PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team (1-6) will close out the non-conference portion of the 2016 regular season at Villanova (1-8) this Wednesday, March 23. Opening draw at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pa. is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Live streaming ($) and live stats will be provided through Villanova.com.
Saturday's game will mark the 19th all-time meeting between the Hawks and the Wildcats; Saint Joseph's leads the series, 10-8. Villanova won the most recent meeting, 13-9, on March 18 of last season to snap a seven-game series win streak for the Hawks, who had previously won seven straight from 2003-2009.
Through seven games, junior attacker Nora McCallion owns a team-best 25 points on a team-best 19 goals to go with six assists. Junior attacker Sarah Smith (11g, 3a), freshman midfielder Rebecca Lane (9g, 1a), junior midfielder Maggie Egan (7g, team-best 13a), and senior midfielder Mallory Grey (5g, 6a) also own double-digit points for the Crimson and Gray. Egan also leads the team in draw controls (21) while senior defender Caroline Hagan (12gb, team-best 10ct) and junior midfielder Megan Tracy (13gb, 7ct) have anchored SJU's defense. Senior goalkeeper Genevieve Giblin (1-6) owns a 13.57 GAA and .349 save percentage in all 420:00 in net.
The Hawks are coming in off of a 16-10 loss to Columbia this past Saturday; Lane scored five goals in her first collegiate start while McCallion (3g) and sophomore midfielder Aly Gormley (2g) rounded out the scoring for the Hawks. Hagan caused four turnovers on the Lions' offensive unit to put her at 64 caused turnovers for her career, which ranks fourth all-time at SJU.
Villanova enters Wednesday's game at 1-8 overall. The Wildcats dropped their three opening games to Rutgers (14-8), Cornell (7-6), and Navy (12-9) before defeating Bucknell (12-8) on February 27. Since then, Villanova has gone 0-5 with losses to High Point (10-9), Drexel (9-8), Delaware (14-7), Albany (14-2), and, most recently, then-#13 Duke (7-4) on March 19. Jackie Froccaro (17g, 7a) leads Villanova in scoring to go with a team-best 20 draw controls, while Jaclyn Fraum (1-7) is one of three goalkeepers to see time in net, sporting a 10.22 GAA and .384 save percentage in 311:11. Villanova went 9-8 out of the BIG EAST last season.
Under the direction of second-year head coach Alex Kahoe, Saint Joseph's returns 18 Hawks, including nine starters, from last year's squad and adds eight newcomers for the 2016 season. The Hawks were picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season, according to the conference's preseason poll as announced on February 3.
