Geoff Schneider

Women's Lacrosse Continues Home Stand Against Alfred Tuesday

3/18/2024 10:34:00 AM

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

OPENING DRAW
The Daemen women's lacrosse hosts Alfred University in a non-conference game Tuesday (March 19) at Coyer Field on the campus of Buffalo State University.

SOPHOMORE CAMPAIGN
Last season marked the inaugural season for Daemen women's lacrosse. Daemen officially announced it was adding women's lacrosse as a varsity sport in June of 2021. The Wildcats made a successful debut on Feb. 26, 2023 when they posted a 14-10 victory at Lake Erie College in the first game in program history. Daemen would go on to post a 7-9 record in its inaugural season.

GUIDING THE SHIP
Second-year head coach Dominique Hamman will head up a 21-player roster that includes six freshmen, nine sophomores, three juniors, two seniors and one graduate student. 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.

SEASON OUTLOOK
Coach Hamman returns 12 players and welcomes nine newcomers to the 2024 roster. The Wildcats must overcome the graduation of all-conference attack Casey Decatur who ranked second in goals (37) and led the team in assists (37) and points (74) last year. Senior Dana Bacher (Hamburg, N.Y.), junior Camryn Day (Hamburg, N.Y.) and sophomore Ella Bouley (Auburn, N.Y.) will serve as team captains. Bacher earned second team All-ECC honors last season after leading the team in goals (43) and ranking second in points (52). Day led the ECC and ranked 18th nationally in draw controls per game (6.31) last year and also contributed 25 goals and 33 points. Bouley ranked third on the team in goals (28) and points (34). Sophomores Avery Castner (Penn Yan, N.Y.) and Kylie Miranto (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) also return. Castner netted 20 goals as a rookie, while Miranto totaled 16 points. Sophomore goaltender Blair Pfohl (Lockport, N.Y.) is back after starting all 16 games in goal last year and averaging seven saves per game.

POLL POSITION
Daemen was picked to finish fifth in the East Coast Conference preseason poll following a vote of the league's seven head coaches. Two-time defending champion Mercy University collected five of the seven first place votes and topped the poll with 47 points. Roberts Wesleyan University earned the other two first place votes and placed second with 42 points.

THE 2024 WILDCATS (1-7, 0-0 ECC)
Daemen capped a week long trip to the State of Missouri with a 13-10 win over William Jewell College last Tuesday and is coming off a 15-12 loss to Findlay Friday night at Coyer Field. Ella Bouley scored three goals in the loss to Findlay and leads the team in goals (14), assists (7), points (21), ground balls (15), caused turnovers (8) and draw controls (21). Dana Bacher scored three times during the win over WJC and has totaled 10 goals. Sophomore Avery Castner has totaled eight points over the last two games and has totaled 10 points overall (6 gls, 4 asts). Camryn Day scored three times in a loss to Gannon and has totaled seven goals and nine points. Additional production has come from sophomore Kylie Miranto (5 gls, 3 asts, 18 draw controls), junior Olivia Wade (7 gls), and freshmen Mikayla Myer (6 gls, 1 ast, 16 draw controls) and Cadence Baran (6 gls). Blair Pfohl has started six games in net and made a career-high 21 saves in a loss to Missouri Western State. Senior transfer Tatiana Wright has started two games in net. She made her first start for Daemen against Lock Haven and made 10 saves.

SCOUTING ALFRED (2-3, 0-0 EMPRE 8)
Alfred is a NCAA Division III affiliate and a member of the Empire 8 Conference. Alfred returns 10 players from last year's team that went 1-12 overall and 1-6 in Empire 8 play. Three of AU's five games this season have been decided by one goal. The Saxons opened the year with losses to Fredonia State (10-9 OT) and Grive City (17-10), before posting back-to-back wins over Westminster (12-11) and Hilbert (19-0). The Saxons are coming off a 14-13 loss to SUNY Potsdam on Saturday. Junior Amelia Booth was named the Empire 8 Co-Rookie of the Year two years ago and has earned all-conference honors the past two seasons. She has totaled a team-high 20 goals, 25 points and 27 draw controls this season and has racked up 115 goals and 144 points and 238 draw controls over her three year career. Additional production has come from sophomores Morgan Wise (15 gls, 3 asts) and Kylee Bedette (7 gls, 3 asts) and junior Hailey Stroh (9 gls, 3 asts). Senior goalkeeper Alyssa Piechota returns after starting all 13 games last year. She has started all five games this year and made 15 saves in the win over Westminster.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's game marks the second all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Saxons. Daemen posted a 14-3 victory at Alfred last year.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until Saturday (March 23) when it opens East Coast Conference play at Roberts Wesleyan University.

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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