Elon WLAX Phoenix Returns to Action Friday Against Chanticleers

ELON, N.C. – Following a nine-day break between games, No. 14 Elon University women’s lacrosse is set to return to action with two games this weekend. First up, the Phoenix will take on Coastal Carolina on Friday night, March 24, at 6 p.m. before welcoming Davidson on Sunday, March 26, for a 2 p.m. contest.

LAST TIME OUT
The Phoenix suffered just its second loss of the season in a 15-5 defeat on the road in Chapel Hill to second-ranked North Carolina last Tuesday, March 14. The Tar Heels opened the game with four goals in the opening 10 minutes before Elon answered in scoring two of the next three. After Shannon Horan tallied to make it 5-2 with 10:27 to go in the first half, UNC went on a 6-0 run to go up 11-2 and never looked back from there on the way to the win. Elon did go on a three-goal run in the second half and held the Tar Heels off the board for more than 21 minutes in the frame, but UNC scored four goals in the final 7:31 to win by 10.

SERIES HISTORY vs. COASTAL CAROLINA
Elon and Coastal Carolina have battled each of Elon’s first three seasons of competition. Last year, the Phoenix went on the road to defeat the Chanticleers in Conway, S.C., by the score of 5-4. The five goals in the win marks the fewest scored in a victory in program history for the Phoenix. Two of the three meetings against CCU have been decided by either one or two goals with Elon’s 11-6 win in 2015 the largest margin of victory to date.

SERIES HISTORY vs. DAVIDSON
After dropping the series opener back in 2014 to Davidson, the Phoenix has won two in a row by five and six goals apiece. Last season on March 19, Elon took a 12-6 victory in Davidson after earning a 10-5 win in 2015, the last time the two met in Elon.

SCOUTING THE CHANTICLEERS
Coastal Carolina owns a 3-3 record on the season, but has lost each of its last three games after starting the year without a blemish in its first three contests. Its wins to open the season include victories over Cincinnati, UC Davis and Fresno State. Losses in the last three games include Vanderbilt, Louisville and George Mason. Friday’s game starts a four-game road swing for the Chanticleers. Sophie Crowther leads CCU with 13 goals this year, but she’s followed closely by Keri White and Haley Alexander, who have each scored 12 times this season.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Winning two of its first three games of the year, Davidson has struggled since opening the year strong in dropping each of its last three games to Jacksonville, Campbell and Winthrop. Elon and Davidson have numerous common opponents. Elon beat Virginia Tech 13-12 in overtime while Davidson lost 13-7 to the Hokies to open the season. Elon has also defeated Big South foes Campbell (15-5) and Winthrop (13-5) while Davidson lost to both. Later this year, the Phoenix will take on William & Mary. To close February, Davidson earned a 10-9 win over the Tribe. Annie Brockett leads the Wildcats with 18 goals to go with three assists on the year.

LACROSSE’S HEISMAN
Late last week, Stephanie Asher and Rachel Ramirez were added to the Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List. The two players represent the first Elon athletes to be named to the watch list for the sport’s highest honor.

FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY
This week five years ago, Elon announced lacrosse as its 17th varsity sport. Now in its fourth year of competition, the Phoenix has posted an all-time record of 32-26 with multiple signature wins to date over nationally-ranked ACC teams. The University announced women’s lacrosse as a varsity sport back on March 20, 2012.

CENTURY SCORER
Stephanie Asher became the program’s first player to reach the 100-career goal mark when she scored in the second half against No. 9 Notre Dame back on Feb. 23. The junior has now tallied 26 goals in eight games this season. She scored five goals apiece in each of Elon’s first two games, which were a 15-5 win over Campbell and an 11-10 win at No. 13 Virginia. Her 26 goals is tied with Towson’s Carly Tellekamp for the CAA lead.

CHASING 100
Looking to follow in Asher’s footsteps, Sloane Kessler is closing in on 100 goals in her career. The senior from Owings Mills, Md., has notched 82 goals in her career to go with her 74 assists for a program-leading 156 points. This season alone, Kessler has scored 16 goals with a team-high 11 assists.

AMONG THE TOP 20
Elon held strong at No. 14 this week in the Cascade/Inside Lacrosse Media poll and checked in at No. 20 in the IWLCA Coaches poll. Last week, Elon’s No. 14 ranking in the Cascade poll and the No. 19 ranking in the IWLCA poll marked new program highs and the No. 19 ranking in the IWLCA poll represented the first time Elon was among the Top 20 in that list. Two weeks ago, Elon jumped into the Cascade poll for the first time in program history at No. 16 after topping Virginia Tech the week before.

SIGNATURE WINS
With the Feb. 11 win over No. 13 Virginia and the March 1 victory over No. 19 Virginia Tech, Elon has now beat three nationally ranked teams in each of the last two seasons. In 2016, the Phoenix went on the road to No. 10 Duke and won 7-6 in Durham, N.C. Elon owns an all-time record of 3-8 against ACC opponents. Overall against ranked teams, Elon is 3-10 in 13 games to date.

TAKING THE HARDWARE
Stephanie Asher has earned two CAA Player of the Week honors already this season. Both came on the heels of five-goal performances against Campbell in the season-opener and Virginia Tech on March 1. She has now won the award three times in her career. On Feb. 21, Alexis Zadjura took CAA Defensive Player of the Week after leading Elon’s defense with three draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers while helping to keep three of Virginia’s top scorers to just two goals apiece in the game. On March 13, Rachel Ramirez was tabbed CAA Defensive Player of the Week for the third time in her career after making 13 saves with three ground balls and two caused turnovers in the 12-9 win over Vanderbilt on March 8.

PRESEASON HONORS
Two Phoenix earned preseason All-CAA honors on Jan. 20 with Stephanie Asher and Rachel Ramirez being named to the All-CAA team and Sloane Kessler and Alexis Zadjura earning honorable mentions. In the preseason poll, Elon was selected to finish third behind Towson and James Madison. The third-place selection is the highest Elon has been in a preseason poll in the program’s brief history.

HEAD COACH JOSH HEXTER
The 2017 campaign marks the fourth season at the helm of the program for head coach Josh Hexter after being hired in April 2012 to start and lead the Phoenix lacrosse program from the ground up. Named Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year in 2014, Hexter has amassed 104 wins in his career at Elon and Bridgewater State with a 32-26 record in 58 games at Elon. Over the course of his first three seasons, he has coached two conference freshmen of the year and a total of 12 all-conference players.

UP NEXT
After the two matchups this weekend, Elon will close nonconference play on Wednesday, March 29, when it takes on No. 17 Duke at Rudd Field. Elon is 1-2 against the Blue Devils with the victory coming last season in Durham, 7-6, against the 10th-ranked Blue Devils. The win was the program’s first over a nationally-ranked opponent.