PHILADELPHIA – Tied for third with VCU in the Atlantic 10 standings and in the midst of a three-game win streak, the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse squad (8-6, 4-2) is set to face a pair of league opponents this weekend, beginning at George Washington (9-5, 2-4 A-10) this Friday, April 20. Start time at the GW Lacrosse Field in Washington, D.C. is set for 3:00 p.m. The Hawks are undefeated on the road in league play this spring with wins over VCU and Davidson.

The Hawks will return home for a quick two-day turnaround against George Mason (9-5, 3-3 A-10). on Sunday, April 22. The Hawks' regular-season home finale is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. The Patriots will play St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. on Friday before heading to Hawk Hill.

Live streaming ($) of Sunday's game will be available via a subscription to the Atlantic 10 Network. To sign up, please click here. Live stats will also be provided at SJUHawks.com.

Sant Joseph's defensive unit continues to disrupt the opposing offense as the Hawks lead the Atlantic 10 in caused turnovers per game, with 12.14 forced turnovers per contest; after eight forced turnovers combined in SJU's two-win weekend over St. Bonaventure and Duquesne, senior defender and A-10 Co-Defensive Player of the Week Juliana Strazulo leads the squad with 24 forced turnovers for an average of 1.9 per game while senior defender Kristen Kelbon and junior midfielder Ally Beck average 1.4 per contest.

On the offensive end, the Hawks rank second in the league in points per game at a clip of 20.36 (13.43 goals/game and 6.93 assists/game), led by its trio of 30+ point scorers of junior midfielder Rebecca Lane (30g, 25a), junior attacker Donato (32g, 12a), and rookie attacker Stephanie Kelly (18g, 14a).

Saint Joseph's will go up against GW goalkeeper Jenna Oler, who leads the league in saves (165) and saves per game (11.79) and ranks second in save percentage (.563); she ranks in the nation's top five in all three categories. Backstopped by Oler, George Washington ranks fifth in the A-10 in scoring defense, allowing just 11.36 goals per game. The Colonials also top the conference in free position percentage, converting 48.2 percent of its eight-meter shots for an average of just short of three FPG per contest; GW's top four scorers have combined for 29 of GW's 41 FPG.

The Patriots fire off an average of 13.50 goals per game and hold their opposition to an average of 10.14 goals scored per game, both of which rank third in the A-10, and top the league in shot percentage by scoring on 45.4 percent of their attempts.

SENIOR DAY
Following the conclusion of Sunday's game, the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse program will honor senior attacker Morgan Lamey, senior midfielders Dana Garbinski, Aly Gormley, and Kate Payne, and senior defenders Kristen Kelbon, Juliana Strazulo, and Catie Vivian alongside graduate student goalkeepers Amelia Deibler and Liz O'Sullivan in a Senior Day ceremony. With 33 wins as a class, four-year letterwinners Gormley, Kelbon, and Payne, three-year letterwinners Garbinski and Vivian, and two-year letterwinners Deibler, Lamey, O'Sullivan, and Strazulo will leave Hawk Hill as the all-time winningest class in program history; the Hawks won five games in 2015, nine games in 2016, 11 games in 2017, and eight games at this point in 2018.

2018 ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2018 A-10 Championship will run from Thursday, May 3 through Sunday, May 6 at the University of Richmond's Robins Stadium in Richmond, Va. The league's top six teams will make the postseason field. Saint Joseph's was predicted to finish in a tie for third, with George Mason, in the league's preseason poll, voted on by the league's 10 head coaches and announced on February 1, while George Washington was tabbed sixth. The Patriots currently sit fifth in the league standings, while the Colonials are tied, with Davidson and La Salle, for sixth. 

Saint Joseph's reached the A-10 postseason in 2016 and 2017 and return 2017 A-10 First Team defender Kristen Kelbon, 2017 A-10 Second Team midfielder Rebecca Lane, and 2017 A-10 Rookie Team selection Julia Pash.

HAWK LEADERS
Through 14 games, junior midfielder Rebecca Lane (30g, team-high 25a), junior attacker Francesca Donato (team-high 32g), freshman attacker Stephanie Kelly (18g, 14a), and junior midfielder Hayley Sabol (19g, 6a) own 25+ points and have combined for 53 percent (99-of-188) of the Hawks' goals while sophomore midfielder Julia Pash has earned a team-high 46 possessions for the Hawks from the draw circle. Senior Kristen Kelbon (team-high 30 ground balls, 19 caused turnovers), senior Juliana Strazulo (25gb, team-high 24ct) and junior Ally Beck (19gb, 19ct) have anchored SJU's back line while graduate student goalkeeper Liz O'Sullivan (8-6, 4-2 A-10) sports a .458 save percentage and 12.65 goals against average with 126 saves vs. 149 goals allowed in 706:49. 

100 FOR LANE
Junior midfielder Rebecca Lane recorded a hat trick in SJU's 15-4 win over Duquesne last time out, which included her 100th career goal on her second score of the game at the 11:31 mark of the first half. Lane becomes the eighth Hawk in program history to reach 100 career goals and is the fourth-fastest to do so, reaching the milestone in 46 career games. She is also just the third Hawk to score 100 career goals before the start of her senior season.  

SCOUTING GEORGE WASHINGTON
George Washington opened the season with seven wins in its first eight games, with back-to-back wins over ECU, 18-7, and Longwood, 16-8, a loss at Monmouth, 14-8, and five consecutive wins over Robert Morris, 9-7, Bucknell, 16-9, American, 14-11, Mount St. Mary's, 10-7, and Radford, 13-7. The Colonials then opened A-10 play with a 25-11 loss to George Mason before winning back-to-back league games over St. Bonaventure, 14-3, and La Salle, 16-13. Since then, GW has dropped three straight to Richmond, 14-3, VCU, 13-12, and UMass, 21-8.

Four Colonials own 30+ points, led by leading goal scorer Jocelyn Donohue (37g, 3a) and including Ioanna Mantzouratos (20g, team-high 15a), Katie Quinn (21g, 13a), and Camaryn Kerns (31g, 2a). Caroline Kiernan averages a team-high 3.9 draw controls per game while Posie Paoletta (22 ground balls, team-high 14 caused turnovers) leads the defense. Jenna Oler (3-3, 2-3 A-10) owns a .563 save percentage and 10.66 goals against average with 165 saves and 128 goals allowed in 720:34 and has started the last two games in net (and 11 of 14 on the season).

Friday's game will mark the 17th all-time meeting between Saint Joseph's and George Washington. The Colonials own an 11-5 all-time series edge, but SJU snapped a six-game series losing streak with a 14-12 road win in 2016, backed by current junior midfielder Rebecca Lane's nine points (5g, 4a). The Hawks then defeated the Colonials, 15-12, in last spring's regular-season finale as Lane and current junior attacker Francesca Donato turned in three-point efforts to give SJU a 2-1 series advantage while under the direction of fourth-year head coach Alex Kahoe.

All-time series results are listed below:
2017 – W – 15-12 - Home
2016 - W - 14-12 - Away
2015 - L - 13-9 - Away
2014 - L - 14-10 - Away
2013 - L - 12-8 - Home
2012 - L - 10-9 (OT) - Away
2011 - L - 9-3 - Home
2010 - L - 11-9 - Away
2009 - W - 11-8 - Home
2008 - L - 9-7 - Home
2007 - L - 9-1 - Away
2006 - L - 10-9 (OT) - Home
2005 - L - 17-5 - Away
2004 - W - 14-13 - Home
2003 - L - 7-6 - Away
2002 - W - 15-14 – Home

SCOUTING GEORGE MASON
George Mason went 6-2 in non-conference action with season-opening wins over Monmouth, 17-14, and Longwood, 21-6, a 9-8 overtime loss at Virginia Tech, back-to-back wins over Coastal Carolina, 10-9, and William and Mary, 13-5, a 14-11 road loss to Campbell, and back-to-back road wins over Stetson, 17-9, and Old Dominion, 16-5. The Patriots then extended their winning streak to four games with league-opening wins over George Washington, 25-11, and La Salle, 12-11, both on the road, before suffering a 10-6 home loss to Davidson. George Mason picked up a 14-6 win over Duquesne before dropping back-to-back games to UMass, 15-8, at home and at Richmond, 18-11, leading into Friday's game at St. Bonaventure.

Prior to the Patriots game at St. Bonaventure, Corinne Wessels (32g, 25a) and Chachi Kelehan (36g, 19a) are the clear 1-2 punch for the Patriots as the duo has combined for 112 of George Mason's 276 points on the spring. Hannah Warpinski leads the Patriots in draw controls (58), ground balls (38), and caused turnovers (21) while Melissa Semkiw (9-5, 3-3 A-10) sports a .507 save percentage and 10.06 goals against average with 141 saves vs. 137 goals allowed in 817:08, all but 25:34 on the season and including every minute of league competition.

Sunday's game will mark the 13th all-time meeting between Saint Joseph's and George Mason. The Patriots own a 9-3 all-time series advantage, but current junior midfielder Rebecca Lane's hat trick and four assists helped SJU down George Mason, 20-10, on the road last spring.

All-time series results:
2017 – W – 20-10 - Away
2016 - L - 16-7 - Home
2015 - L - 14-12 - Home
2014 - W - 12-7 - Away
2009 - L - 17-11 - Home
2008 - L - 14-6 - Away
2007 - L - 15-7 - Home
2006 - L - 18-8 - Away
1997 - L - 13-8 - Home
1996 - L - 9-4 - Away
1995 - L - 18-10 - Home
1994 - W - 15-8 - Away

***

Be sure to follow the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse program on Twitter and Instagram and like the Hawks on Facebook. Fans can receive all of the latest news and info on the women's lacrosse program with Hawk E-News.

Also be sure to check out Sideline Photos, LLC's shots from home games vs. CCSU and Navy and road game vs. Villanova at PhotoShelter.com.