Women's Lacrosse Plays at St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday

4/14/2023 11:53:00 AM

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

Game #14
Daemen Wildcats (6-7, 1-2 ECC) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans (1-11, 0-4 ECC)
DATE: Saturday, April 15
TIME: 11 a.m.
LOCATION: Sparkill, N.Y. | Spartan Field
LIVE STATS: via STAC Athletics / LIVE VIDEO: via ECC Network

LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
Daemen travels to St. Thomas Aquinas College for an East Coast Conference game Saturday. The Wildcats have lost back-to-back games to league leading Molloy and D'Youville and are looking to get back to .500 on the year.

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), ranks ninth in goals (29) and second in total points (62). Junior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks fourth in goals (38) and sixth in points (46). Freshman Ella Bouley (Auburn, N.Y.) ranks 11th in goals (27) and 17th in points (31). Freshman Blair Pfohl (Lockport, N.Y.) ranks fifth in ground balls (31) and third in total saves (98). Sophomore Camryn Day (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks first (87) and Bouley ranks third (56) 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 Tuesday (April 18) when it hosts Roberts Wesleyan University in its home finale.

SCOUTING ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
St. Thomas Aquinas returns just six players from last year's team that went 4-9 overall and 2-4 in ECC play. The Spartans have lost six-straight games and remained winless in ECC play following a 19-0 loss to nationally-ranked Mercy last Saturday. Junior Hailey Galison scored seven goals in an 18-7 win over Caldwell and leads the team in goals (15), assists (11) and points (26). Additional production has come from junior MacKenzie Schlechtweg (11 gls, 3 asts) and newcomers Arianna Tribble (11 gls, 3 asts) and Katelyn Cerrato (12 gls, 1 ast). Senior Colleen Stevens has started all 12 games in goal and ranks second among the ECC leaders in total saves (106). She made a season-high 17 saves in a 23-2 loss to Molloy.

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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