ELON, N.C. – The Elon University lacrosse team continued to cruise through the CAA, earning a decisive 13-10 win over the Campbell Camels at Rudd Field thanks to a flurry of offense and domination across the board.
The outstanding sophomore midfielder, MJ Santa Barbara, stole the spotlight, shattering Elon's program record for draw controls in a career in only her 21st collegiate game. Her unprecedented achievement came late in the third quarter when she reached the 196 mark, and by the end of the day, she'd already surpassed the 200 threshold in victories in the center circle.
"It means a lot to have that accolade as a sophomore," Santa Barbara said.
Despite the chorus of cheers from her teammates and crowd, the draw taker was so dialed into the game that she didn't even realize she'd made such a huge achievement.
"During the game, I'm just focusing on getting the ball," Santa Barbara said. "I'm focusing on creating more opportunities, generating more offense for our team and getting more goals in the back of the net."
The seniors also made a strong contribution to the victory. Nine seniors were recognized before the contest, and everyone available to play recorded a stat, including three players who managed to find the back of the net.
The headliner of the group was Elon's senior midfielder Sammy Fisher. Coming off a hat trick against Hofstra, Fisher was Campbell's primary focus. Despite the extra attention, she still put together a strong performance. She dropped jaws in the second quarter when she caught a lob from freshman midfielder
Addie Gilner, faked a shot, then casually tossed the ball behind her back into the net.
"Honestly, I didn't know I had the ball in my stick to start," Fisher said. "I was just shocked. I just shot it, and I was so surprised that it went in."
She chalked up the improbable shot to more than just luck though.
"It came with a lot of practice," Fisher said. "I've been practicing that shot, and we've been doing a similar drill to emulate that in practice. It was really cool to see what we do in practice show up in games."
Fisher's second and biggest goal of the game came at the start of the fourth quarter when she drove the ball into the top of the net. Her score ignited a three goal run by the Phoenix to stretch the lead.
Senior attacker Cierra Hopson had her highlight moment in the first quarter. Rounding the goal, she tossed the ball to redshirt sophomore attacker
Ana Lee Vandiver, who passed it back to her in front of the goal. Hopson then bounced it between the legs of Campbell's goalie for her 10th goal of the season. This play sparked Elon's dominant first half run, with the Phoenix at one point gaining an 8-1 advantage over the Camels.
"Senior Day adds a layer of energy that we sometimes don't have to start other games," Fisher said. "With Senior Day comes a day of love. We just appreciate each other on that field, and I think that showed in the first quarter."
One player who fed off that first half energy was Ana Lee Vandiver. She recorded her third straight hat trick in the first half alone, getting the scoring started only two minutes into the game and passing over 50 career points by the end of the day.
Freshman attacker Lillian Austin, who was just named the CAA Rookie of the Week, also recorded a hat trick in the game, an early career-high for her. Elon's freshmen class as a whole has continued to turn heads, with midfielder
Arianna Kouchalakos scoring her first career goal off the assist by the reigning CAA Rookie of the Week, attacker
Danielle Swietoniowski.
The Camels began to rally after halftime, turning a 8-2 game into a 10-6 game in the blink of an eye in the second half. Campbell seemed poised to make a comeback but Elon held strong defensively to close out the game.
"The big thing was knowing that every possession was 0-0," Fisher said. "The goals that we score matter no matter what the score is."
Senior goalie Chloe Herghelegiu was subbed into the game midway through the second quarter after Elon had amassed a sizable lead. The Camels challenged her offensively but she managed to record six saves to stave off the opponent, including three right after being subbed in.
Elon's victory gives the Phoenix its sixth of the season and adds to the program record seven game win streak in the CAA. Perfect atop the conference, the maroon and gold seem to be playing its best lacrosse right now.
"This team is so fired up," Santa Barbara said. "We are so cohesive and looking to put together a whole 60 minutes of lacrosse."
The Phoenix will go on the road on Friday, April 4, to take on the Delaware Blue Hens at 1 p.m. at Delaware Stadium.
'Rising Phoenix' is a student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on X (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Chase Strawser at cstrawser@elon.edu.
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