VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova women's lacrosse team welcomes the Black Knights of Army on Tuesday, Mar. 12 for a 3 p.m. game in the Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats are currently 4-3 on the season after defeating Drexel over the weekend. The Black Knights are undefeated so far this season with an overall record of 7-0 and a conference record of 1-0.

This contest will stand as the first all-time competition between Villanova and Army in women's lacrosse history. The Black Knights are relatively new to the women's varsity lacrosse world having only began competing starting during the 2015- 16 season. Headed into the 2019 season the team posted an all-time record of 20-31. Head coach Kristen Waagbo has been at the helm of the program since their first year, but started as the coach in 2014.

Army
Seven games into the season, Army is loaded with five lethal offensive players who have each scored 10 or more goals this season.  Jackie Brattan leads the team with 23 goals for 23 points as well as a team high 41 draw controls. Caroline Raymond is second on the team in points with 22 on her 12 goals and 10 assists. With 20 points on the season, Samantha Stewart sits at third having scored 16 goals and tallied four assists. Stewart also leads the team with 18 ground balls and stands behind Brattan with 36 draw controls.

Closing out the bunch is Manuela Cortes and Megan Raftery. Cortes is fourth on the team in points with 19 after recording the second most goals on the team with 17 and two assists. Raftery has recorded 12 points on the team on 10 goals and two assists.

The Black Knights have taken 43 free-position shots and have converted 23 of them into goals. Brattan has scored 8-10 and Stewart and Cortes have each scored six on their 10 and 12 free-position shot attempts.

Leading the team in caused turnovers is Lauren Bredenburg. She has tallied 13 caused turnovers and 12 ground balls while at midfield. Juliana Dworschak is also a huge contributor to the team's 122 draw control total and has personally recorded 31.  

The Black Knights have seen time in the net from three individuals throughout their seven games. Maddie Burns is the primary keeper for Army as a junior and has recorded 40 saves on 137 shots faced. In her 339:24 minutes of action she has allowed 52 goals and has an overall save percentage of .435. Hannah Slomkowski, a sophomore, has seen the second most time in the goal with 73 minutes in four games and has recorded eight saves on 23 shots faced. Riley Roarick has played in one contest so far also as a sophomore.

As a team, Army is outshooting their opponents by a substantial quantity. The Black Knights have attempted 252 shots to their opponents' 162. They have also outscored opponents 109-62 and are averaging far less turnovers per game.

Villanova
After seven games and more specifically the last two contests against Holy Cross and Drexel, the Wildcats are seeing exemplary performance from a wide variety of players.
The main contributors on offense still precedes with Katie Comerford, Devin Hassinger and Ashley Lynch, Brittany Bruno and Liz Trojan. Though, Grainger Rosati, Kim McDonough and Maggie Jennings have been others positively adding to the pot.

Comerford leads the team in both assists and points with 16 and 23 respectively, she has also added seven goals this season. Guiding the team in both goals and draw controls is Hassinger. She has scored 16 goals and won 47 draw controls, the most on the team by a margin of seven and 22. Lynch now sits third on the team in points but still second in assists behind Comerford. So far, she has tallied 10 assists and six goals for 16 points.

Sitting behind Hassinger in goals is Bruno and Torjan. After last week's games against the Crusaders and Dragons, Trojan tallied six goals for a season total of nine. Bruno only scored two goals but tallied four assists and now has 13 points on the year.

McDonough and Jennings both had strong showings throughout the last two games as well. McDonough scored a hat-trick in the team's 13-9 win over Drexel while Jennings scored four goals in the 17-5 win against Holy Cross. Rosati was also a big proponent in both wins as well. She scored one goal in each game but tallied nine draw controls between the two contests which helped set the team up offensively.

Defensively, Sydney Frank, Kelsey Mentzer and Julia Arrix are leading the team with ground balls and caused turnovers. Frank has recorded 12 in both categories, Mentzer has picked up 12 ground balls as well and has caused eight turnovers and Arrix has scooped up eight ground balls and has forced five turnovers.

The Wildcats primary goalie is freshman keeper Alexa Moro. Moro has been a force to reckon with in the net throughout all seven contests. She has made five starts as a rookie, has recorded 70 saves on 179 shots and has a save percentage of .496.

Villanova will compete in two more non-conference games after Army before they begin BIG EAST Conference play. The contest between Villanova and Army will be broadcast on Nova Nation All-Access and live stats will be available on Stat Broadcast.