April 20, 2009

PHILADELPHIA--The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team concluded its regular season on Sunday with a 9-7 overall record, 5-2 in the Atlantic 10 to earn the #3 seed in this weekend's Atlantic 10 Lacrosse Championship. The Hawks will face #2 Richmond on Friday at Temple's Geasey Field with the first draw slated for 3:30 p.m.

Saint Joseph's dropped its final A-10 game of the season, 12-5, at Richmond on Sunday, which snapped a four-game winning streak. The Hawks and Spiders will be pitted in the second semifinal after #1 Massachusetts takes on #4 George Washington at 1:00 p.m.

SJU is participating in the A-10 Championship for the first time since 2001 when the Hawks lost to #1 Temple, 15-6. Coincidentally, just as Saint Joseph's and Richmond will play each other twice in a week, the Saint Joseph's and the Owls faced off in the final regular season game before the A-10 Semifinal.

Leading the offense is Jenna Martino who has notched 49 goals, 17 assists for a team-leading 66 points this season. Martino needs three goals to set a new single-season goals record and five points to eclipse the single-season points record.

In the back, A-10 leader Suzy Herlihy is looking to continue her strong play after recording an 8.48 goals against average and .521 save percentage. She is the school record holder in career wins (22), single-season wins (nine) and second all-time in saves (443) and GAA (8.48).

The season was a record-breaking year for the Hawks who set new records in goals scored (183), points (249), shots (483), overall wins (nine), and A-10 wins (five). SJU had never compiled a winning record in A-10 play prior to this season and the #3 seed is the highest in the two appearances of the Championship.

Memorable highlights of the year include Helene Tursi's seven-goal barrage at Villanova, which saw the Hawks go on a 16-1 run to end the game. Additionally, Saint Joseph's defeated Duquesne for the first time ever and beat Temple for just the second time in program history. The Hawks look for their first win over Richmond on Friday as the Spiders are 8-0 against SJU in women's lacrosse play.

Saint Joseph's has garnered six weekly awards this season, three players and three rookies of the week, respectively. Tursi (3/23), Herlihy (2/23, 4/6) have won Players of the Week, while Meghan McDevitt (2/16), Julie Mineweaser (2/23), Jen Peters (3/2) have been named as Rookies of the Week this season.

Other Hawks such as Jontell Lyons, Abby Renninger, Christine Readinger, Rae Wojnar, and Meghan Cullinan have played steady defense for a team ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense and in the top 20 nationally for caused turnovers.

Tickets to Friday's semifinals at Temple are $6 for adults, $4 for children, and $3 for Atlantic 10 students. UMass and GW face off at 1:00 p.m. and Richmond and SJU are slated to play at 3:30 p.m. The winners of the two semifinals will play Sunday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m.