Elon, N.C. – With conference tournament positioning up for grabs and the regular season hitting its final stretch, the Elon women's lacrosse team returns home for one of its toughest tests of the season – hosting No. 19 Stony Brook Friday for #FloodTheRudd in a key Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) matchup.
 
The Phoenix, 6-5 overall and 3-1 in CAA play, enter the weekend in the thick of the CAA race. Elon will look to make a statement against a powerhouse Stony Brook team that hasn't dropped a CAA game – regular season or postseason – since joining the league in 2023.
 
Friday's showdown features two of the league's top teams in the draw circle, a top-tier defensive battle, and plenty of postseason implications as the race for seeding heats up with the second half of the season underway.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW

• Live stats are available by CLICKING HERE
• The game will be broadcast on FloCollege by CLICKING HERE
• Follow the official social media accounts of Elon Lacrosse:
  • Twitter - @ElonWLax
  • Instagram - @ElonWLax

 
SCOUTING STONY BROOK

• Stony Brook is 9-4 on the season and 4-0 in CAA play. The Seawolves are ranked No. 19 in both major women's college lacrosse polls. Since joining the conference for the 2023 season, Stony Brook has not lost a conference game in the regular season or conference tournament.
• Three of Stony Brook's four losses have been by one goal. The Seawolves are coming off of a 19-13 loss at No. 5 Princeton Wednesday. The Seawolves do have a top-25 win under their belt with a 17-8 win at then-No. 24 Denver. Stony Brook has won its four CAA games by a total of 46 goals with no team scoring more than eight in a game.
• Stony Brook's scoring margin of +6.00 ranks No. 8 in the country and the scoring defense is 10^th nationally, allowing just 8.85 goals per contest. The Seawolves generate 34.1 shots per game by turning teams over (10.23 caused turnovers per game) and winning in the draw circle (.536 win percentage), while being fundamentally solid clearing the ball (.904 clear percentage).
• Avery Hines ranks third nationally with 3.31 caused turnovers per game and goalie Natalia Altebrando is allowing just 7.67 goals per contest, third-best in the nation. Her save percentage of .483 ranks No. 18 in the country but she has done that on limited shot attempts as the Stony Brook defense does not allow many shot attempts.
• Head Coach Joe Spallina is in his 14^th season leading Stony Brook with a record of 217-42. Including a four-year record of 73-2 as head coach of Adelphi, Spallina's career record is 290-44.

 
SERIES HISTORY VS. STONY BROOK

• This will be the fourth meeting all-time between Elon and Stony Brook with all of the contests taking place since 2023. The Seawolves have won each of the first three games in the series.
• In 2023, the teams played on Rudd Field with Stony Brook earning a 17-5 victory.
• Last year, the two programs played twice in Stony Brook, once in the regular season and once in the CAA Tournament semifinals. In the regular season, Stony Brook won 18-6 and then the Seawolves ended Elon's season with a 17-4 win in the postseason.

 
BREAKING DOWN THE CAA

• Four teams will make the CAA Tournament, with the semifinals taking place May 1 and the championship on May 3. Both rounds will take place at the No. 1 overall seed.
• Currently, Drexel and Stony Brook remain the only unbeaten teams at 4-0 each. Elon is 3-1 with three other teams chasing – Delware (3-2), Hofstra (2-2) and Towson (2-2). The other three teams in the CAA all have four or more conference losses.

 
MJ IN THE DRAW CIRCLE

• Sophomore draw specialist MJ Santa Barbara was named a preseason All-American after bursting onto the scene with a CAA record 151 draw controls a year ago. However, she missed Elon's first six games of the 2025 regular season due to injury. Since her return, she has barely skipped a beat.
• Santa Barbara tied her own single-game program record with 15 draw controls in her first game back at High Point. She set that mark a year ago in Elon's win over Monmouth. The 15 draw controls are tied for the most in the CAA this season (Drexel's Anna Maria Gragnani also had 15).
• Santa Barbara had 12 draw controls in the win over Campbell, breaking the school's career draw control record, in just her 21^st career game, and giving her an even 200 for her career.
• Since that point, she has increased her draw control total to 213, which ranks 10^th in CAA history.
• With Santa Barbara back in the lineup, Elon holds a 98-47 advantage in the draw circle for a .676 win percentage. The Phoenix's draw win percentage over the course of the first six games without Santa Barbara was .493.
• Elon's .676 win percentage since Santa Barbara's return would rank second nationally. Loyola Maryland leads the country at .694 and Dartmouth follows at .661.
• Although she does not qualify for the national rankings because of her injury (players must play in 75 percent of their team games), Santa Barbara's 12.40 draw controls per game since her return would also rank second in the country. James Madison's Madison Epke leads the nation at 12.82 and Dartmouth's Maya Kendall is second at 12.00.

 
LOOKING BACK TO LOOK AHEAD

• Elon went 9-8 in 2024 and posted a 5-3 record in the CAA, qualifying for the CAA Tournament semifinals. That record was a five-win improvement over 2023 both overall and in conference.
• The Phoenix returns seven of its eight leading scorers from a year ago, including Sammy Fisher, who paced Elon with 37 goals and 44 points. She was a preseason All-CAA pick.
• Sophomore Reagan Kuehn is the headliner on defense, earning All-CAA honorable mention status in the preseason. She had 36 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers a year ago.
• MJ Santa Barbara, one of the best in the country in the draw circle, is just a sophomore and earned preseason All-American status by USA Lacrosse. She broke Elon's single-game and single-season draw control record last year, as well as the CAA's single-season draw control mark. Her 8.88 draw controls per game were most in the country for a freshman and ranked No. 7 nationally.

 
PRESEASON AWARDS

• Sophomore MJ Santa Barbara was named honorable mention preseason All-America by USA Lacrosse as a draw control specialist. She is the first Elon player to earn preseason All-America status since Stephanie Asher was named honorable mention All-America by Inside Lacrosse in 2018.
• Senior Sammy Fisher was named to the preseason All-CAA Team as one of five attackers recognized. She led Elon with 37 goals and 44 points, adding 14 ground balls, 16 draw controls and five caused turnovers.
• Sophomore Reagan Kuehn was named honorable mention preseason All-CAA after leading Elon with 36 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers. She added a program record 11 caused turnovers in conference play and had at least one caused turnover in 11 straight games to open her collegiate career.

 
ABOUT THE COACHING STAFF

• Josh Hexter enters his 12^th season at the helm of the Elon lacrosse program in 2025 as the only head coach in the program's history. He is 80-92 in the first 12 years of the program and has a career head coaching mark of 152-134, which includes a 72-42 record in seven seasons at Bridgewater State.
• Assistant Coach Kelly Dowd is in her first season at Elon after two seasons as an assistant at Connecticut. She is a 2017 graduate of Queens University of Charlotte.
• Assistant Coach Katie Brodsky is also in her first season at Elon and most recently served as the lacrosse program head at Seattle Preparatory School. She is a 2023 graduate of Arizona State.

 
INTO THE RECORD BOOKS

• Elon returned three of its top seven goal scorers in program history, along with a wealth of elite statistical talent elsewhere. Listed below are the current student-athletes among the Phoenix's all-time top 10 career leaderboards:

 
Points – 3. Sammy Fisher 134, 4. Cierra Hopson 127, t9. Anna Hackett 71
Goals – 2. Sammy Fisher 111, 3. Cierra Hopson 93, 7. Anna Hackett 64
Assists – 3. Cierra Hopson 34, 7. Sammy Fisher 23, 9. Mia Zebley 20
Shots – 2. Sammy Fisher 271, 3. Cierra Hopson 215, 9. Anna Hackett 139
Free Position Goals – 4. Anna Hackett 22, t8. Sammy Fisher 12, t10. Cierra Hopson 11, t10. Mia Zebley 11
Ground Balls – 9. Caitlin Walsh 62
Draw Controls – 1. MJ Santa Barbara 213, 4. Sammy Fisher 133
Caused Turnovers – 7. Reagan Kuehn 43, t8. Brooke Scheuermann 37
Games Started – t8. Sammy Fisher 56
Saves – 2. Caitlin Walsh 304, 6. Chloe Herghelegiu 79
Save Percentage – 4. Caitlin Walsh .379, 6. Chloe Herghelegiu .329
GAA – 5. Caitlin Walsh 13.13, 7. Chloe Herghelegiu 14.65
Goalie Minutes – 2. Caitlin Walsh 2275:43, 6. Chloe Herghelegiu 659:26
Goalie Wins – 2. Caitlin Walsh 17, t4. Chloe Herghelegiu 4
 
SINGLE-SEASON MARKS

• With conference play now four games in, Elon is already threatening to move into the top 10 in some single-season marks.

 
Shots – 9. Sammy Fisher 78
Draw Controls – 4. MJ Santa Barbara 62
Caused Turnover – t8. Reagan Kuehn 19
Goals Against Average – 9. Caitlin Walsh 12.12
 
SINGLE-SEASON CONFERENCE MARKS

• With conference play now four games in, Elon is already moving into the top five marks in program history for conference only stats.

 
Draw Controls – 2. MJ Santa Barbara 47
Goals Against Average – 5. Caitlin Walsh 9.84
 
SINGLE-SEASON FRESHMEN CONFERENCE MARKS

• With conference play now four games in, Elon is already moving into the top five marks in program history for conference only stats by freshmen.

 
Assists – T3. Danielle Swietoniowski 5
 
SINGLE-SEASON TEAM MARKS

• With conference play now four games in, Elon is already moving into the top five marks in program history for team stats.

 
Assists – 5. Elon 50
Clear Percentage – 1. Elon .898 (150/167)
 
SINGLE-SEASON CONFERENCE TEAM MARKS

• With conference play now three games in, Elon is already moving into the top five marks in program history for team stats.

 
Wins – t4. Elon 3
Points – 5. Elon 78
Assists – 2. Elon 28
Draw Controls – t3. Elon 75
Clear Percentage – 1. Elon .902
 
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS

• Elon ranks among the national top 25 in the following team and national top 50 in the following individual statistical categories:

 
Team Rankings
Draw Control Percentage – 14. Elon .584
Draw Controls/Game – 22. Elon 15.45
 
Individual Rankings
Caused Turnovers/Game – 41. Reagan Kuehn 1.73
Shots/Game – 29. Sammy Fisher 7.09
Shots on Goal/Game – 21. Sammy Fisher 5.64
 
AMONG THE CAA LEADERS

• Elon ranks among the CAA top five in the following team stats and among the top 10 in the following individual stats:

 
Team Rankings
Caused Turnovers/Game – 4. Elon 8.64
Clearing Percentage – 4. Elon .898
Draw Control Percentage – 1. Elon .584
Draw Controls/Game – 1. 15.45
Shots/Game – 5. 28.27
Shots On Goal/Game – 5. 21.00
Fewest Turnovers/Game – 4. 13.91
 
Individual Rankings
Caused Turnovers/Game – 4. Reagan Kuehn 1.73
Draw Controls/Game – 5. Sammy Fisher 4.18
Goals/Game – 6. Sammy Fisher 2.64
Goals Against Average – 7. Caitlin Walsh 12.12
Points/Game – 10. Sammy Fisher 3.45
Save Percentage – 8. Caitlin Walsh .349
Saves/Game – 7. Caitlin Walsh 5.91
Shots/Game – 3. Sammy Fisher 7.09, 9. Ana Lee Vandiver 5.55
Shots On Goal/Game – 1. Sammy Fisher 5.64