Moon Township, Pa. --Robert Morris University women's lacrosse opens its home slate with a non-conference game against Niagara University at 3:00pm Friday at Joe Walton Stadium. LAST TIME OUT
The Colonials start the season 0-1 after falling 14-7 in the season opener on the road at Duquesne. Emily Jamison led the team in scoring with a big first half, netting two goals and dishing two assists, keeping the Colonials neck and neck with the Dukes in the early going. Jessica Karwacki scored two goals to open the second half and recorded nine of RMU's 14 draw controls. Katy Breeze, Brittany Byerly and Dominique Zigo tallied the Colonials other three goals. Freshman goalkeeper Sarah Arnold posted five saves.
SCOUTING THE PURPLE EAGLES
The Purple Eagles are 0-2 after opening their season with a 6-5 overtime loss on the road against Binghamton and following that up with another overtime loss, this time in double overtime, 11-10 at Colgate Tuesday afternoon.In a low-scoring, defensive battle vs. Binghamton, Niagara fell behind 5-2 in the second period, but scored three unanswered goals, including two in the final 20 seconds of regulation, to tie the game before eventually falling in overtime. Freshman Alexis Morales led the team offensively with three goals.Taylor Wolf and Hailey D'Hontalso scored for the Purple Eagles, while Rachel MacCheyne and Caroline Crump picked up assists. All but one of Niagara's seven offensive points at Binghamton came from freshmen.The Purple Eagles earned a 16-8 advantage in shots on goal, but Binghamton recorded 11 saves in the win. Defensively, Niagara nearly doubled up Binghamton in both ground balls (23-13) and caused turnovers (11-6).
In the 11-10 2OT loss to Colgate, the Purple Eagles got three points from both Taylor Wolf (3 goals) and Samantha Brill (2 goals, 1 assist).Sarah Arndt netted two goals and Caroline Crump has a goal and an assist. Andrea Francisco tied a career-high in goal with 12 saves including three in overtime.
LAST MEETING
Jessica Karwacki established what was at the time, a new NCAA Division I record for draw controls, collecting 20 as the Colonials won 12-10 victory at Niagara. Dana Davis posted four goals in the victory. Brittany Byerly, Emma Baukhages and RMU's now graduated leading scorer Kristin Yoviene added two goals apiece, with Byerly also dishing an assist. (Note: Karwacki has since broken her own record.)
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NIAGARA2005 Loss 13-2 (neutral)
2006 Loss 13-9 (home)
2007 Win 15-7 (neutral)
2013 Win 18-7 (away)
2014 Win 16-13 (home)
2015 Win 12-10 (away)ALL-TIME LEADERJessica Karwacki is the NCAA's all-time leader in draw controls, currently with 547 draw controls, recording nine in the season opener at Duquesne. Her career average is tops in the nation at 10.94 per game.NCAA Draw Controls Records
Game 24-Jessica Karwacki, Robert Morris vs. Howard, Feb. 28, 2015
Season 216-Jessica Karwacki, Robert Morris, 2014 (17 games)
Career 547-Jessica Karwacki, Robert Morris, 2013-16 (50 games, still active)
Draw Controls Per Game
Season 12.71-Jessica Karwacki, Robert Morris, 2014 (216 in 17 games)NATIONAL RANKINGSIn addition to Karwacki, several Colonials are ranked in the top 50 nationally in a variety of career statistical categories.
Brittany Byerly is ranked 23rd in points per game (2.90), 25th in goals per game (2.15), 39th in caeer goals (86). Corey Karwacki is 31st in points per game (2.73) and 40th in career assists (41). Emily Jamison is 40th in career goals with 85.WINNING WAYS
The Class of 2015 seniors departed with 36 wins to their credit, the winningest class in program history. The Class of 2016 has been a part of 29 victories thus far, needing 7 wins this season to tie that record.PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
RMU is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in the 11-year history of the program, going 10-7 last season after an 11-6 mark in 2014. The Colonials have been at .500 or above for the past three seasons, starting with an 8-8 result in 2013.
Head Coach Katy Phillips returns six seniors to this year's squad including two-time All-NEC midfielder Jessica Karwacki. Karwacki, a senior midfielder, recorded 169 draw controls (averaging 10.6 per game) in 2015 to lead the nation for the second straight season.In three seasons, Karwacki has won a remarkable 537 draws, shattering an NCAA record.
Four of the top six scorers from 2015 will pace the Colonials offense this season. Corey Karwacki earned all-conference second team honors last season and is the Colonials leading returning scorer (37 goals, 22 assists). Karwacki's 59 points last season are the third-most ever scored by a Colonial. Now a sophomore, Dana Davis earned all-NEC rookie honors last season after scoring 22 goals and 11 assists. Davis also led RMU in caused turnovers with 22. Brittany Byerly (Wexford, Pa./Pine-Richland H.S) notched 53 points last season and ranks sixth all-time at RMU. Pittsburgh native and senior Emily Jamison (North Hills H.S.) posted 31 goals in her junior campaign.
Robert Morris loses 32.6 percent of its goal-scoring, 39.6 percent of its assists and 34.8 percent of total points from last season's roster, mostly in the form of graduates Kristin Yoviene and Emma Baukhages.
In 2015, RMU's offense scored an average of 13.79 goals per game on 28.6 shots per game. The Colonials were ranked 1st in goals, assists, points, shots and draw controls in NEC play in the 2015 season. Three Colonials players finished in the top 10 in the conference in goals and points, four of the top ten in assists.
Freshman Sarah Arnold will backstop Robert Morris this season. Returning on defense are juniors Megan Wolfgang, Megan Gold, Megan Yarberry and Amanda Harrington.
Robert Morris was picked to finish fourth in the Northeastern Conference preseason coaches' poll.SOCIAL MEDIA
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