Women's Lacrosse Hosts STAC Saturday; Travels To Malone Monday

3/29/2024 10:21:00 AM

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

OPENING DRAW
The Daemen women's lacrosse team will play two games in three days, as the Wildcats host St. Thomas Aquinas College in an East Coast Conference game Saturday (March 30), before heading to Canton, Ohio to take on Malone University in a non-league game Monday (April 1).

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 (2-8, 0-1 ECC)
Daemen opened East Coast Conference play with a 16-7 loss at Roberts Wesleyan last weekend. Ella Bouley scored three goals in a recent oss to Findlay and leads the team in goals (17), assists (8), points (25), ground balls (18) and draw controls (25). Dana Bacher scored three times during a 12-1 win over Alfred and has totaled 13 goals. Sophomore Avery Castner has totaled 11 points over the last four games and has totaled 13 points overall (8 gls, 5 asts), while classmate Kylie Miranto has also totaled 13 points (9 gls, 4 asts) and 22 draw controls. Additional production has come from junior Olivia Wade (11 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 four games in net. She made her first start for Daemen against Lock Haven and made 10 saves and equaled her season high for saves (13) in the loss to Roberts Wesleyan.

SCOUTING ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (3-7, 0-1 ECC)
St. Thomas Aquinas returns nine players--including the top four scorers--from last year's team that went 2-12 overall and 1-5 in ECC play. The Spartans opened ECC play wih a 23-3 loss to Mercy on Wednesday. Graduate student Hailey Gailson returns after totaling a team-high 20 goals and 32 points last year. She has totaled 11 goals and 15 points this season and leads the team in draw controls (31). Junior Katelyn Cerrato netted 18 goals last year and has totaled a team-high 17 goals and 25 points this year. She netted six goals in a 20-6 win over Caldwell. Additional production has come from senior Olivia Cerbo (12 gls, 7 asts) and sophomores Ella Entress (18 gls) and Arianna Tribble (10 gls, 9 asts). Freshman Lilah Magenheimer has started all 10 games in goal and made a season-high 12 saves in a 20-2 loss to Southern Connecticut.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game marks the second all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Spartans. Daemen posted a 16-8 victory at STAC last year.

SCOUTING MALONE (2-6, 0-1 G-MAC)
Malone is a NCAA Division II affiliate and a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). 2024 is the inaugural season of of women's lacrosse at Malone. The school announced it was adding women's lacrosse on March 18, 2021 and Michael Jewell was announced as the first head coach on Nov. 18, 2022. Malone was picked to finish seventh in the G-MAC preseason poll. The Pioneers play at Findlay on Saturday before hosting the Wildcats on Monday. Malone posted a 10-6 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in its first ever game back on Feb. 24. Freshman Abbey Burns scored seven goals in a 17-3 win over Madonna and has totaled a team-high 20 goals and 24 points. Additional offense has come from fellow freshmen Emma Weintz (8 gls, 2 asts), Jorjia Meza (3 gls, 6 asts), Olivia Marcantonio (6 gls, 1 ast) and Maria Fusillo (5 gls, 2 asts). Freshman Sommer-Jo Grieser has started all eight games in net and made a season-high 15 saves in a 17-5 loss to Charleston (WV).

SERIES HISTORY
Monday's game marks the first ever meeting between the Wildcats and the Pioneers.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until next Saturday (April 6) when it travels to Molloy University for an East Coast Conference 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.

Follow the Daemen women's lacrosse program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWLAX

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