Saturday, April 15 | at CCSU | New Britain, Conn. | Arute Field | 1 p.m. | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

CAREER HIGHS

OPENING DRAW 
Saturday's match between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 20th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 2002 season. The Blue Devils lead the series 14-5, but the Red Flash has won the last four matches in the series.

THE WORD ON CCSU
The Blue Devils come into the contest 3-8 overall and 1-4 in NEC play after falling 15-2 to Merrimack on Wednesday. Olivia Gianakos leads the team with 20 goals and three assists for 23 points. Lauren Valluzzi is second on the team with 15 tallies and seven assists for 22 points, while Talie Richardson is third with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points. Giankos also leads the team in caused turnovers (16) and ground balls (24), while Richardson powers CCSU in draw controls (35). Kya Richardson has 94 saves, a 15.13 goals against average and a .450 save percentage.

LAST TIME WE MET
It was only fitting on Senior Day, the 2022 Saint Francis University senior class registered 13 of the 18 goals scored to lead the Red Flash to an 18-14 win against CCSU on April 23, 2022. Amanda Heidt  led the way for the Loretto program with five goals and an assist. She joined the 100-point club with her assist on Nancy Alden's goal at the 8:26 mark in the first quarter. Autumn McHenry added four goals, two assists and a career-high nine draw controls, while Catherine Russo notched her third career hat trick and C.C. Courter also twinkled the twine. Katelyn Parker paced the Blue Devils with four goals, while Rosie Sconzo posted two goals and an assist. Elyssa Enrique made 14 saves for the Red Flash and Kya Richardson had 15 stops for CCSU.

LAST TIME OUT
Saint Francis women's lacrosse has set many records in 2023, but with its 22-6 win against FDU on Wednesday the team may have shown how far this team has come in its 22-year history. It was the team's eighth win of the season to break the program record for wins in a season, previously held by the 2018 team that went 7-10. Autumn McHenry has had a record-setting season and she added another mark against the Knights after tying the program record for points in a game with 10 after posting six goals and four assists on the afternoon. Danielle Hernandez added four goals and three assists to move into eighth place on the single-season chart with 20 assists on the year. Lizzie Fisher tallied four goals and an assist and Bella Fisher (Duxbury, Mass.) had a hat trick in the winning effort. In addition, the Red Flash tied the program record for NEC wins in a season with four and are currently riding a program-record four-game winning streak.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis returns to Loretto for its final two regular season home games of the year. The Red Flash will host St. Bonaventure on Wednesday and Wagner for Senior Day on April 29.

WHAT'S AT STAKE
With a win, the Red Flash would clinch its first-ever berth in the Northeast Conference Tournament set to start on May 4 at the regular season champion. A win would also extend the program-record winning streak to five games and the team would win five NEC games in a single season for the first time in program history.

IN THE NEC AND THE NATION
Graduate student Elyssa Enrique leads the NEC in save percentage (.548) and saves per game (11.83) and ranks second in goals against average (10.31). Through play on April 13, the graduate student also led NCAA Division I in save percentage while ranking second in saves per game, fifth in saves (143) and 22nd in the nation in goals against average

Graduate student Autumn McHenry is second in the NEC in goals per game (2.843), sixth in assists per game (1.25), second in points per game (4.08), fifth in shots per game (5.67), second in draw controls per game (5.08) and fourth in caused turnovers per game (1.50). Junior Danielle Hernandez is third in assists per game (1.67) and fourth in points per game (3.75). Senior Kelly Dickson ranks 10th in the league in assists per game (0.92). Sophomore Chyler Espino sits fourth in ground balls per game (2.64). Freshman Bella Fisher is fourth in goals per game (2.33), 10th in points per game (2.75) and third in shots per game (6.33).

As a team, the Red Flash leads the NEC in goals per game (13.08), ground balls per game (18.58), points per game (19.42), saves per game (12.50), save percentage (.540) and shots on goal (23.33). In the nation, the team leads the nation in save percentage and ranks 12th in ground balls per game and 47th in scoring defense (goals against average).

NEC HONORS
Saint Francis has earned a major award for six of the seven weeks it has been playing this season and has won a program-record 11 major weekly awards this season.

Freshman Bella Burke was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Week for the week of April 3-9, while and fellow freshman Bella Fisher was tabbed as the NEC Rookie of the Week for the third time this season.Burke registered a career-high five ground balls and four caused turnovers to help the Red Flash tie the program record for wins in a season with seven victories and register its second three-game win streak in 2023. Fisher stuffed the stat sheet in her return to her home state with four goals, two assists, six points, three ground balls and two caused turnovers in the win against the Warriors.

For the second time this season, junior Danielle Hernandez was named the NEC Player of the Week and freshman Julia Givens has been tabbed as the NEC Rookie of the Week for the week of March 27-April 2. The duo first won the same honors for the week of February 27-April 5. In addition, Hernandez, Givens and graduate student Autumn McHenry were named NEC Prime Performers. Hernandez registered eight goals and seven assists for 15 points in a 2-0 week for the Red Flash. Givens registered a career-high five goals and six points against Stonehill, including scoring the eventual game-winner with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter against Stonehill, while McHenry registered seven goals and three assists for 10 points along with 15 draw controls, five ground balls and four caused turnovers in the week. 

After her second career five-goal performance, Fisher was named the NEC Co-Rookie of the Week for the week of March 20-26.

McHenry was named an NEC Prime Performer for the week of March 13-20 after posting seven goals and one assist for eight points along with 15 draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls in the week.

McHenry was honored for the second time this season with a major award and her first career NEC Defensive Player of the Week honor for the week of March 6-12. Fisher was named the NEC Rookie of the Week, while senior Kelly Dickson joined the duo as Prime Performers. McHenry registered three assists, six draw controls, five ground balls and two caused turnovers in a 12-9 win against Kent State. Fisher registered five goals in the win against Kent State, including four of the first seven Red Flash goals. Dickson tallied a career-high three goals and an assist for four points, along with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.

The Red Flash swept the NEC weekly awards for the first time in program history for the week of February 27-March 5. Hernandez was named the NEC Player of the Week, graduate student Elyssa Enrique was tabbed as the NEC Defensive Player of the Week and Givens was selected as the NEC Rookie of the Week for the week of February 27-March 5. Hernandez and Enrique were also named NEC Prime Performers along with McHenry. Hernandez registered four goals and an assist in a 2-0 week for the Red Flash and was pivotal in both wins, while Enrique had 24 saves, a 6.42 goals against average and a .667 save percentage in the two games in 111:12 minutes of work. Givens posted four goals and an assist and was the catalyst to a pair of wins for the Red Flash in the week and McHenry had a pair of goals in both games.

McHenry was named the NEC Player of the Week for the week of February 20-26 after registering six goals and two assists for eight points, four draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers. McHenry and Dickson were also named NEC Prime Performers. Dickson registered two goals and three assists for five points and added four ground balls, four caused turnovers and three draw controls. 

MILESTONE ALERT
Graduate student Autumn McHenry has moved into third place in program history in draw controls (216). McHenry moved into second place by herself in career assists with 73 helpers and needs three assists to tie the program record and four helpers to hold the record exclusively. The graduate student is third in points (185) and can move into second place with 11 points.She also currently sits in fifth place with 112 tallies and became the sixth player in team history with 100 goals with her first score against Stonehill on April 1. She can move into fourthj place with eight scores. McHenry has also cracked the Top-10 in caused turnovers and ground balls. The graduate student is third in caused turnovers with 57 and can move into second place with five caused turnovers, while she sits fifth in ground balls (97) and can become the fifth player in program history with 100 ground balls with three more ground balls. If she reaches 100 ground balls, she would become only the second player in program history with 100 goals, 200 draw controls and 100 ground balls.

McHenry also sits fourth on the single-season chart with 61 draw controls with her mark of 74 from last season next on the list. She also needs three points to jump into the Top-10 in points for a season (52) and eight points to move into sixth place (57). The single-season Top-10 for goals is also within reach, needing seven to reach ninth place (41).

Graduate student Elyssa Enrique ranks third in program history in saves with 513. The graduate student became the third player to reach 400 saves with her third save in the first quarter against Delaware State on March 5 and joined the 500-stop club with her fourth save against Merrimack on April 8. Samantha Morgan is in second place on the all-time list with 578 saves. The graduate student also tied the single-game program record with 24 saves against Stetson on March 14 and had the fifth-most saves in a game with 19 stops against Sacred Heart on March 25.

Senior Kelly Dickson has moved into 10th place on the career caused turnover list and can move into ninth place with three caused turnovers (46), eighth with four caused turnovers (47) and sixth place with seven caused turnovers (50).

Junior Danielle Hernandez currently sits with 29 assists to need one assist to crack the Top-10 for her career and four to move into ninth (33). The 20 assists this season is tied with McHenry for seventh most in a single season and she can move into fifth with one helper (21), second with four assists (24) and can tie the single-season mark with seven helpers (27).

Freshman Bella Fisher has scored 28 goals this season to sit fifth on the program's freshmen list for goals in her first season. She can move into fourth place with one goal, third place with two goals and tie the all-time mark with four tallies. She is also fifth in points with 33 points and can move into fourth place with four points (37), second place with seven points and tie the all-time freshman mark with 12 points (45). She also sits in eighth place for draw controls as a freshman with 31, needing three draws for seventh place (34), five draws for fifth place (36) and seven draws for fifth place. Fellow freshman Julia Givens now sits eighth in goals for a freshmen with 20 and can move into seventh place with one tally (21) and sixth place with four scores (24). Freshman Bella Burke has moved into eighth place for caused turnovers by freshman with 14 caused miscues and can move into seventh place with one caused turnover (15), sixth place with two caused turnovers (16) and fourth place with three caused turnovers. Burke can also move into the Top-8 for ground balls with three ground balls (25).

HATTIES
Graduate student Autumn McHenry registered a career-high six goals against FDU on April 12. She has registered five games with at least four goals this season and has 12 hat tricks in her career. Senior Lizzie Fisher has three hat tricks this season, including a career-high tying four goal performance against FDU and six hat tricks in her career. Freshman Bella Fisher has five games with at least three goals including two five-goal performances. Junior Danielle Hernandez also has five games with at least three goals including three four-goal performances. Freshman Julia Givens has four games with a hat trick including a career-best five goals against Stonehill. Senior Kelly Dickson and freshman Brooke Lacey also have a three-goal performance this season.

Fisher and Givens each missed the freshman record for goals in a game by one tally with their five-goal performances. Chelsea Kent holds the freshman record with six scores against Niagara (March 12, 2009) and against Howard (March 18, 2009), which also sits tied for ninth on the single-game charts.

COLLEGIATE DEBUT
Freshmen Bella Fisher, Bella Burke and Julia Givens each made their collegiate debut in the starting lineup against Longwood on February 22. Brooke Lacey and Mak Patten both made their first collegiate appearance. Fisher (two goals), Givens (three goals) and Patten (one assist) each had their first collegiate point in the match against the Lancers. CeCe Newman made her collegiate debut against Lehigh on February 25 and made six saves.

AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN
Graduate student Autumn McHenry and senior Kelly Dickinson have been named captains for the 2023 season. McHenry was also a captain in 2022.

Senior Bella Barnard, senior Lizzie Fisher, sophomore Chyler Espino and junior Holly Jones have been named to the lacrosse leadership council.

RETURNING ALL-NEC PERFORMERS
Redshirt senior Autumn McHenry returns after nabbing her first All-NEC first-team honor in 2022. She was also selected to the 2021 All-NEC second team and the 2018 All-Rookie team. Junior Danielle Hernandez was named to the All-NEC Rookie team in 2021.

WELCOME TO THE LO'
Saint Francis women's lacrosse head coach Tracy Coyne has added six freshmen to the 2023 roster. CeCe Newman, Mak Patten, Bella Fisher, Brooke Lacey, Bella Burke and Julia Givens all joined the team this season. In addition, assistant coach Morgan Gott comes to Loretto after serving as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan.

FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
Saint Francis has three players that hail from Canada in sophomores Olivia Baldini (Hamilton, Ontario) and Taylor Coughlin (Hespeler, Ontario) and freshman Mak Patten (Welland, 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.

ABOUT THE COACH
Head coach Tracy Coyne enters her fourth season at Saint Francis and her 34th campaign in her legendary career. She holds a 310-216 career record to be one of 27 coaches in the NCAA with at least 250 wins, and became one of 20 coaches to reach 300 wins with the 10-6 win at Akron on February 27, 2022. 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.