Wildcats Travel Across Town To Face D'Youville Tuesday Night

4/10/2023 11:01:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu

Game #13
Daemen Wildcats (6-6, 1-1 ECC) vs. D'Youville Saints (7-5, 2-0 ECC)
DATE: Tuesday, April 11
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Buffalo, N.Y. | Dobson Field
LIVE STATS: via D'Youville Athletics / LIVE VIDEO: via ECC Network

QUICK TRIP
Daemen makes the short trip to the campus of D'Youville University in Buffalo for a key East Coast Conference game on Tuesday night. The Saints have won six straight games and are in second place in the ECC standings. Daemen had its three game winning streak snapped following a loss to league-leading Molloy this past Saturday.

HISTORY MADE
Daemen made a successful program debut back on Feb. 26, as the Wildcats posted a 14-10 victory at Lake Erie College in the first game in program history. The 2023 campaign will mark the inaugural season for the program. Daemen officially announced it was adding women's lacrosse as a varsity sport in June of 2021.

GUIDING THE SHIP
First-year head coach Dominique Hamman will head up a 19-player roster that includes 11 freshmen, four sophomores, two juniors and two graduate students. Prior to Daemen, Hamman spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Grand Valley State and played collegiately at Division I Central Michigan, where she was a member of CMU's inaugural team in 2016.

LIMITED EXPERIENCE
Daemen's rosters features three players with collegiate experience. Graduate student defender Hayley Latvala (Grand Island, N.Y.) played four seasons (2018-21) at Gannon University. She played in 44 of a possible 48 games and was in the starting lineup 38 times. Graduate student forward Casey Decatur (Apollo Beach, Fla.) played three seasons (2018-20) at Division I Saint Bonaventure and played in 29 of a possible 41 games over her career. Sophomore defender Emma Fenwick (Buffalo, N.Y.) played in nine games as rookie at John Carroll University last spring.

FIRST GAME, FIRST WIN
Turns out it was worth the wait, as Daemen picked up a victory in the first game in program history following a 14-10 victory at Lake Erie College on Feb. 26. The long awaited game came over a year and a half after Daemen officially announced it was adding women's lacrosse as a varsity sport in June of 2021. Junior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.) scored five goals and graduate student Casey Decatur (Apollo Beach, Fla.) added three goals and four assists to lead the way today. Freshman Blair Pfohl (Lockport, N.Y.) went the distance in goal for the Wildcats and made three saves to earn the win in her collegiate debut. Freshman Kylie Miranto (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) will get credit for scoring the first goal in program history, as her goal off a pass from Decatur just 1:15 into the game gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 until LEC evened the score at 1-1 with 8:56 left in the first quarter. Bacher scored the first of her five goals less than a minute later, and Daemen would take a 5-2 lead into the second quarter. The Wildcats scored four unanswered goals over the first six minutes of the second quarter to take a 9-2 lead. Daemen would take a 10-3 lead into halftime. LEC outscored the Wildcats 3-1 during the third quarter and the hosts later cut the Daemen lead to three goals, 12-9, with 8:24 to play in the fourth quarter. Daemen regained control after Decatur and sophomore Camryn Day (Hamburg, N.Y.) scored back-to-back goals a minute apart to give the Wildcats a 14-9 lead.

BY THE NUMBERS
Several Daemen players rank high among the East Coast Conference statistical leaders. Graduate student Casey Decatur (Apollo Beach, Fla.) leads the league in assists (33) and ranks 10th in goals (27) and second in total points (60). Junior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks fifth in goals (35) and sixth in points (43). Freshman Ella Bouley (Auburn, N.Y.) ranks 11th in goals (26) and 17th in points (30). Freshman Blair Pfohl (Lockport, N.Y.) ranks third in both ground balls (29) and total saves (92). Sophomore Camryn Day (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks first (82) and Bouley ranks fourth (51) in draw controls.

POLL POSITION
Daemen was picked to finish sixth in the East Coast Conference preseason poll following a vote of the league's seven head coaches. Mercy College, which has played in each of the last five ECC Tournament title games and claimed the conference championship in 2019 and 2022, collected six of the seven first place votes and topped the poll with 48 points. Roberts Wesleyan University, which lost to Mercy in last year's ECC Tournament championship game, earned the other first place vote and placed second with 42 points. Molloy University (35), D'Youville University (29) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (18) round out the top five. Daemen collected 14 points and earned the No. 6 spot ahead of the University of the District of Columbia (10).

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen returns to action Saturday (April 15) when it travels to St. Thomas Aquinas College for an ECC game.

SCOUTING D'YOUVILLE
D'Youville returns 11 players from last year's team that went 9-8 overall and 3-3 in ECC play. D'Youville earned a spot in the four-team ECC Tournament last year and suffered a 19-7 loss to top-seeded Mercy in the tournament semifinals. The Saints lost five of their first six games this year, but since then have reeled off six-straight wins. D'Youville sits in second place the ECC standings and is coming off a non-league win at Post (18-11) this past Friday. Sophomore Sydney Gordon and freshman Sam Newlin have paced an offense that ranks third in the ECC in goals per game (12.92). Gordon scored four goals in the win over Post and has totaled 37 goals, 13 assists and 50 points. Newlin scored five times in a recent 16-1 win over Lake Erie and ranks second among the ECC goal leaders (40). Additional production has come from freshmen Madison Buck (18 gls, 23 asts) and Madison Handley (28 gls, 8 asts). The Saints return all-conference defender Amanda Waliszewski and all-conference goalkkeeper Brinn Stworzydlak. Stworzydlak, a two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection this year, leads the ECC in total saves (112) and ranks third goals against average (10.09).

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen women's lacrosse program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWLAX

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