Geoff Schneider

Women's Lacrosse Opens Conference Play Saturday At Roberts Wesleyan

3/22/2024 10:52:00 AM

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

OPENING DRAW
The Daemen women's lacrosse team opens East Coast Conference play Saturday (March 23) at Roberts Wesleyan University. The game will be played at Redhawks Field on the RWU campus. NOTE THE GAME TIME HAS CHANGED TO 1 P.M.

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 (2-7, 0-0 ECC)
Daemen capped a week long trip to the State of Missouri with a 13-10 win over William Jewell College, before suffering a 15-12 loss to Findlay last week. The Wildcats are coming off a 12-1 win over Alfred on Tuesday at Coyer Field. Ella Bouley scored three goals in the loss to Findlay and leads the team in goals (16), assists (8), points (24), ground balls (17), caused turnovers (9) and draw controls (22). Dana Bacher scored three times during the win over Alfred and has totaled 13 goals. Sophomore Avery Castner has totaled 11 points over the last three games and has totaled 13 points overall (8 gls, 5 asts). Additional production has come from sophomore Kylie Miranto (8 gls, 4 asts, 13 ground balls, 19 draw controls), junior Olivia Wade (7 gls) and freshmen Cadence Baran (8 gls, 1 ast) and Mikayla Myer (6 gls, 1 ast, 16 draw controls). 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 three games in net. She made her first start for Daemen against Lock Haven and made 10 saves and picked up her first win as a Wildcat following the victory over Alfred.

SCOUTING ROBERTS WESLEYAN (3-5, 0-0 ECC)
Roberts Wesleyan returns several key players--including six 2023 all-conference selections--from last year's team that went 12-6 overall and 5-1 in ECC play. The Redhawks advanced to the championship game of the 2023 ECC Tournament where they suffered a 9-8 loss to top-seeded Mercy. RWU has played a very challenging schedule thus far, with six of its eight opponents being nationally-ranked. The Redhawks defeated No. 21 Assumption (13-11) last weekend and are coming off an 8-7 (OT) loss to No. 2 West Chester on Wednesday. Newcomer Lucy Rugaber, who played the last four seasons at Division I Niagara, has totaled a team-high 29 goals and 36 points thus far. Junior Annie Mulhall made an immediate impact last season after transferring from Division I East Carolina. She totaled a team-high 58 goals and 65 points last year and earned first team All-ECC honors. She has totaled 25 goals and 28 points this season. Junior midfielder Emma Blumenstock was also a first team All-ECC pick last year and has totaled 11 goals and a team-high 22 assists this year. Senior midfielder Sophia Podszebka collected second team All-ECC honors last and has totaled 10 points (4 gls, 6 asts) this year with a team high 71 draw controls. Additional production has come from sophomores Ella Dossier (3 gls, 12 asts) and Kadie Tierney (9 gls, 3 asts). All-conference defenders Madelyn Robinson and Emma Taylor also return. Junior Shawna Lesmerises has started all eight games in goal and leads the ECC in goals against average (12.03). She made 12 saves in the win over Assumption last week.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's game marks the second all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Redhawks. Roberts posted a 14-1 victory in Buffalo last year.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until next Saturday (March 30) when it hosts St. Thomas Aquinas in an East Coast Conference game at Coyer Field.

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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