HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Another watershed moment in the long and storied history of the Lincoln Memorial University athletic department arrives on Saturday afternoon as the Lady Railsplitters venture into the heart of the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tenn. to "host" the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (1-2, 1-0 SAC) for the first women's lacrosse match in school history. Lincoln Memorial's program and South Atlantic Conference opener gets underway at 1 p.m. at the Rocky Top Sports World complex.
 
Saturday's match is the culmination of a year-and-a-half journey that began in August, 2013, when the South Atlantic Conference approved the sponsorship of men's and women's lacrosse. Head men's lacrosse coach Ryan Kuhn laid the foundation at Lincoln Memorial for head women's coach Caitlyn Corace, who was hired in July, 2014. From that moment on, the hours of practice, weight training and film study has been building towards this moment.
 
"Saturday is an historic day for the women's lacrosse program at Lincoln Memorial University," head coach Caitlyn Corace said. "We are very excited to get this program off the ground and running in our first game of the season."
 
The Lady Railsplitters' 15-player roster is comprised of seven freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and six seniors. Senior midfielder Carly Cepelak (Tampa, Fla.) joins the women's lacrosse squad after completing a four-year tenure with the Lady Railsplitter soccer team. Senior defender Haley Hilliard (Sterling Heights, Mich.) has been a part of two different programs at Lincoln Memorial as she spent the 2012 season with women's soccer and competed for the cross country squad in the fall of 2014.
 
"The girls have been working hard since the beginning of January and we had a scrimmage in early February to prep for this game," Corace said. "I am really excited to get back out on the field and start the season."
 
The Lady Railsplitters will be presented with a stiff challenge in the program's inaugural game, welcoming a Lenoir-Rhyne squad that finished as the SAC regular season and tournament runner-up in 2014 with an 11-8 overall record.
 
"Lenoir-Rhyne has been an established program for the past couple of years, finishing second in the regular season standings and eventually playing their way into the championship game against Queens last season," Corace said. "We are looking forward to playing them for our first league game to see how we match-up against one of the top teams in the conference."
 
The Bears were among the national leaders in scoring offense last season with 13.44 goals per game and they are well on their way to replicating those figures this season. Lenoir-Rhyne is scoring 12 goals per game and finding nylon on 77.9 percent of its shots on goal.
 
Seniors Lauren Donovan and Kirsten Smith are leading the way offensively with seven goals apiece. Donovan also has a team-high six assists and 14 ground balls. Junior Claire Wach has tallied six goals and added three assists, while Aubriana Benedetto and Torrey Schwikis have four goals apiece.
 
While the Bears' offense has been effective, the defense has carried the load, relinquishing the second-fewest goals per game in the South Atlantic Conference (8.33). Lenoir-Rhyne has surrendered just 25 goals in three games.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Ines Flueck is likely to stand between the pipes for the Bears. She has started all three games and played in 146 minutes of a possible 180, making 14 saves and allowing only 19 goals.
 
The Bears opened the season with back-to-back, one-goal losses to Mount Olive and Rollins, but checked into the win column with a 17-4 evisceration of another first-year program, the Tusculum Pioneers, last Sunday. L-R scored the first eight goals of the contest and went into the half with a 12-2 cushion before hitting the brakes in the second stanza. Donovan earned AstroTurf SAC Player of the Week laurels after leading the way with four goals and five assists.
 
LMU and L-R are scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Live stats will be available through www.LMURailsplitters.com.

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