This Week: Notre Dame College women's lacrosse is deep into Mountain East Conference play and it picks up with two games this week. On April 10, the Falcons will travel to the University of Charleston for game at 3 p.m. West Virginia Wesleyan College comes to town for a matchup on April 13, beginning at 2 p.m.
Records: NDC is still fighting for the top spot in the conference, holding a 2-1 conference record, while going 4-8, overall. Charleston is sitting at 6-6, overall, while also going 2-1 versus the rest of the MEC. Wesleyan is 4-9, with an 0-4 MEC mark.
Coaches Corner: Elizabeth Mettler is in her first season leading NDC. Ryland Luciano is in his first season patrolling the sidelines at Charleston, while Hannah Lively has been at W.Va. Wesleyan for seven seasons.
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II top 25 poll.
Series History: Notre Dame has a 10-3 record all-time against Charleston and have won eight consecutive games versus the Golden Eagles. NDC has won nine consecutive matchups against West Virginia Wesleyan, including a 26-6 victory on March 30. During this winning streak against the Bobcats, NDC has scored over 20 goals against WVWC in six of the nine contests.
Noting the Falcons: In one game last week, Notre Dame fell to Frostburg State, 21-9.
Jovie Noack scored the first goal of the game for NDC, but then Frostburg went on a run and led 11-4 at the halftime break. Noack scored three goals, running her streak of scoring at least three goals to three consecutive games.
Gwen Bogash and
Carlie Wilson each had two goals.
Annika Dence led the team with a career-high four caused turnovers, while
Joselyn Storm and
Grace Nickoloff both had three. Storm won 10 draw controls.
The freshman
Gwen Bogash now leads the team in scoring with 25 goals. She also has seven assists.
Joselyn Storm has 23 goals and eight assists, while leading the team in free position goals (8), caused turnovers (19) and draw controls (66).
Grace Nickoloff leads the team with 10 assists and she also has 19 goals.
Jovie Noack has 21 goals, which is third on the squad. This season,
Annika Duncan has saved 102 shots on goal, which ranks 19th in Division II. As a team, the Falcons' .571 mark on converting free position attempts is 11th in the country.
Noting the Golden Eagles: This season, Charleston has been a better road team, holding a road record of 4-2, while going 2-4 on the home turf. UC went to Buckhannon, W.Va. last Thursday to play West Virginia Wesleyan. UC won that game, 16-7, and had a record of 4-1 in its last five games. In the win over Wesleyan, UC led by a score of 7-2 after one quarter. Six players scored, including Madison Partridge, who led the team with seven. She also caused a team-leading six turnovers as Charleston caused 31 WVWC turnovers. But then, the Golden Eagles suffered a tough 15-4 loss against Frostburg State, over the weekend.
Charleston has outscored its opponents, 154-128 this year. Madison Partridge already has 46 goals on the season, ranking 21st in the country, and Nicolette Lospitalier is second on the team, with 28. Gianni Blundell has 55 points on the season, as she has recorded 17 goals and 38 assists, which is the sixth-most in NCAA D2. Blundell (29) and Lospitalier (28) are one and two on the team in caused turnovers, while Blundell has won 39 draws. Megan Liston has started 12 games in goal, making 90 saves. UC's 15 caused turnovers per game ranks fourth in the nation.
Noting the Bobcats: West Virginia Wesleyan lost both games last week, falling 16-7 to Charleston and 17-9 to Davis & Elkins. In the loss to Charleston, the draw controls were even and WVWC caused 23 turnovers. Talia Berardo and Noelle Fuller both had two goals. Both Kaitlyn Canby and Raveena Navalgund caused five turnovers, while Kiara Woods caused four. Makenzi Lewellyn totaled 10 draw controls. The Bobcats led Davis & Elkins, 2-1, after the first quarter, over the weekend. But, D&E turned things around and totaled 12 second half goals. Wesleyan won the draw control battle (15-14) that day. Tlaia Berardo, again, led the team with three goals.
Talia Berardo has 47 goals on the year and Erin Mobley has 35, but nobody else has more than 14. Makenzi Lewellyn leads the squad with 13 assists and 91 draw controls. Raveena Navalgund has caused 39 turnovers, which is fourth-best in D2, and Ella Gomez ranks 15th in the nation with 110 saves. The Bobcats lead NCAA Division II with 16.85 caused turnovers per contest.
