Charlottesville, Va. – Coming off of back-to-back one-goal road victories, the Elon University lacrosse team (3-2) hits the road once more to play at No. 10 Virginia (5-0) Sunday at noon.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW

• Live stats for Sunday's game at Virginia are available by CLICKING HERE.
• Sunday's game will be broadcast on ACCNX, available on ESPN+.
• Follow the official social media accounts of Elon Lacrosse:
  • Twitter - @ElonWLax
  • Instagram - @ElonWLax

 
ABOUT VIRGINIA

• Virginia has climbed to No. 10 in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I poll following a 5-0 start that includes a pair of wins over ranked opponents. The Cavaliers moved to 2-0 in the ACC with a 16-7 win over Clemson Friday.
• The Cavaliers defeated then-No. 14 Stanford 14-11 and defeated then-No. 16 Princeton 20-11. Both games were on the road. Virginia also has a 16-12 home win over UC Davis and an ACC-opening 19-9 home victory over Louisville.
• Entering the weekend, Virginia ranks No. 2 nationally in draw controls with 20.3 per game and also in shots per game at 40.0. At 17.3 goals per game, Virginia ranks third in the country and the team is also fifth in shots on goal per game at 28.0. Along with those stats, Virginia is among the top 20 in the country in clear percentage, draw control percentage, free position percentage, points per game, scoring margin and turnovers per game.
• Individually, Rachel Clark is third in the country with 5.0 goals per contest and Aubrey Williams is fourth nationally with 9.3 draw controls per game.
• Head Coach Julie Myers is in her 28^th season leading the charge at Virginia, guiding her team to an NCAA Tournament appearance in every season (except for the 2020 season in which there was no postseason). The Cavaliers won the national championship in 2004.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Virginia is 4-1 all-time against Elon, including a 20-11 win in the season-opener a year ago.
• The series dates back to 2017 when the programs met twice in the same season. Elon stunned No. 13 Virginia 11-10 early that year when Abby Godfrey scored on a free position shot with one second remaining. It was, at the time, just the program's second win over a ranked team.
• As fate would have it, the teams would meet again in 2017, this time in Elon's first and only NCAA Tournament appearance. Played in Chapel Hill, Virginia eeked out an 11-9 victory after Elon rallied from a 9-3 deficit. 

 
ELON VS. RANKED TEAMS

• Elon went 0-3 against ranked teams a year ago and has lost five straight since defeating No. 12 James Madison 6-5 on March 7, 2021.
• Elon's other wins over ranked teams have come in a 10-9 overtime victory over No. 17 Towson in 2017, a 13-12 overtime victory over No. 19 Virginia Tech that same season, the aforementioned 11-10 win over No. 13 Virginia in that same campaign, and a 7-6 win at No. 10 Duke in 2016.

 
LAST TIME OUT

• Cierra Hopson tied Elon's program record with five assists, adding three goals, as Elon avenged an overtime loss to Coastal Carolina a year ago with a 16-15 win.
• Hopson's eight points in the game tied her for the second-most in a single game in program history. Camryn Levin added four goals and Catherine Merritt, who entered the contest with one career point, finished with a hat trick.
• It was the team's third consecutive one-goal game and fourth in the first five games of the season.

 
IT TAKES 60 (AND SOMETIMES MORE)

• Elon has held a lead in the fourth quarter of every game it has played so far this year.
• In a season-opening 12-11 loss to Old Dominion, Elon led 11-10 on a Hannah McCarthy goal with 13:46 to play. ODU tied the game at 7:28 to play and won it on a goal with 5:31 left.
• Elon never trailed against Queens, leading 10-2 at one point and holding a 10-5 lead heading into the fourth.
• Against VCU, Elon led 7-6 going into the fourth. After VCU tied it with 10:42 to go, Elon took an 8-7 advantage on a Cierra Hopson goal with 8:59 left. VCU would tie the game with 3:02 left and then win it in overtime.
• In Elon's last two games, the Phoenix beat George Mason 14-13 and Coastal Carolina 16-15. Elon rallied to score the final three goals in the George Mason win but never trailed in the fourth quarter against CCU.

 
KEEPING IT EXCITING

• In Elon's first five games, four have been decided by one goal. The Phoenix is 2-2 in those contests.
• With four one-goal games, Elon is just one shy of the program record five one-goal games in 2017.  
• The 2017 team went 4-1 in one goal games, which included three one-goal wins over ranked opponents (No. 13 Virginia, No. 19 Virginia Tech and No. 17 Towson).
• The 2016 team also played three straight one-goal games, picking up wins over Coastal Carolina and Duke, followed by a one-score loss at Vanderbilt.

 
SUPER SAMMY

• Sophomore Sammy Fisher tied the program record with 12 draw controls in the team's victory over Queens. She is averaging 6.80 draw controls per game, most in the CAA and among the top 20 nationally.
• Fisher tied the program record for a single-game set by former teammate Gillian Curren (and then tied) a year ago. Curren had 12 draw controls against both Campbell and William & Mary.
• With 34 draw controls on the season, Fisher is tied for seventh in a single-season in program history. With three more, she will pass Alexi Zadjura (35 in 2017) and Curran (36 in 2021) to move into the top five in school history. Curran holds the program record with 79 draw controls a year ago.

 
SOPHOMORE CIERRA SCORES AND SCORES

• As mentioned earlier, Cierra Hopson had three goals and five assists in the 16-15 win at Coastal Carolina. That gives her 37 goals and 14 assists for her career.
• With three more goals, Hopson will break into Elon's all-time top 10 in goals for a career and she already sits eighth in assists. At 51 career points, she is six shy of moving into the program top 10 as well.

 
TURNING THEM OVER

• Elon set a number of single-game school records in the season-opener against Old Dominion as the Phoenix continually forced the Monarchs into turnovers.
• Old Dominion committed 28 turnovers, the most committed by an Elon opponent in a single game, breaking the previous record of 25 set by William & Mary in 2017.
• Elon forced most of those, causing a school-record 22 turnovers in the game. That broke the previous record of 18 caused turnovers in the 2017 contest against William & Mary.
• Mikaela Buoscio was especially adept at forcing turnovers, tying the program record with seven caused turnovers in a contest. That ties the seven that Melanie McHugh caused in that 2017 William & Mary game.
• Kaley Ehnow, Cierra Hopson and Julia Dalmass each forced three turnovers as well. Freshman Jessie Penner forced two in her collegiate debut.

 
ELON AMONG THE CAA LEADERS

• Listed below are Elon's ranks within the CAA through three games:

 
TEAM RANKINGS (TOP THREE)
Goals Per Game – 3. Elon 12.4
Shot Percentage – 1. Elon .481
Saves Per Game – 3. Elon 8.4
Save Percentage – 3. Elon .420
Fewest Turnovers Per Game – t3. Elon 13.0
 
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (TOP FIVE)
Points Per Game – 4. Cierra Hopson 4.40
Save Percentage – 3. Chloe Herghelegiu .450
Draw Controls Per Game – 1. Sammy Fisher 6.8
 
ELON AMONG THE NCAA LEADERS

• Listed below are Elon's ranks within the NCAA through five games:

 
TEAM RANKINGS (TOP 25)
Shot Percentage – 21. Elon .481
Turnovers Per Game – 19. Elon 13.0
 
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (TOP 50)
Assists – 26. Cierra Hopson 8
Draw Controls Per Game – 20. Sammy Fisher 6.8
Free Position Percentage – 36. Anna Hackett .667
Goals – 24. Cierra Hopson 14
Points – 12. Cierra Hopson 22
Points Per Game – 48. Cierra Hopson 4.40
Shot Percentage – 17. Camryn Levin .692
 
FOLLETTE EARNS CAA PRESEASON RECOGNITION

• Junior defender Kailee Follette was named to the 2023 CAA Women's Lacrosse Preseason All-Conference honorable mention team.
• Follette played in all 16 games a year ago, starting 15 times. She led Elon with 26 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers.
• She has started 27 times over the course of her first two years at Elon.

 
TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED

• Head Coach Josh Hexter has named senior Julia Dalmass and Ellie Stricker, along with juniors Kailee Follette and Mikaela Buoscio as captains for the 2023 season.
• Dalmass is a team captain for the second consecutive year and has started all 33 of Elon's games over the past three years. She has 22 career caused turnovers, 32 career ground balls and 25 career draw controls.
• Stricker started 14 games in 2022 and had 15 ground balls and seven cause turnovers on the season.
• Follette led the 2022 team with 26 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers.
• Buoscio has played in 25 games over the past two seasons, recording three goals and three assists in 2022. She was 2-for-2 on free position shots and added nine ground balls, 12 draw controls and four caused turnovers.

 
GLOBAL IMPACT

• Over Thanksgiving Break 2022, the Elon lacrosse team spent a week in Greece as part of Elon's commitment to diversity and global engagement.
• The team spent time exploring the country, visiting places like Athens, Olympia, and the Acropolos, as well as leading lacrosse clinics at different schools.