Women's Lacrosse Caps Inaugural Season at Mercy Saturday

4/28/2023 9:58:00 AM

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

Game #16
Daemen Wildcats (7-8, 2-3 ECC) vs. #20 Mercy Mavericks (10-6, 4-1 ECC)
DATE: Saturday, April 29
TIME: 12 p.m.
LOCATION: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. | Mercy Field
LIVE STATS: via Mercy Athletics / LIVE VIDEO: via ECC Network

SEASON FINALE
Daemen will play the final game of its inaugural season Saturday when the Wildcats play at nationally-ranked Mercy College in an East Coast Conference game. The Mavericks are the defending ECC Tournament champions and are ranked No. 20 in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division II poll.

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 marked 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 roster features only 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 (37), ranks 10th in goals (34) and second in total points (71). Junior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks fifth in goals (43) and eighth in points (52). Freshman Ella Bouley (Auburn, N.Y.) ranks 14th in goals (28) and 20th in points (34). Sophomore Camryn Day (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks 20th in goals (22) and 22nd in points (30). Freshman Blair Pfohl (Lockport, N.Y.) ranks third in ground balls (36) and third in total saves (113). Day ranks first (98) and Bouley ranks fifth (63) 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).

SCOUTING MERCY
Mercy returns 18 players--including seven 2022 all-conference selections--from last year's team that went 14-5 overall and 6-0 in ECC play. The Mavericks claimed the ECC Tournament title following a 19-12 win over Roberts Wesleyan and earned a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Mercy suffered an 18-17 loss to top-seeded Stonehill College in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Mercy has won four-straight games and is coming off a non-league win at Jefferson on Wednesday. Newcomer Jaclyn Grzelaczyk, who earned ECC Rookie of the Year honors while playing for New York Tech in 2019, has made an immediate impact with a team-high 57 points (25 gls, 32 asts). Her sister Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk, a second team All-ECC pick last year, has totaled 36 goals and 43 points, while sophomore Leena Moussa leads the team in goals (44) and ranks second in points (48). Additional production has come grad transfer Emma Rippon (33 gls, 6 asts) and sophomore Leah Hansen (31 gls, 2 asts). All-conference defenders Lindsey Shimborske, Mickayla Brady and Alexandra Bigilin also return. Shimborske was named ECC Rookie of the Year and Brady was voted ECC Defender of the Year last spring. Junior goalkeeper Olivia Maute has played in all 16 games in goal and ranks third among the ECC leaders in goals against average (11.37).

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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