippley and Sgroi each dished out two assists, while Olivia Carey tied her season high with three assists.

ELON — The Phoenix saw Liberty outscore them 9-1 in the second half and turn a 5-1 deficit into a 10-6 win last Saturday. Elon went up 5-0 in the first half, but its offense was shutdown in the second half. Quinn Daly and  Cami Lynch both scored twice to lead the Phoenix. Goalie Paulina DiFatta’s 14 saves gave her a third double-digit save outing in four games wearing maroon and gold. She also had 15 saves against Campbell and 10 against No. 14 Virginia.

OLD DOMINION —  The women’s lacrosse team won their first game of the season with a victory over Winthrop (0-5) on Saturday afternoon by a 11-10 final score. ODU was led offensively by Glory Johnson with five goals and two assists. ODU outshot the Eagles, 29-20. The Monarchs also grabbed 14 draw controls to Winthrop’s nine. Miller and Richie earned five draws each.

Davidson Team/Individual Statistics …
The 2019 Wildcat Statistics … click here for full statistics

Opponent Team/Individual Statistics (as of 2/23)
Elon- 48 goals (12.0 per game), 12 assists, 97 shots (24.3 per game), 48 draw controls (12 per game), 38 caused turnovers (9.5 per game), 79 groundballs (19.8 per game) and 13-26 on free-position shots (50.0%)

Individual Statistics:
•Goals – Mae McGlynn (14), Kaley Thompson (7), Bella Feldman (6)
•Assists – Kaley Thompson (5), Grace Simpson (2), five tied with 1
•Points – Mae McGlynn (15), Kaley Thompson (12), Bella Feldman (6)
•Groundballs – Paulina DiFatta (12), Quinn Daly (9)
•Caused Turnovers – Gillian Curran (6), Carleigh Goldstein (5), Palmer Voorhes (5)
•Draw Controls – Kaley Thompson (19), Gillian Curran (18), Quinn Daly (5)
•Saves – Paulina DiFatta (42)

ODU- 48 goals (9.60 per game), 20 assists, 135 shots (27.0 per game), 48 (9.6 per game), 66 caused turnovers (13.2 per game), 78 groundballs (15.6) and 11-29 free-position shots (.379)

Individual Statistics:
•Goals – Glory Johnson (15), Sophia Richie (12), two tied with 5
•Assists – Lilly Siskind (10), Glory Johnson (3), Lauren Irvine (2)
•Points – Glory Johnson (18), Lilly Siskind (15), Sophia Richie (13)
•Groundballs – Kerri Caruso (12), Mary Maloney (10), two tied with 7
•Caused Turnovers – Alyssa Sebesto (12), Katie Miller (10), two tied with 5
•Draw Controls – Katie Miller (11), Lilly Siskind (6), three tied with 5
•Saves – Haleigh Wurzel (36), Lauren Ey (10)

Next Up …
After its Sunday game vs. ODU, Davidson will travel to Mercer for a 4 p.m. game, March 7.