Elon, N.C – Matching their win total from last season and sporting their best start to a season since 2021, the 4-2 Elon lacrosse team will be play its second straight game on the road for a midweek battle at Virginia Tech on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. to take on the Hokies in Blacksburg, Va.
HOW TO FOLLOW
- Live stats are available by CLICKING HERE
- The game will be broadcasted on ACCNX and ESPN+. To watch the game, please CLICK HERE
- Follow the official social media accounts of Elon Lacrosse:
- Twitter - @ElonWLax
- Instagram - @ElonWLax
ABOUT VIRGINIA TECH
- Virginia Tech is 4-2 on the season, with their only two losses coming to top five teams James Madison and Boston College.
- The Hokies went 10-9 a year ago, including a 3-6 record in ACC Conference play.
- Virginia Tech was picked eighth in the ACC Preseason Poll for the 2024 season.
- As a team, Virginia Tech is dangerous in the passing lanes, causing 11.17 turnovers per game, which ranks No. 8 in the country.
- The Hokies are led by Kristen Skiera, who is entering her third season as the head coach. Through Skiera's first two seasons with the Hokies, her squads have picked up three ranked wins, including victories on the road at JMU and Duke.
- A trio of freshmen – Sarah Gresham, Ella Rishko and Jocelyn Torres – earned conference honors at the end of their rookie seasons in 2023. Gresham set the program's single season draw control record with 111, which led all freshmen in NCAA DI women's lacrosse. Rishko scored 44 goals, including an ACC record-tying seven goals in the ACC Championship first round match against Pitt. Torres started all 19 games in the cage for Tech and posted the second-best goals-against-average among all freshman goalies in the country.
SERIES HISTORY
- Elon and Virginia Tech are meeting for the 9th time with the Hokies leading 7-1 in the series.
- The two programs last faced each other on Rudd in 2023 with the Hokies coming away with a 17-11 win.
- Elon's lone win was a 13-12 overtime affair on the road in 2017 when the Hokies were ranked No. 19 in the country. That victory was a resume lifter for a team that earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
LAST TIME OUT
- Freshman MJ Santa Barbara led a record-breaking night in the draw circle and Elon got 12 combined goals from Sammy Fisher, Cierra Hopson and Anna Hackett as the Elon lacrosse team went on the road and defeated East Carolina 13-10.
- The first half swung back-and-forth before the two teams went into the break tied at 6-6.
- ECU scored the first two goals but Sammy Fisher and Cierra Hopson rattled off four straight to give Elon a 4-2 lead.
- ECU closed the gap to 4-3 before the end of the first and then scored the first two goals of the second to go ahead 5-4.
- Fisher completed her hat trick to tie the score at 5-5 but the Pirates took their final lead of the game on a goal with 4:04 remaining in the opening half.
- Hopson followed it up by getting her hat trick and tying the score at the half.
- Elon took over midway through the third quarter and Hopson and Anna Hackett score back-to-back to make it 8-6. After an ECU goal, Elon scored three straight for its biggest lead of the night.
- Bridget Kelly made it 9-7 and then Hackett recorded her second goal of the day just over a minute later. Fisher then got her fourth goal of the evening for the 11-7 advantage.
- ECU tried to rally and the Pirates scored three straight to make it 11-10 midway through the fourth. However, Fisher and Hackett scored less than a minute apart and the Phoenix ran out the clock on East Carolina.
- Sammy Fisher ended with five goals and two assists for seven points. The five goals and seven points were both career-highs for the junior from Parkland, Fla., as were her nine shots on the night.
- Cierra Hopson tied a season-high with four goals and Elon is now 2-0 in 2024 when she scores four and 3-0 when she has at least three points.
- Anna Hackett had her second hat trick of 2024 with three goals, adding an assist as well.
- Caitlin Walsh made 10 saves and had a season-best 50 percent save percentage in goal.
- Hackett, Jessie Penner and Maddie Engelkraut each had two ground balls.
- Kailee Follette had a team-best two caused turnovers, her third straight game with two.
- Freshman Reagan Kuehn added a caused turnover, extending her career-opening six-game streak with at least one caused turnover.
- Elon outshot East Carolina 31-27 and 21-20 on goal.
- For the sixth straight game, Elon led in the draw circle, winning 22-of-27 draws.
RACKING UP ROOKIE OF THE WEEK AWARDS
- Redshirt freshman Ana Lee Vandiver was named CAA Player of the Week on Feb. 19 after finishing with six goals and an assist for Elon in their comeback win against VCU on Saturday. The six goals were just one shy of the program record.
- Freshman MJ Santa Barbara was named CAA Player of the Week on March 4 after leading a record breaking night in the draw control circle for the Phoenix. She finished with 10 draw controls, and as a team, helped Elon hold a 22-5 advantage in the draw circle. The +17 difference was the largest in program history.
MJ IN THE DC
- Freshman MJ Santa Barbara has made an immediate positive impact for Elon in the draw circle in 2024.
- Santa Barbara is averaging 9.33 draw controls per game, second most in the CAA.
- Elon holds a .662 win percentage in draws through the first two games of 2024, among the top five in the country. A year ago, the Phoenix had just a .451 win percentage and Elon has not been above 50 percent since 2021 (.523). Elon's best single-season draw record came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season when the Phoenix had a win rate of .620.
- In this year's win over East Carolina, Santa Barbara had 10 draw controls and led Elon to a 22-5 advantage in the draw circle. That edge was the biggest margin (+17) in the program's 11-year history.
- In the end, winning in the draw circle gets the Phoenix more possessions, more shots, and ultimately more goals. Elon has outshot opponents 180-138 this year and outscored opponents 71-59.
BALANCED OFFENSE
- Twelve different players have scored at least one goal in 2024, already more than the 11 who scored a goal in all of 2023.
- Elon has had seven players lead, or tie for the team lead, in goals scored over the course of the first six games.
- Anna Hackett and Kaitlyn Michaud each scored five goals in the win over Old Dominion, while five players tied with two goals each against Queens – Sammy Fisher, Mia Zebley, Hackett, Cierra Hopson and Mikaela Buoscio.
- In the win over VCU, Ana Lee Vandiver had a team-high six goals and Hopson posted four in the victory over Furman. Against Coastal, Fisher led the way with a hat trick.
- Against ECU, Fisher again led the way again with five goals.
- Hackett and Hopson are tied for the lead for Elon with 14 goals apiece. Fisher adds 12, Vandiver eight, Michaud five and Buoscio and Kailey McKenna have four each.
ELON AMONG THE CAA LEADERS
Listed below are Elon's ranks within the CAA heading into the Virginia Tech game:
TEAM RANKINGS (TOP THREE)
- Shots – 2. Elon 30.0/game
- Draw Controls - 2. Elon 16.33/game
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (TOP FIVE)
ELON AMONG THE NCAA LEADERS
Listed below are Elon's ranks within the NCAA through six games:
TEAM RANKINGS (TOP 25)
- Draw Control Percentage - 5. Elon .662
- Draw Controls/Game - 17. Elon 16.33
- Clearing Percentage - 10. Elon .937
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (TOP 25)
HACKETT EARNS CAA PRESEASON RECOGNITION
- Sophomore midfielder Anna Hackett was named to the 2024 CAA Women's Lacrosse Preseason All-Conference honorable mention team.
- Hackett played in all 16 games a year ago, starting each game. She finished second on the team with 32 goals and 34 points.
- She also set a program record by scoring hat tricks in five straight games during one stretch, ending the year with seven total games of three goals or more.
- Hackett ranked 15th nationally with a .625 free-position conversion rate (10-of-16) and was No. 67 in the country with a shot percentage of .508
- Hackett's 10 free-position goals were tied for second most in program history by a freshman and her 32 goals were fifth-most by a rookie.
TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED
- Head Coach Josh Hexter has named seniors Mikaela Buoscio, Kailee Follette, and Alex Belveal, along with junior Cierra Hopson as captains for the 2024 season.
- Buoscio is going into her third straight season as a captain. In 2023, Buoscio led the team with 15 caused turnovers and was fifth with 17 ground balls, and also had seven draw controls. She also tied the program record with seven caused turnovers in last year's season opener against Old Dominion. On the offensive side, she finished the year with four goals with nine shots on goal.
- Follette will be a team captain for the second consecutive season. She was tied for the team lead with 27 ground balls, adding 17 draw controls and seven caused turnovers in 2023.
- Belveal will be a first time captain after stepping into a bigger role in the 2023 season, playing and starting in all 16 games. She had 10 ground balls and six caused turnovers, committing just three turnovers on the season.
- Hopson played and started in all 16 games in 2023. She led the team with 34 goals, 11 assists and 45 points. She also had a team-high 74 shots and 56 shots on goal.
NEWCOMERS
- Elon welcomes 13 freshmen to the 2024 team, including four attackers, five midfielders, three defenders, and one goalie.
-- ELON --
