Saint Francis Women's Lacrosse Begins 20th Season At Youngstown State On Friday

Saint Francis University (0-0) at Youngstown State University (1-1)
Date \| Time	Friday, February 18, 2022 \| 1 p.m
Location	Youngstown, Ohio \| Watson and Tressel Trainning Site
Television	YouTube
Live Stats	Presto Stats (Youngstown State)
Stats	Saint Francis \| Youngstown State \| Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashLax \| @RedFlashLax \| Facebook

GAME NOTES VS. YOUNGSTOWN STATE

opening draw

Saint Francis opens its 20th women's lacrosse season at Youngstown State on Friday afternoon.
It will be the first-ever meeting against the Penguins.
The Red Flash will also play Horizon League members Central Michigan (Mar. 4) and Kent State (Mar. 19) at DeGol Field, while former longtime Northeast Conference foe Robert Morris is also in Youngstown State's league.

about the penguins

Youngstown State comes into the match 1-1 on the season and are coming off a 19-15 loss at Duquesne on Monday.
Erin Clark and Natalie Calandra-Ryan lead the team with 11 points apiece. Calandra-Ryan fuels the team with eight goals along with three assists, while Clark has a team-best six helpers and five tallies for her 11 points.
Calandra-Ryan also powers the team in caused turnovers (4) and draw controls (8), and Jordan Miller has a team-high five ground balls.
Netminder Savannah Clarke has 25 saves and a 13.00 goals against average in 120 minutes of action.

next time out

Saint Francis returns to action with its home opener against Canisius on Wednesday, February 23.
Match time is 3 p.m.

season openers

The Red Flash will be on the road for the first time since 2019, and will be looking for its first season-opening win since a 23-8 win against Radford in 2016.

aye, aye, captain

Graduate student Amanda Heidt and senior Autumn McHenry have been named team captains.
In addition, junior Kelly Dickson and sophomores Danielle Hernandez and Kateri Hernandez have been named to the lacrosse leadership council.

returning all-nec performers

Senior Autumn McHenry returns after earning All-NEC second-team honors in 2021.
McHenry was also selected to the All-NEC Rookie team in 2018.
Sophomore Danielle Hernandez was selected to the All-NEC Rookie team last season.

welcome to the lo'

Saint Francis head coach Tracy Coyne has added eight players to the team for the 2022 season.
Nancy Alden, Olivia Baldini, Taylor Coughlin, Chyler Espino, Makayla Murray, Sophia Mellis, Colleen Roche, Christina Roncarati all joined the team this season.
In addition, assistant coach Sophia Thomas comes to Loretto after playing at Arizona State in the Pac-12.

from the great white north

Saint Francis has two players that hail from Canada in Olivia Baldini (Hamilton, Ontario) and Taylor Coughlin (Hespeler, Ontario) on its roster.
Head coach Tracy Coyne also spend some time as the Canadian National Team head coach from 1999-2005 and earned fourth-place standings in the 2001 and 2005 World Cups.

community service honors

Saint Francis received the IWLCA Community Service Award in 2021. Saint Francis was selected as the winner of the award out of 118 Division I programs.
The Red Flash remained active throughout a unique year for community service in 2020-21, beginning in August with "Flash Packs with Love" to collect, organize, and distribute back-to-school supplies to local elementary schools.
The team spearheaded a diversity and inclusion initiative which featured sales of a t-shirt they designed to benefit the Black Student Union.
Other team activities included a Thanksgiving food basket drive, adopting a local family over the holidays to provide Christmas presents, the Make-a-Wish Walk, the "Minis4Many" fundraiser for a local shelter, collecting donations for the Soles4Souls organization, a Paper Bridges letter writing campaign for orphans, and a Gameday Hair Havoc awareness game to raise money for the HeadStrong Foundation.

about the coach

Head coach Tracy Coyne enters her third season at Saint Francis and her 30th campaign in her legendary career.
She holds a 295-196 career record to be one of 27 coaches in the NCAA with at least 250 wins, and would become one of 20 coaches to reach 300 wins with five victories.
She has led 12 teams to the NCAA Tournament between the NCAA DI and DIII levels with six conference championships and several NCAA Final Four appearances.