BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University women's lacrosse squad has earned the sixth seed in the 2024 Landmark Conference Tournament and will travel to third seed Susquehanna University for a first round match on Tuesday, April 30 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Selinsgrove.
Admission to Tuesday's match is $7 for adults and $4 for minors ages 10-17 and seniors 62 and older. Children ages nine and under are admitted free of charge, as are all Landmark Conference students, faculty and staff with their school ID. All ticketing will be done online at https://landmarkconference.org/sports/2022/4/25/championships-tickets.aspx?path=champs, and there will be no cash accepted on site.
Third-year Head Coach Caroline Pape has guided the Greyhounds to an 8-9 record, and she has led the program to its sixth consecutive Landmark Conference Tournament. Moravian is facing the River Hawks in the postseason for the first. When the Greyhounds and Susquehanna met earlier this season, Moravian scored four goals in the final 1:23 to rally for a 14-13 victory in Selinsgrove.
Junior midfielder Jackie Salvatore leads Moravian with 104 points, which has tied Jillian Picciutto's single season record, on 47 goals and a single season school record 57 assists to go with 86 draw controls, 28 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers. Junior midfielder Alex Cherenson has 62 goals, 10 assists, 29 ground balls, 58 draw controls and 15 caused turnovers while junior midfielder Madi Dippel has added 57 goals to go along with nine assists, 74 draw controls, 43 ground balls and 23 caused turnovers.
Freshman attack Melissa Elefonte has 24 goals, 15 assists, 27 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers while freshman midfielder Bailey Leatherman has 13 goals, four assists, eight draw controls and four ground balls. Sophomore midfielder Gianna Lotito has netted 13 goals and four assists to go with 16 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers while sophomore midfielder Victoria Salica has recorded 12 goals, six assists and 15 ground balls. Freshman midfielder Reagan Reiner has nine goals, four assists, 20 ground balls, seven draw controls and six caused turnovers in her debut season while senior defender Keara Reilly has contributed four goals, 35 ground balls, 28 caused turnovers and two draw controls and senior defender Alise Downey has added a goal, 14 ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Senior defender Olivia Williams has registered 13 ground balls and six caused turnovers while junior midfielder Isabella Ziccardi has 13 ground balls and six caused turnovers. Junior defender Leah Hoskin has 13 ground balls and seven caused turnovers while sophomore defender Grace Nelson has six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Junior defender Erda Nesimi and freshman defender Victoria Erlemann both have three ground balls with Nesimi adding a pair of caused turnovers and senior defender Salome Carr has one ground ball.
Sophomore goalie Kayla Graef has recorded 119 saves to go with 32 ground balls, two caused turnovers, a 15.76 goals-against average and an 8-8 mark while playing 765 minutes this season while freshman goalie Elle Burd has 31 saves, a 12.50 goals-against average and an 0-1 mark in 255 minutes of play.
With the addition of Lycoming College and Wilkes University to the Landmark Conference in 2023-24, all postseason tournaments have expanded to six teams with the top two seeds earning first round byes. The winner of Tuesday's first round match between the Greyhounds and the River Hawks will advance to face second seed The Catholic University of America in a semifinal match on Thursday, May 2 at 4:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
Tuesday's other first round match is between fifth seed Juniata College and fourth seed Drew University with the winner then facing off with top seed The University of Scranton in a semifinal on May 2. The top remaining seed will host the 2024 Landmark Conference Championship match on Saturday, May 4 to determine the conference's automatic berth to the 2024 NCAA Division III Tournament.
