Saint Francis Women's Lacrosse Heads To Akron On Sunday

Saint Francis University (0-2) at Akron (2-2)
Date \| Time	Sunday, February 27, 2022 \| 1 p.m
Location	Loretto, Pa. \| DeGol Arena
Television	none available
Live Stats	Side Arm
Stats	Saint Francis \| Akron \| Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashLax \| @RedFlashLax \| Facebook

GAME NOTES VS. CANISIUS

opening draw

Sunday's game against Saint Francis and Akron marks the second meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 2021 season.
The Zips edged the Red Flash 8-7 in the inaugural meeting in the 2021 season opener.

about the zips

Akron comes into the contest 2-2 after defeating Kent State 11-6 on Wednesday.
Noelle Boyd leads the team with eight goals and three assists for 11 points. Boyd also fuels the team with 18 ground balls and 29 draw controls.
Alexis Kieffer is second on the squad with seven tallies for seven points, while Izzy Szejk is third with six markers for six points.
Jenna Ridener powers the defense with seven caused turnovers and 11 ground balls.
Ashley Lapp has 40 saves, a 10.50 goals-against average and .488 save percentage.

last time we met

Akron scored twice in the final 89 seconds to come away with an 8-7 win against Saint Francis on Feb. 28, 2021.
Livia Baker paced the Red Flash with three tallies, while Emileigh Scott added two tallies.
Alexis Kieffer scored four times for the Zips.
Elyssa Enrique made 11 saves while Ashley Lapp turned away 10 shots.

last time out

Despite Christina Roncarati scoring four times, Saint Francis fell to Canisius 14-8 on Wednesday.
Autumn McHenry added two goals.
The Red Flash outscored the Golden Griffins 5-3 in the final 22 minutes of the game.
Danielle Hernandez registered two ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Elyssa Enrique had seven saves in the contest.

next time out

Saint Francis returns to DeGol Field on Mar. 4 to host Central Michigan. Match time is 2 p.m.

prime performers

Autumn McHenry was named an NEC Prime Performer for the week of Feb. 14-20. She registered two goals, four draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls against Youngstown State on Feb. 18.

career afternoons

Christina Roncarati notched a career-high four goals against Canisius on Feb. 23. She is the third player on the team to register a four-goal performance.

collegiate firsts

Freshmen Chyler Espino and Christina Roncarati both made their collegiate debut in the starting lineup against Youngstown State on Feb. 18.
Roncarati notched her first collegiate tally in the game against Youngstown State.
All eight freshmen saw action in the season opener against Youngstown State.
Nancy Alden registered her first career start and goal against Canisius on Feb. 23.

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 299-205 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 one victory.
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.