Elon vs. Vanderbilt Date/Time March 8 | 6:00 p.m. Location Elon, N.C. Facility Rudd Field Series History Vanderbilt leads 1-0 Last Meeting Feb. 28, 2016 Vanderbilt won, 10-9 Watch Phoenix All-Access Live Stats Click Here Twitter Updates @ElonWLax

ELON, N.C. – Coming off a road win over ACC foe Virginia Tech, 16th-ranked Elon University women's lacrosse returns home Wednesday, March 8, for a 6 p.m. game against Vanderbilt at Rudd Field.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Phoenix rebounded from its first loss of the season with a 13-12 win in overtime at No. 19 Virginia Tech last Wednesday, March 1. Stephanie Asher scored five goals and had an assist for six points to lead the Phoenix attack while Rachel Ramirez made seven saves. Sloane Kessler scored the game-winning goal 1:10 into overtime on a man-up advantage, which led the Phoenix to its second win over an ACC program this season.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Elon and Vanderbilt have met just once before with Vanderbilt earning a 10-9 win over the Phoenix. Trailing 10-5 late in the second half, Elon went on a four-goal run in the final minutes to cut the lead to just one, but the Phoenix fell just short of completing the comeback.  
 
SCOUTING THE COMMODORES
The Commodores are 2-1 on the season with victories thus far over Kennesaw State and Furman. The loss came Feb. 22, an 11-10 defeat at Louisville. Vanderbilt has outscored its opponents 45-24 through the three games and is led by Kayla Peterson's 13 goals and Julie Blaze's 10.
 
CENTURY SCORER
Stephanie Asher became the program's first player to reach the 100-career goal mark when she scored in the second half against No. 9 Notre Dame. The junior has now tallied 23 goals in six games this season. She scored five goals apiece in each of Elon's first two games, which were a 15-5 win over Campbell and an 11-10 win at No. 13 Virginia. Her 23 goals leads the CAA and she's scored on 49.8 percent of her shots taken this year.
 
AMONG THE TOP 20
For the first time in program history, Elon checked in among the nation's top 20 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll at No. 16 in the country. Elon had received votes last season for the first time in program history and was among those receiving votes earlier this year before breaking through into the top 20 this week. The Phoenix is still among those receiving votes in the IWLCA Coaches poll.
 
BIG WINS
With the Feb. 11 win over No. 13 Virginia and the March 1 victory over No. 19 Virginia Tech, Elon has now beat three nationally ranked teams in each of the last two seasons. In 2016, the Phoenix went on the road to No. 10 Duke and won 7-6 in Durham, N.C. Elon owns an all-time record of 3-7 against ACC opponents. Overall against ranked teams, Elon is 3-9 in 12 games to date.
 
TAKING THE HARDWARE
Stephanie Asher has earned two CAA Player of the Week honors already this season. Both came on the heels of five-goal performances against Campbell in the season-opener and Virginia Tech on March 1. She has now won the award three times in her career. On Feb. 21, Alexis Zadjura took CAA Defensive Player of the Week after leading Elon's defense with three draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers while helping to keep three of Virginia's top scorers to just two goals apiece in the game.
 
PRESEASON HONORS
Two Phoenix earned preseason All-CAA honors on Jan. 20 with Stephanie Asher and Rachel Ramirez being named to the All-CAA team and Sloane Kessler and Alexis Zadjura earning honorable mentions. In the preseason poll, Elon was selected to finish third behind Towson and James Madison. The third-place selection is the highest Elon has been in a preseason poll in the program's brief history.
 
LOOKING BACK AT 2016
Elon posted its first winning season and first 10-win season in 2016 with an overall 10-7 record and 3-3 mark in the CAA. One of those victories was Elon's 7-6 win at No. 10 Duke, the program's first win over an ACC team and first win over a ranked opponent. At season's end, the Phoenix finished No. 29 in the NCAA RPI. Elon was second in the CAA with 15.2 ground balls, 23.4 shots and just 10.9 turnovers per game in 2016 and Stephanie Asher was third in the conference with 2.2 goals per contest and fourth in assists with 1.2 per outing. Rachel Ramirez finished tops in the CAA with 3.06 ground balls a game, a total of 52 on the season.
 
HEAD COACH JOSH HEXTER
The 2017 campaign marks the fourth season at the helm of the program for head coach Josh Hexter after being hired in April 2012 to start and lead the Phoenix lacrosse program from the ground up. Named Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year in 2014, Hexter has amassed 103 wins in his career at Elon and Bridgewater State with a 31-25 record in 56 games at Elon. Over the course of his first three seasons, he has coached two conference freshmen of the year and a total of 12 all-conference players.
 
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will continue a tough stretch of games with a matchup against defending national champion North Carolina next Tuesday, March 13, at 6 p.m. in Chapel Hill. Elon has played UNC each of its first three years of competition. The Tar Heels have won each meeting to date and have been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in each contest.