| No. 20 Elon (13-6) vs. No. 13 Virginia (11-8) |
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ELON, N.C. – Elon University will make its debut in the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship this weekend when the 20th-ranked Phoenix battles No. 13 Virginia at 5 p.m. Friday, May 12. The first-round game will take place in Chapel Hill, N.C., at Fetzer Field on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
JOIN US IN CHAPEL HILL!
Tickets to Elon's first-ever NCAA Tournament game can be purchased through the UNC ticket office. They can be purchased online by
clicking here, or at the Carmichael Arena box office right next to Fetzer Field before the game Friday. Tickets are priced at $5 for adults and $3 for seniors ages 55 and over and students ages 7 to 17.
Be sure to join fellow Elon fans before the Phoenix takes on Virginia for a pregame social at Tobacco Road Sports Cafe from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The social will include food and drinks and is open to all Phoenix fans. For more information and to register for the pregame event, click
here.
HOW TO WATCH THE GAME
Friday's game against the Cavaliers will air on
ESPN3 through the
WatchESPN.com platform. This season, Elon played three games that aired on WatchESPN.com and posted a 2-1 record with wins over Virginia and Virginia Tech.
THE SERIES
Elon and Virginia met for the first time back on Feb. 11 with Elon earning an 11-10 victory in Charlottesville, Va., in Virginia's season opener.
Abby Godfrey scored a free position goal with one second to play to earn the win while
Stephanie Asher scored a game-high five goals. The victory represented
Josh Hexter's 100th as a collegiate head coach. He now owns a career record of 111-72 between his time at Elon and Bridgewater State.
LAST TIME OUT
James Madison claimed its 10th CAA title with a 15-7 win over Elon in the conference title game in Towson, Md. JMU started the game on a 6-0 run, a margin Elon couldn't overcome down the stretch. The appearance in the title game was Elon's first conference tournament championship appearance in program history after winning its first-ever tournament game Friday, a 10-9 overtime win over No. 17 Towson at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS (11-8, 4-3 ACC)
Virginia made a run to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Richmond, Va., but fell 15-12 there to Syracuse. UVA had won four games in a row before falling to Syracuse, defeating Louisville twice, Virginia Tech and Navy. Elon and Virginia played six common opponents throughout the year. Both teams beat William & Mary and Virginia Tech while both lost to North Carolina. Elon took losses against Notre Dame, JMU (twice) and Duke while Virginia beat all three opponents.
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 back on Feb. 23. She scored at least five goals in a game on four occasions with her season high coming March 26 with six goals against Davidson. The junior set a new program record for goals in a single season with four against Drexel on Friday, April 14, in a 15-2 win at home over the Dragons. She is the only player to log at least 40 goals in a season in program history and has done so twice in three seasons with the team.
AN ACTIVE LEADER
With 140 career goals,
Stephanie Asher is 23rd on the NCAA's active goal-scoring list entering Friday and her career 2.69 goals per contest is 15th-best in the country. She is one of just five juniors among the Top 25 active goal scorers in the country in just 52 games played. Asher is also the CAA's active goal scoring leader.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
-With three CAA teams in, it's the most in one tourney since 2001 (James Madison, Loyola (Md.), William & Mary).
-Of the 10 first-round NCAA games Friday, Elon's against UVA is one of three rematches from the regular season. In addition to the Elon/Virginia game, Colorado plays UMass, which it beat 11-7 on Feb. 11 and Stony Brook plays Bryant, which it defeated 20-5 on Feb. 18.
-Elon owns a 3-5 record against fellow NCAA Tournament teams with wins over Virginia, Towson and High Point.
-The NCAA's two fourth-year Division I programs - Elon and Colorado - are dancing for the first time this year. The two are a combined 29-9 this season with Elon 13-6 and Colorado 16-3.
LACROSSE'S HEISMAN
On March 16,
Stephanie Asher and
Rachel Ramirez were added to the Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List. The two players represent the first Elon athletes to be named to the watch list for the sport's highest honor. Asher's 58 goals this season leads the CAA and is 18th in the country with her 3.05 goals per game 31st in the nation entering Friday. Ramirez leads the CAA in saves, saves per game and ground balls. She has made 144 stops, an average of 7.58 per game, and has 62 ground balls.
ON THE NATIONAL SCENE
Elon ranks No. 20 in the IWLCA poll this week. In the latest release of the Inside Lacrosse poll, the Phoenix is receiving votes. Back on March 6 when Elon was No. 16 in the IL poll, it marked the first time in Elon's four-year history the team was ranked in a national poll and it climbed as high as No. 14.
AGAINST NATIONALLY-RANKED FOES
Elon owns a record of 4-14 with all four of those wins coming in the last two seasons. This year alone, it's defeated No. 13 Virginia, No. 19 Virginia Tech and No. 17 Towson. Against the ACC, Elon is 3-9 with two of those victories coming this year.
CHASING RECORDS
Rachel Ramirez stands tied for eighth in CAA history with 62 ground balls this year. She is two away from tying her program record of 64, which came when Elon was playing in the Atlantic Sun in 2014.
Stephanie Asher is one goal away from tying four players at 59 goals for 10th-most in CAA history.
Sloane Kessler is one assist away from breaking her own program record of 22.
UP NEXT
With a victory Friday, Elon would advance to the second round of the tournament to face defending national champion and second-ranked North Carolina. Opening draw against the Tar Heels is set for 1 p.m. Sunday, May 14, at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. Earlier this year, Elon traveled to UNC and fell 15-5 on March 14 against the Tar Heels.
--ELON--
