HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Lady Railsplitter lacrosse team closes out the regular season in a do-or-die game at Coker Saturday afternoon. With a win, LMU will earn a berth in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse Championships for the first time in program history.
LMU is currently 7-7 overall and 2-5 in SAC play. Coker is 4-10 overall and also 2-5 in the SAC and both teams are tied for sixth place in the SAC standings and the final spot in the upcoming tournament. The winner gets in and the non-winner's season is over.
The Lady Railsplitters defeated Newberry last Saturday 15-11 and are looking for back to back wins for the second time this season. Coker had a two game winning streak (with a 16-15 win over Wingate and a 23-22 overtime win at Mars Hill) snapped on Wednesday as they lost 14-5 at Lenoir-Rhyne.
The Cobras are led by the one-two punch of Faith Kent and Haley McCusker. Kent leads the team in goals (65), assists (31), draw controls (101) and has a chance to earn 100 points this season as she currently has 96. She leads the SAC in goals, points and draws won and is second in assists. McCusker has 61 goals, has won 81 draws and leads the team in ground balls with 52. Cassie Williams is the main goalie for Coker and has 153 saves this year while giving up 215 goals.
Coker leads the SAC in draw controls (234) and are third in goals (179), goals per game (12.79), and turnovers (300).
LMU has a balanced offensive attack with four players having 30 or more goals.
Amara Moss leads the team with 45 goals (6
th-most in the SAC), 52 assists, and 82 draws won.
Kennedy Buechner and
Erin DePaul each has 35 goals, while
Casey Kelly has 34. Kelly also leads the team in assists with 17 and has win 71 draws.
Zoe Zervos leads the team in caused turnovers (28) and ground balls (47). Goalie
Shannon Novak has 110 saves and given up 126 goals. Her save percentage of 46.6 percent is second in the SAC.
The team ranks second in the SAC in goals against (167) and save percentage (45.8). They are third in draw controls per game (13.86) and goals-against average (11.93).
The Cobras lead the all-time series 3-0.
