Geoff Schneider

Women's Lacrosse Heads To The Show-Me State For Three Games

3/7/2024 11:18:00 AM

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

FRESH START
The Daemen women's lacrosse team heads to Missouri for non-conference games at Rockhurst (Mar. 8), Missouri Western State (Mar. 10) and William Jewell (Mar. 12).

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 (0-4, 0-0 ECC)
Daemen opened its sophomore campaign with two challenging games, as they traveled to Walsh University and hosted Dominican University. Both teams claimed their respective conference championships last year and posted a combined 33-5 record. Walsh posted a 15-5 victory over the Wildcats, while Dominican spoiled Daemen's home opener with a 20-8 victory over the Wildcats. Daemen is coming off a pair 15-8 losses at Lock Haven and Gannon. Camryn Day scored three times in the loss to Gannon and has totaled a team-high seven goals and nine points. Ella Bouley scored four goals in the loss to Dominican and has totaled six goals and nine points. Freshman Mikayla Myer (4 gls) scored her first career goal during the loss to Walsh. Dana Bacher and Olivia Wade have both netted three goals, while freshman Shannen Calandra recorded her first career points (2 asts) in the loss to Dominican and netted her first career goal against Lock Haven. Blair Pfohl started the first two games in net and made nine saves in the loss to Walsh. Senior transfer Tatiana Wright has started the last two games. She made her first start for Daemen against Lock Haven and made 10 saves.

SCOUTING ROCKHURST (2-0, 0-0 GLVC)
Rockhurst is a NCAA Division II affiliate and a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The Hawks opened the season with a 14-9 win over McKendree and posted 12-11 win over Northern Michigan in its home opener on Monday. Rockhurst returns four of the top eight scorers from last year's team that went 10-6 overall and 4-2 in GLVC play. Rockhurst was picked to finish third in the GLVC preseason poll. Graduate student Dani Mabry earned honorable mention All-GLVC honors last year after totaling 27 goals, a team-high 19 assists and 46 points. Graduate student Mackenzie Blair was a first team All-GLVC pick last year after totaling 20 goals and 32 points. Junior Reagan Danner (17 gls, 3 asts, 20 pts) and senior Kelly Marion (14 gls, 3 asts, 17 pts) also return. Blair also collected a team-high 72 draw controls last year. Blair totaled three goals and two assists in the win over McKendree and has totaled a team-high eight points (5 gls, 3 asts) this year. Danner scored five goals against NMU and has scored a team-high seven goals, while sophomore Payton Thomas has also registered seven points (5 gls, 2 asts). RU must overcome the graduation of goaltender Sydney Shindler who earned honorable mention All-GLVC last year. Junior Mae Beins (10.0 GAA) has gone the distance in goal in the first two games and made 12 saves in the win over McKendree.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday's game marks the first ever meeting between the Wildcats and the Hawks.

SCOUTING MISSOURI WESTERN STATE (4-1, 0-0 GLVC)
Missouri Western State is a NCAA Division II affiliate and a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The Griffons host Northern Michigan on Friday before taking on the Wildcats on Sunday. MWSU opened the year with four-straight wins over Concordia-St. Paul (14-11), McKendree (17-8), William Jewell (17-5) and Quincy (13-12), before suffering a 12-9 loss to nationally-ranked Grand Valley State. MWSU returns four of the top eight scorers from last year's team that went 9-8 overall and 3-3 in GLVC play. MWSU was picked to finish fourth in the GLVC preseason poll. Junior Sam Pruitt returns after totaling 65 points (45 gls, 20 asts) and collecting honorable mention All-GLVC last year. She totaled four goals and four assists in the win over McKendree and has racked up a team-high 28 points (19 gls, 9 asts) thus far. Redshirt freshman Brooke Tjernlund (11 gls) and sophomore Maleah Sosa (6 gls, 3 asts) have also produced. All-conference defenders Jazmine Servance, Grace Williams and Bella Ramirez also return. Senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Porter returns after earning second team All-GLVC last year. She owns a 10.35 goals against average this season and made 12 saves in the win over Quincy.

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's game marks the first ever meeting between the Wildcats and the Griffons.

SCOUTING WILLIAM JEWELL (1-4, 0-0 GLVC)
William Jewell is a NCAA Division II affiliate and a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). 2024 is the inaugural season of of women's lacrosse at WJC. The school announced it was adding men's and women's lacrosse on January 10, 2022 and Kallie Muck was announced as the first head coach on May 24, 2022. WJC was picked to finish eighth in the GLVC preseason poll. The Cardinals posted a 24-0 win over Missouri Valley College in their first ever game back on Feb. 3 and have since suffered four-straight losses to Missouri Baptist (16-5), Missouri Western State (17-5), McKendree (12-5) and Northern Michigan (18-7). WJC's 14-player roster features 11 freshmen, two redshirt freshmen and one graduate student. Freshman Olivia Fornelli and graduate student Addison Devers have paced the offense thus far. Fornelli totaled two goals and five assists in the win over Missouri Valley and has totaled 14 points (8 gls, 6 asts). Devers scored three times in the loss to Missouri Western State and has totaled 11 points (8 gls, 3 asts). Freshmen Haydin Gibson has played every minute in goal thus far and made 13 saves in the loss to McKendree.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's game marks the first ever meeting between the Wildcats and the Cardinals.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen hosts the University of Findlay on March 15. Game time is 5:30 p.m. at Coyer Field on the campus of Buffalo State 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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