Women's Lacrosse Hosts League Leading Molloy Saturday

4/7/2023 11:28:00 AM

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

Game #12
Daemen Wildcats (6-5, 1-0 ECC) vs. RV Molloy Lions (9-3, 3-0 ECC)
DATE: Saturday, April 8
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Buffalo, N.Y. | Medaille Sports Complex
LIVE STATS: via Daemen Athletics / LIVE VIDEO: via ECC Network

TOUGH TEST
Daemen will put its three game winning streak on the line Saturday night against league leading Molloy University. The Lions have won nine straight games and sit atop the ECC standings. Molloy posted a huge 14-13 overtime victory over defending conference champion and No. 13 ranked Mercy last weekend and is receiving votes in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) 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 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.

LEAGUE HONORS FOR MIRANTO
Freshman midfielder Kylie Miranto (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) was honored by the East Coast Conference for her play last week. Miranto was selected the ECC Women's Lacrosse Rookie of the Week. It marks the first time this season Miranto has been selected Rookie of the Week and the fourth time that a player from Daemen has earned the award this season. Junior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.) is a three-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection. Miranto becomes the first student-athlete (not including cross country/track & field) from Daemen to collected a major weekly award from the ECC in two different sports. Also a member of the Daemen women's soccer team, she was a two-time ECC Women's Soccer Rookie of the Week selection this past fall and was also named third-team all-conference.

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 (30) and ranks ninth in goals (26) and second in total points (56). Junior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks fifth in goals (31) and sixth in points (39). Freshman Ella Bouley (Auburn, N.Y.) ranks 11th in goals (24) and 16th in points (27). Freshman Blair Pfohl (Lockport, N.Y.) ranks third in both ground balls (29) and total saves (81). Sophomore Camryn Day (Hamburg, N.Y.) ranks first (72) and Bouley ranks fourth (48) in draw controls.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Daemen defense, led by graduate student Hayley Latvala (Grand Island, N.Y.), sophomore Emma Fenwick (Buffalo, N.Y.) and freshmen Jenna Havert (Newark, N.Y.) and Kira Grzechowiak (West Seneca, N.Y.) has allowed just 65 shots (16.3 per game) and 26 goals (6.5 per game) over the past four games. The Wildcats limited Tiffin to four total shots and zero goals in the first half during a 17-2 win over the Dragons.

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 night (April 11) when it heads across town to face D'Youville University in an ECC game.

SCOUTING MOLLOY
Molloy returns 24 players from last year's team that went 9-8 overall and 4-2 in ECC play. Molloy earned a spot in the four-team ECC Tournament last year and suffered a 14-12 loss to Roberts Wesleyan in the tournament semifinals. The Lions opened this year with three-straight losses to Pace (19-5), Southern Connecticut (12-11 OT) and New Haven (14-9), but since then have reeled off nine-straight wins. Molloy sits atop the ECC standings and posted a huge 14-13 overtime victory over defending conference champion and No. 13 ranked Mercy last weekend. The Lions are receiving votes in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II poll. Sophomore Megan Rugolo has paced an offense that is averaging a league-high 15.67 goals per game. The reigning ECC Offensive Player of the Week, she totaled four goals and three assists in the win over Mercy and has totaled 34 goals, 27 assists and a league-high 61 points. Additional offense has come from sophomore Alexa Amorison (19 gls, 17 asts), senior Amanda Weber (31 gls, 1 ast) and junior Kelly Bergersen (18 gls, 7 asts). Weber was voted the ECC Midfielder of the Year last spring, while Amorison was a second-team All-ECC pick. The Lions return two all-conference defenders in junior Ryan Smith and sophomore Carly Howell. Junior Mary-Kate Sweeney has started all 12 games owns a league-best 9.20 goals against average. She made 10 saves in the win over Mercy and is averaging 5.9 saves per game.

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.

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