Elon, N.C. – The Elon Lacrosse program (3-3) will host Virginia Tech (1-4) Wednesday at 5 p.m. and East Carolina (6-1) Sunday at 12:00 p.m. as the Phoenix look to build momentum before conference play begins in less than two weeks.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW

• Live stats for Wednesday's game with Virginia Tech are available by CLICKING HERE.
• Wednesday's game will be broadcast on FloSports by CLICKING HERE.
• Live stats for Sunday's game against East Carolina are available by CLICKING HERE but there will be no live broadcast of the contest.
• Follow the official social media accounts of Elon Lacrosse:
  • Twitter - @ElonWLax
  • Instagram - @ElonWLax

 
ABOUT VIRGINIA TECH

• Virginia Tech is just 1-4 on the season but the Hokies have played one of the toughest schedules in the country, having already faced No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 8 James Madison.
• The Hokies lost those three contests by a total score of 34-17 but also defeated VCU 14-8 in the season opener and lost to Mercer 11-8.
• Virginia Tech currently ranks fourth nationally with a .947 clear percentage and is 28th in the country with a .480 save percentage. On the flip side, the Hokies have struggled to generate shot attempts, ranking among the bottom 20 in the country in draw controls and caused turnovers, limiting their possessions. They are getting just 15.8 shots on goal and 22.8 shots per game.
• Jocelyn Torres has been stellar in goal with a .485 save percentage and a total of 49 saves, averaging 9.8 per contest.
• Head Coach Kristen Skiera is in her second season at Virginia Tech with a 10-13 career record. She has a career mark of 56-53 after serving seven seasons as the head coach at Army.

 
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA

• East Carolina is off to a 6-1 start to the season with the only blemish being a 15-14 loss to a Navy squad receiving votes in the ILWomen/IWLCA top 25 poll. ECU has played two opponents that Elon also faced, defeating George Mason 14-2 and Queens 11-9.
• ECU is seventh nationally with .940 clear percentage and is allowing only 6.9 goals per game, sixth-best in the country. Offensively, the Pirates' shot percentage of .519 is fifth in the country. ECU, though, does not cause many turnovers (6.6 per game).
• Individually, Frances Kimel is a dynamic player averaging 5.4 points per game with an .889 free position percentage. She has 21 goals and 17 assists with a shot percentage of .700, all of which ranks among the top 15 in the country.
• Head coach Amanda Moore is the only head coach in the six-year history of the East Carolina program. Having started the program from scratch, she enters the week with a 31-52 career record, but 15-10 over the past two seasons. Last year's team won a program record nine games and with a 6-1 start this year, the Pirates could be headed for more.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Virginia Tech is 6-1 all-time against Elon. The two programs have met in each of the last six seasons and the Phoenix defeated the No. 19 ranked Hokies in 2017 with a 13-12 overtime victory. Most recently, Virginia Tech won 14-11 a year ago in Blacksburg.
• This will be the first all-time meeting between Elon and East Carolina.

 
LAST TIME OUT

• No. 10 Virginia scored the first three and last three goals of the game in defeating Elon 18-12 Sunday. Virginia improved to 6-0 with the win.
• Catherine Merritt set career highs with five goals and six points in the defeat. Freshman Anna Hackett posted her third hat trick of the season, as 10 of the team's 12 goals were scored by freshmen or sophomores.
• After falling behind 3-0, Elon battled back to draw even at 6-6 and was within one at 9-8 in the third quarter, before Virginia pulled away.

 
IT TAKES 60 (AND SOMETIMES MORE)

• Elon has held a lead in the fourth quarter in five of its six games this season. The Phoenix were as close as three in the fourth quarter against Virginia.
• 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 wins, 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 six 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.

 
SCORING AT A HIGH RATE

• Elon has scored 74 goals in the team's first six games, an average of 12.3 per contest.
• That average is threatening the 2021 team's average of 12.4 goals per contest, the highest average in a single-season in program history.
• A year ago, Elon averaged 12.2 goals per game, the second-highest in school history. The Phoenix has not averaged more than 12.0 goals per game in any other season.

 
SUPER SAMMY

• Sophomore Sammy Fisher tied the program record with 12 draw controls in the team's victory over Queens. She is averaging 6.33 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 38 draw controls on the season, Fisher is already fifth in a single-season in program history. She needs 14 more to catch Elle Hvozdovic (52 in 2014) for fourth. Curran holds the program record with 79 draw controls a year ago.

 
SOPHOMORE CIERRA SCORES AND SCORES

• Cierra Hopson leads Elon in 2023 with 15 goals, eight assists and 23 points. In a win over Coastal Carolina earlier this season, she set career marks with five assists and eight points.
• Hopson now has 38 goals and 14 assists for her career. With two 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 52 career points, she is five 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.

 
HACKETT NAMED ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

• Elon freshman Anna Hackett was named CAA Rookie of the Week on Feb. 20 after scoring seven goals in two games for the Phoenix. Hackett had three goals in a win over Queens and then followed that up with four goals against VCU. She had four caused turnovers during the two contests as well.

 
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 12.3
Shot Percentage – 1. Elon .481
Saves Per Game – 3. Elon 8.0
Draw Controls Per Game – 3. Elon 13.7
 
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (TOP TEN)
Goals Per Game – 7. Cierra Hopson 2.50
Assists Per Game – 7. Cierra Hopson 1.33
Points Per Game – t8. Cierra Hopson 3.83
Goals Against Average – 7. Chloe Herghelegiu 11.17; 9. Caitlin Walsh 14.02
Save Percentage – 2. Chloe Herghelegiu .450; 9. Caitlin Walsh .328
Saves Per Game – 6. Chloe Herghelegiu 5.40; 9. Caitlin Walsh 4.20
Caused Turnovers Per Game – 9. Mikaela Buoscio 1.50
Draw Controls Per Game – 1. Sammy Fisher 6.33
 
ELON AMONG THE NCAA LEADERS

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

 
TEAM RANKINGS (TOP 25)
Shot Percentage – 18. Elon .481
 
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (TOP 50)
Draw Controls Per Game – 21. Sammy Fisher 6.3
Free Position Percentage – 29. Anna Hackett .667
Points – 44. Cierra Hopson 23
Shot Percentage – 34. Camryn Levin .600; 46. Cierra Hopson .577
 
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.