Live Stats
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's lacrosse team continues its three-game road-trip and travels to No. 19 East Stroudsburg University on Wednesday, April 13 at 4 p.m. for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup.
Both programs have shown tremendous improvement in comparison to past years. Kutztown (6-7, 2-6 PSAC) has won more games this season than any other since its reinstatement in 2008. East Stroudsburg (11-3, 6-3) is doing its best since the 2011 season, when it made an appearance at the PSAC semifinals with a similar 11 wins.
Within the PSAC, the teams have both beaten Edinboro and Shippensburg, but ESU has also won against one of the top teams, Lock Haven.
When the teams met last year for Kutztown's home opener, KU fell 16-9. The team had a lead within the first half until the momentum swung in East Stroudsburg's favor.
This year, KU averages 10.23 goals, 4.54 assists and 26.54 shots per game, all the best for the program since 2008. The offense has been led this year by
Sarah Gabriele (Felton, Pa./York Catholic),
Lauren Huggins (Media, Pa./Penncrest),
Makayla Bowman (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), and
Madison Carlucci (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley).
KU averages 22.77 groundballs and 1.77 caused turnovers per game, making it second in both categories in the PSAC. Gabriele continues to dominate shots per game with an average of 8.08, 105 total. Huggins also makes the leaderboard at fourth with 6.15 average shots per game, 80 total.
Carlucci and
Courtney O'Neill (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) both cleaned up 31 groundballs. O'Neill leads the PSAC and the team with 32 caused turnovers.
Bowman,
Emily Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Hubert Catholic),
Lauren Schmidt (Hanover, Pa./South Western), and
Reilly Donovan (Bel Air, Md./Patterson Mill) have made an impressive freshmen career starts. Bowman is third in goals, scoring on 18-of-29 shots. Smith and Donovan both have recorded 29 groundballs. Schmidt has 13 caused turnovers and 46 shots for the team. The freshmen are making their presence clear to help lead the team to a successful season.
East Stroudsburg goalie Jessica Maxwell has the highest save percentage in the PSAC at .537. It is also the only team in the PSAC to cause a shutout this season. Lauren Nunes leads the PSAC with 51 assists. Nunes scored 31 goals this season, along with three other Warriors who have scored over 20 times each. Caitlyn O'Connell has won 51 draw controls and 43 groundballs, the most on her team.
After the teams compete on Wednesday, Kutztown will continue on to No. 16 Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) for PSAC play on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
