Saturday, April 6 | CCSU | Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Field | 1 p.m. | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | CAREER HIGHS/RECORDS

OPENING DRAW 
Saturday's match between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 22nd meeting between the two teams dating back to the 2002 season. Despite the Red Flash winning the last five meetings in the matchup, CCSU leads the series, 15-6.

Saint Francis would like to thank seniors Erika Ellison, Lizzie Fisher, Danielle Hernandez, Holly Jones and Tori Petrie for their hard work and dedication to Saint Francis University and the women's lacrosse team for the last four years.

MAKING A MARK
Saint Francis has won four straight games for the first time this season and recorded at least a three-game winning streak for the third time in the last two years. The Red Flash has recorded at least a three-game winning streak four times in program history, with 2017 being the other time the squad had a trifecta of wins in a row. The current four-game winning streak is second only to last season's six-game winning streak.

The Red Flash is 4-1 in NEC play for the first time in program history. Last season, the team had its best five-game start at 3-2. Win or lose, the team will still be on course for the best start in team history. A win and Saint Francis will be 5-1 for the first time, while a loss and the team falls to 4-2 to match last year's best start.

Saint Francis has held consecutive opponents under 10 goals nine times in team history, but for the first time in team history, the squad has turned the trick in four consecutive games. The team held three straight opponents under 10 goals in 2013 for the previous mark.

THE WORD ON THE BLUE DEVILS
CCSU comes into the match 2-8 overall and 2-3 in NEC play after falling 24-3 at Stonehill on Saturday. Lauren Valluzzi leads the team with 13 tallies and 14 assists for 27 points. Tallie Richardson paces the team in ground balls (26), draw controls (50), and caused turnovers (13) and is second in scoring with 16 goals and six assists for 22 points. Shaelyn Yermal is third on the team with 10 markers and four assists for 14 points. Kya Risher has 105 saves, a .471 save percentage, and a 13.95 goals-against average.

LAST TIME WE MET 
Autumn McHenry posted nine goals to power Saint Francis past CCSU 23-11 on April 15, 2023. Bella Fisher tallied six goals and an assist, while Kelly Dickson added five assists. Talie Richardson and Olivia Gianakos each had a hat trick for CCSU. Elyssa Enrique made 10 saves, while Adrianna Richards had 11 stops for the Blue Devils.

LAST TIME OUT
Playing lacrosse might have been a dreary day, but the Saint Francis defense shined again. The defense helped the Red Flash to its fourth straight win while holding the opponent under 10 goals for a program-record fourth consecutive time. Saint Francis defeated Le Moyne 8-6 on Wednesday. Taylor Coughlin made a career-high 19 saves, the fifth-most in single-game program history. Bella Burke and Olivia Baldini helped anchor the defense by combining for eight caused turnovers and seven ground balls. Burke registered five caused turnovers, which rank fourth in program single-game history, and had three ground balls, while Baldini had a career-high four ground balls and three caused miscues. Coughlin and the staunch Saint Francis defense is allowing 7.0 goals per game during the four-game winning streak. Nancy Alden scored two goals, including the go-ahead score with 7:17 left in the third quarter. Julia Givens also had two tallies on the day, with her second of two goals coming in the decisive 3-0 second-half run.

NEXT TIME OUT 
Saint Francis plays three straight road games, traveling to Delaware State (April 10), Sacred Heart (April 13), and Stonehill (April 20). The Reed Flash wraps up the regular season at home against Howard on April 24.

NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT
This season, the NEC has expanded to six teams in the postseason. The Top-2 seeds receive a bye. The third and fourth seeds will host a match on Sunday, April 28. The winners of those contests will meet the top two seeds at the home of the regular season champion for the traditional NEC Championships on May 2 and 4.

IN THE NEC
Sophomore Bella Fisher leads the Northeast Conference in shots per game (7.80) and ranks second in goals per game (2.90), third in points per game (4.00), seventh in assists per game (1.10), and ninth in draw controls per game (3.44). Graduate student Lizzie Fisher sits ninth in goals per game (2.10), while senior Danielle Hernandez is fourth in assists per game (1.30). Sophomore Taylor Coughlin ranks second in saves per game (10.30), fourth in save percentage (.443), sixth in goals against average (11.31). Sophomore Bella Burke sits fourth in caused turnovers per game (1.60), while fellow sophomore Julia Givens is 10th in the category (1.20). Saint Francis ranks second in goals per game (10.80), assists per game (5.10), and points per game (15.90).

NEC HONORS
Sophomore Brooke Lacey was named NEC Defensive Player of the Week for March 25-31. Lacey stuffed the stat sheet with three goals, one assist, a career-high four caused turnovers, four ground balls, and a draw control to help the Red Flash to a 13-8 win against FDU to start NEC play 3-1 for the first time in team history. Lacey and fellow sophomore Julia Givens were also named NEC Prime Performers. Similar to Lacey, Givens was on both ends of the field, producing four goals, one assist, three ground balls, and two caused turnovers in the win against the Knights. 

Sophomore Bella Fisher was named the NEC Player of the Week, junior Taylor Coughlin was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Week and freshman Elizabeth Mahmud was the NEC Rookie of the Week for March 18-24. Bella Fisher posted five goals including go-ahead goal to help Saint Francis defeat Wagner for only the third time in program history with an 8-7 win. Coughlin allowed a career-low seven goals and had seven saves in the win against the Seahawks. Mahmud registered a career-high two goals and two draw controls, including the team's eighth goal of the game and the ensuing draw control to help the Red Flash run out the clock. Bella Fisher and Coughlin were also named NEC Prime Performers.
 
Bella Fisher was named the NEC Co-Player of the Week, fellow sophomore Bella Burke earned NEC Defensive Player of the Week, and freshman Jacks Lesmeister nabbed her first NEC Rookie of the Week selection for February 26-March 3. Burke, Bella Fisher, and graduate student Lizzie Fisher were Prime Performers. Bella Fisher registered five goals, one assist, seven draw controls, two ground balls, and a caused turnover in a 15-9 win against Robert Morris on February 28. Burke anchored the defense in the win against Robert Morris by helping to keep the Colonials under 10 goals in the game and adding four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Lesmeister posted four caused turnovers and two ground balls against the Colonials. 

Burke, Bella Fisher, and Lizzie Fisher were named NEC Prime Performers for March 11-17. Burke posted nine draw controls, five caused turnovers, and four ground balls in the week and helped to keep the No. 3 team in the NEC in goals and points coming into the game to just seven goals in a 17-7 win against Merrimack. Bella Fisher tallied six goals, one assist, seven points, three ground balls, two caused turnovers, and nine draw controls. Lizzie Fisher recorded eight goals and two assists for 10 points in the week, including a career-high six goals and one assist for seven points against Merrimack — the six goals rank as the 10th-most in single-game program history. Brooke Lacey was named an NEC Prime Performer for the week of March 4-10. Lacey registered four goals, two assists for six points, four ground balls, and three caused turnovers. Bella Fisher and Julia Givens were named NEC Prime Performers for the week of February 19-25. Fisher registered three goals and a career-high three assists for six points, and Givens tallied two goals, three ground balls, and three caused turnovers against Rider. Danielle Hernandez and Givens were named NEC Prime Performers for the week of February 12-18. Hernandez had two goals and two assists, while Givens posted a hat trick against Oregon in the first-ever game against a Power 5 opponent.

Bella Fisher leads the team with four Prime Performers. Givens has three, Burke, Lacey and Lizzie Fisher have two, and Hernandez has one selection this season.

A DAVID PUDDY HIGH-FIVE
Graduate student Lizzie Fisher, junior Nancy Alden, and sophomore Bella Fisher are the only players on the team to have a five-goal performance. Bella Fisher leads the team with six contests with at least five goals, including a pair of six-goal performances last season against CCSU on April 15, 2023, and against St. Bonaventure four days later. The sophomore has two five-goal performances this season against Robert Morris on February 28 and against Wagner on March 23. Lizzie Fisher joined the club with her five-goal performance against Robert Morris, and Alden stamped her membership with a career-high five goals against Kent State on March 13. Lizzie Fisher joined Bella Fisher in the six-goal club with her six tallies against Merrimack on March 16.

HATTIES 
Sophomore Bella Fisher leads the team with 12 hat tricks after registering five this season, including a pair of five-goal performances. Graduate student Lizzie Fisher has four hat tricks in 2024, with a career-high six tallies against Merrimack to notch 10 hat tricks in her career. Senior captain Danielle Hernandez is right behind the duo with seven three-goal performances. Sophomore Nancy Alden notched her first career hat trick against Rider and had a career-high five goals against Kent State on March 13. Fellow sophomore Julia Givens has three hat tricks this season and seven career hatties. Sophomore Brooke Lacey has two hat tricks this season and three in her career.

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HER FRIENDS (METALLICA-JOE COCKER MASHUP)
Sophomore Bella Burke leads the team with 21 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers and ranks fourth with 14 draw controls. The sophomore had a career-high six draw controls against Kent State on March 13. Last season, she registered 30 of her 40 ground balls, 22 of her 26 caused turnovers, and six of her seven draw controls in the final seven matches of her freshman year. In those seven games, the sophomore had at least three ground balls in all seven games and at least two caused turnovers in six of the seven games with a career-high six caused turnovers against Wagner on April 29, 2023. Burke has at least two ground balls in 17 of 24 games and two caused turnovers in 12 games in her career. In addition, she has recorded at least four caused turnovers in a game four times in her career, marks that all sit in the program's single-game Top-10 in program history, including a season-high five against Le Moyne on April 3.

Sophomore Julia Givens has 20 ground balls, and 12 caused turnovers, while fellow sophomore Brooke Lacey has 11 caused miscues. Lacey had four caused turnovers against FDU, the 17th time a Red Flash player has recorded four caused turnovers in a game and the eighth-most in program history. 

MILESTONE ALERT 
Senior Danielle Hernandez has 113 career points and became the 12th player in team history to reach 100 points in her career and the fourth under head coach Tracy Coyne against St. Bonaventure on March 5. She moved into the top 10 for points with her four assists against Kent State on March 13 and can jump into ninth place with three points. She also sits in sixth place for career assists with 48, needing five more helpers to reach the Top-10 in that category. Hernandez, who dished out the fourth-most assists in a single game with five helpers against Stonehill on April 1, 2023, recorded four assists on Wednesday to sit in a 13-way tie for the 10th-most assists in a single game. The senior notched her second four-helper performance after having four dimes against Stetson on March 14, 2023. Hernandez becomes the fourth player in program history to have at least three matches with four assists in a game, joining former teammate Autumn McHenry, Sheri Fort, and Katie Schaaf. Fort and McHenry also had three games with that total, while Schaaf turned the trick seven times.

Sophomore Bella Fisher is the second fastest player to reach 75 points in program history, achieving the feat in 23 games after Kate Simmons, who scored 75 points in 22 matches. Bella Fisher is 12 points away from joining Hernandez in the 100-point club and becoming the 13th player in team history to reach the milestone. With 11 markers, she can join the program's Top 10 for goals; currently, two players have 82 markers to sit in the 10 spot. Hernandez and Fisher have 75 career draw controls, three away from teammate junior Chyler Espino in 10th place with 78 draws.

Espino, who became the fifth different player in program history with 10 draw controls in a game against St. Bonaventure last season, is 10th for career draw controls with 79 draws. She can move into eighth place with four draws (83) and seventh place with nine draws (88). Espino can also crack the top 10 in ground balls and caused turnovers this season. Currently sitting at 35 caused turnovers, she can move into 10th place with 10 caused miscues (45), while her 69 ground balls are 15 ground balls (84) from No. 10 on the career list for that category.

INSIDE LACROSSE FEATURE 
Graduate student Erika Ellison was featured in an article for Inside Lacrosse chronicling her time as a student-athlete and a ROTC member. Click HERE to read the story.

AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN 
Graduate student Lizzie Fisher, senior Danielle Hernandez, and junior Chyler Espino have been named captains for the 2024 campaign. The trio, junior Collen Roche and sophomore Bella Fisher, will serve as Women's Lacrosse Leadership Council members.

RETURNING ALL-NEC PERFORMERS 
Sophomore Bella Fisher was named the 2023 NEC Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Red Flash player to earn the recognition. She also earned All-NEC second-team recognition. Junior Chyler Espino was named to the All-NEC first team while selected to the second team senior Danielle Hernandez. Fisher and sophomore Bella Burke earned NEC All-Rookie team distinction. 

WELCOME TO THE LO' 
Saint Francis women's lacrosse head coach Tracy Coyne has added four freshmen and one junior to the 2024 roster. Junior Victoria DiRenno comes to Loretto after playing two seasons at Niagara. Freshmen Kylie Fischer, Jacks Lesmeister, Elizabeth Mahmud, and Molly Riva joined the squad this season. Mahmud recorded her first career goal against Kent State on March 13, and her first career assist against Merrimack on March 16.

FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 
Saint Francis has three players who hail from Canada: Juniors Olivia Baldini (Hamilton, Ontario) and Taylor Coughlin (Hespeler, Ontario) and sophomore Mak Patten (Welland, Ontario). Head coach Tracy Coyne also served as the Canadian National Team head coach from 1999-2005 and earned fourth-place standings in the 2001 and 2005 World Cups. 

CHYLER'S WORLD TOUR 
Since the 2023 season ended with Team Philippines, junior Chyler Espino has played in two international tournaments. The junior played in the World Lacrosse Festival over the summer in California and then in the Super Sixes Tournament in December in Hong Kong. Espino was joined in the Super Sixes Tournament by former teammate Elyssa Enrique. Espino is currently out with an injury.

PLAYER TO WATCH 
Sophomore Bella Fisher was named a Second Year Player to Watch by US Lacrosse Magazine. She had a Red Flash freshman record for goals (42) and points (48). The 42 goals were the ninth most by any class in single-season program history. Fisher scored six goals twice last season (CCSU on April 15, 2023, and St. Bonaventure), which ranks 10th on the single-game chart in program history. The sophomore, who received the NEC Rookie of the Week honor four times to become just the fourth player in NEC history to turn that trick, scored at least six goals in a game six times in her freshman campaign. 

ABOUT THE COACH 
Head coach Tracy Coyne enters her fifth season at Saint Francis and her 35th campaign in her legendary career. She holds a 319-226 career record. She currently ranks seventh in wins by active Division I head coaches. At the same time, she is 11th in NCAA Division I history in wins, 13th at any level for active head coaches, and 19th overall for any level. Coyne became the program's winningest head coach in program history in a 17-11 win against St. Bonaventure on April 19. In 2023, under her tutelage, the Red Flash set a program record for overall wins (10), conference wins (5), and longest winning streak (6) and clinched the program's first-ever NEC Tournament appearance. She 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. Coyne joined the Roanoke College Hall of Fame in 2023.