DANBURY, Conn. --- The Moravian College women's lacrosse team, playing its Landmark Conference season since 2010, was awarded the program's first-ever postseason berth Monday as the Greyhounds were seeded seventh in the 2017 ECAC Division III Championship Tournament, and the Hounds will travel to second seed Misericordia University for a First Round match on Wednesday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m.
In addition to the Blue and Grey earning their first postseason appearance, the squad posted a 7-8 overall record and a 7-7 mark against NCAA Division III competition during the regular season under Head Coach Kristen Nicholson, who is in her second year as a collegiate head coach. Moravian previously had women's lacrosse from 2003 through 2010; however, the program spent the next five years as a club sport before returning to varsity status last spring as an independent before rejoining the Landmark conference this spring.
"I'm extremely proud to have the opportunity to compete in the ECAC tournament in our second year as a program," Nicholson said.
The ECAC switched from four regional tournaments to one overall championship this year with seven teams. Top seed Stockton University received a first round bye and will host the semifinals and championship matches on Saturday, May 13 and Sunday, May 14.
Moravian's match at Misericordia on Wednesday will be the first between the schools in women's lacrosse with the Cougars joining the Middle Atlantic Conference after the Greyhounds left the MAC and joined the Landmark Conference in 2007-08. The winner of the first round match will play the winner of third seed Drew University and sixth seed Arcadia University in a semifinal match on Saturday, May 13 at 2:00 p.m. hosted by top seed Stockton University. For the full tournament bracket, visit http://ecacsports.com/documents/2017/5/8//2017_WLAX_RD1.pdf?id=1034&elinkdata=132159.
Sophomore midfielder/attack Jillian Picciuto leads the Greyhounds in scoring this spring with 97 points on 63 goals and 34 assists to go along with 29 ground balls and 66 draw controls. Picciuto, the program's all-time leader in points and assists, enters the tournament with 199 career points and was named to the 2017 Landmark All-Conference Second Team. Freshman midfielder Liz Bill has contributed 50 goals, three assists, 30 ground balls, 39 draw controls and 12 caused turnovers in her debut season while sophomore attack Jessica Pisano has 25 goals, five assists and nine ground balls.
Freshman midfielder Allie Brembt has 15 goals, an assist, 28 ground balls, 15 draw controls and nine caused turnovers while sophomore attack Dalia Aguilar has added 12 goals, three assists and 12 ground balls. Sophomore attack Kyleigh Miller has ten goals, two assists and 19 ground balls for the Greyhounds while junior attack Kyleigh McGovern has five goals, an assist, 19 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.
Freshman attack Anna Kahnert has netted three goals this spring to go along with 11 ground balls while junior midfielder Alexis Kersten has two goals, a team-high 46 ground balls, 23 caused turnovers and 12 draw controls. Freshman defender Allie Fisher eads the team with 33 caused turnovers to go along with 42 ground balls, 41 draw controls, two goals and two assists while junior midfielder Kristen Baxter has 37 ground balls, 21 caused turnovers and one goal while sophomore defender Jacqueline LaCava has contributed 37 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers.
Sophomore goalie Kelley Gavin has posted a 12.88 goals-against average with 97 saves, 13 ground balls and a 7-8 record in 764 minutes of action while junior goalie Elisabeth Pontius has a 6.62 goals-against average and five saves in 136 minutes of action. Freshman defender Dayna Trotter has contributed 21 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers while freshman defender Sarah Kunzman has 12 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.
