Lacrosse Travels to Lafayette Saturday

Lacrosse at LAFAYETTE
Date	Saturday, March 9 \| 10:30 a.m.
Venue	Fisher Stadium \| Easton, Pa.
Preview Info	EMU Notes (PDF)
Live	Statistics \| Watch (ESPN+)
Social Media	Instagram: @emu_Lacrosse \| Twitter: @EMU_Lacrosse

EASTON, Pa. (EMUEagles.com) – Winners of back-to-back games for the first time in program history, the Eastern Michigan University lacrosse team will look to make it three in a row as the Eagles are set to face the Leopards of Lafayette College Saturday, March 9, in Easton, Pa. The Eagles (2-2), who are closing out a five-game road trip to open the season, will take on the Leopards (2-3) for the first time in program history with the game slated for a 10:30 a.m. opening draw inside Fisher Stadium.

FOLLOW ALONG
The match between Eastern and Lafayette will be aired live on ESPN+ with Jacob Smedley on the call.
Watch Live (ESPN+)
Live Statistics

OPENING DRAWS
» Eastern enters the week with a 2-2 record following two road wins, including a 16-5 decision at Howard, Feb. 25, and an 18-6 victory at Delaware State, Feb. 28.
» The back-to-back wins are the first for the program after starting 0-10 (0-8 in 2023 and 0-2 in 2024). Additionally, the Eagles have already equaled their win total from last year (2-14).
» The wins mark the first time the Eagles have won back-to-back games in program history. Sitting at 2-2, Eastern sits at .500 or better for the first time in program history.
» Along with the victories, several players produced stellar stat lines, including Tracy Grollman and Mackenzie Blackwell on offense and Giuliana Ditsky on defense. Grollman posted only the second double hat trick in program history with three goals and three assists at Howard while Blackwell torched the nets at Delaware State with nine goals. Ditsky had back-to-back games allowing just five goals each.
» For their efforts against the Bison, Feb. 25, Tracy Grollman and Giuliana Ditsky were honored as the MAC Offensive and MAC Defensive Player of the Week, respectively. The awards were the first in their careers and mark just the third and fourth in program history.
» Mackenzie Blackwell scored nine goals against the Hornets, Feb. 28, to break her previous school record of six, while posting the second-most goals scored in a single game in NCAA Division I this season.
» Through games played March 3, the Eagles currently hold the top ranking in 10 statistical categories in the MAC, including goals (13.25), assists (8.00), and points (21.25) on offense and goals against average (12.00), save percentage (.484), ground balls (17.0), and draw controls (18.0). Nationally, EMU is among the top 50 in NCAA Division I in eight of those categories.
» Individually, Eastern has a player leading five statistical categories with Mackenzie Blackwell ranking first in goals per game (4.5), points per game (4.75), and draw controls per game (5.0). She also is among the best in the nation in all three as she ranks No. 5, No. 32, and No. 50, respectively.
» Eastern is averaging 8.0 assists per game, which ranks ninth nationally, while its 18.0 draw controls per game ranks fifth in the NCAA.
» Five Eagles were selected captains ahead of the 2024 season, including sophomores Mackenzie Blackwell, Skylar Hilmer, Gina Jaffurs, and Annika Wozney, and graduate student Sydney Lawrence.
» Head Coach Sara Tisdale is back for her second year building the Eagle program and carries a career record of 109-79 in 12 years of coaching. Eastern is the third program she has started from scratch after starting programs at Augustana (Ill.) in 2012 and Central Michigan in 2016.
» Eastern was voted fourth in the 2024 MAC Preseason Coaches Poll, up from a tie for sixth in 2023.

SCOUTING: LAFAYETTE
The Leopards, who are members of the Patriot League, enter the game with a 2-3 record following their 13-3 loss at Delaware, March 6. Nine different players have scored at least one goal for LC this season with Abby Romano leading the way with a team-high 12, while Sara Rogers and Haleigh Albrecht follow with eight and seven, respectively. Defensively, Lexie Coldiron has seen nearly all the minutes in cage and has tallied 48 saves while allowing 48 goals. As a team, the Leopards rank 10th nationally with 21.0 ground balls per game.

IN THE SERIES: EAGLES vs. LEOPARDS
The game between Eastern and Lafayette will mark the first in the series.

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS...
The Eagles' 2024 schedule featured five consecutive road games to begin the year with the fifth coming this week at Lafayette. After dropping all eight road games last year and the first two this year, the Eagles put two ticks in the win column as they won, 16-5, at Howard, Feb. 25, before downing Delaware State, Feb. 28. Those wins are the first on the road in program history and stand as the first winning streak in program history.

LOOKING BACK: TWO ROAD WINS
Eastern Michigan took to the road for their third and fourth games of the season and returned home with a pair of wins as the Eagles defeated Howard, 16-5, Feb. 25, in Washington, DC, and Delaware State, 18-6, in Dover, Del., Feb. 28.
In the opener, the Tracy Grollman scored three goals and dished three assists to lead the way while Abby Alderman and Mackenzie Blackwell each scored three to record hat tricks. All told, 10 different Eagles tallied at least one goal in the victory. Defensively, Giuliana Ditsky tallied 11 saves while allowing just five goals to anchor the team to its first road victory in program history.
Three days later, the Eagles and Hornets tangled with Blackwell recording a program-record nine goals to lead Eastern to back-to-back wins for the first time in program history. Despite scoring half of the team's goals, six others recorded at least one score with Sydney Lawrence tallying a hat trick. Ditsky was sharp again with eight saves and five goals allowed in 36 minutes of play before Maddie Porter came in for the final 24 minutes, allowing one goal while recording five saves.

RECOGNITION FROM THE MAC
Following the game at Howard, Feb. 25, the MAC announced weekly award winners with the Eagles sweeping the honors as Tracy Grollman was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Week and Giuliana Ditsky was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week. The honors were the first for both players and the first of the season for Eastern while being the third and fourth earned, respectively, in program history. Last year, Sydney Lawrence and Mackenzie Blackwell swept the offensive and defensive awards, respectively, March 28, 2023.

THAT WAS FINE, SCORING NINE
Heading into the game at Delaware State, Mackenzie Blackwell held the record for goals in a game with six, which she scored against Central Michigan, April 5, 2023. Following the game with the Hornets, the record still belonged to Blackwell, just with a much higher number as the sophomore tallied nine goals in the win. The nine goals are not only a school record, but rank as the second-most scored in a game this season among all NCAA Division I players (as of March 6) with Kenna Kaut of Bryant holding the lead with 10 goals scored against Long Island the same day.

MAC OF THE MAC
With 11 goals tallied last week, Mackenzie Blackwell is now leading the MAC in several statistical categories, including goals per game (4.5) and points per game (4.75) while still holding the top spot in draw controls per game (5.0). While her 18 total goals rank second in the league to Jackie Wolford (Kent State), who has 19), Blackwell is averaging 4.5 per game through four contests while Wolford and KSU have played six times.

NATIONALLY KNOWN
Not only is Mackenzie Blackwell leading the MAC in those three categories, but she also ranks among the top 50 in all of NCAA Division I (through March 5). Blackwell's 4.5 goals per game average ranks her fifth nationally while her 4.75 points places her 32nd and her 5.0 draw controls rank 50th.

WEARING MULTIPLE HATS
Tracy Grollman turned in a career performance at Howard, Feb. 25, as she scored three goals and added three assists for six points, which secured her first double hat trick and just the second in program history, joining Sydney Lawrence, who scored four goals and dished three assists at Youngstown State, April 8, 2023. Grollman, who had previously recorded two hat tricks, posted multiple-assist in a game for the first time with the three at Howard before handing out four at Delaware State, Feb. 28, to tie the single-game school record.

HAPPY TO HELP
Of the 34 goals scored last week, including 16 at Howard, Feb. 25, and 18 at Delaware State, Feb. 28, Eastern was credited with an assist on 19, which is nearly 56 percent of the scores. Five different players accounted for those assists, including seven from Tracy Grollman, who had seven total in the entire 2023 season; Avery Schwab with six, including three in each game; Sydney Lawrence with three; and one each from Kyleigh Dill, Abby Alderman, and Amber Alderman.

DROPPING DIMES
As a team, the Eagles are averaging 8.0 assists per game, a number that not only leads the MAC, but ranks ninth nationally. Of the 10 spots in the MAC individual rankings, EMU players occupy half with Tracy Grollman leading the league with 2.0 assists per game and Avery Schwab just behind her with 1.75 per contest. The remaining Eagles on the list include Sydney Lawrence, who is third at 1.5, and both Abby Alderman and Kelsea Dague, who are tied for sixth with 1.0 assists per game.

GET TO THE POINT(S)
With all the scoring and assisting, the Eagles are averaging 21.25 points per game, an average that not only leads the MAC, but does so by nearly seven points (6.75). Thanks in part to the 53 points accumulated over the past two games, the Eagles currently rank 23rd nationally as well.

OPENING HER ACCOUNT
Freshman Roya Khaleeli has been contributing in numerous ways through her first four collegiate games. After recording back-to-back games with four draw controls and average of 2.5 ground balls, Khaleeli got into the scoring column for the first time at Howard, Feb. 25, as she netted her first collegiate goal. She followed that with her first multiple goal game at Delaware State, Feb. 28, with a pair of scores.

BRICK WALLS
While the offense has been humming, the defense has been stellar as well, including the play of goalies Giuliana Ditsky and Maddie Porter. Ditsky saw most of the minutes in the last two games, including the full 60 minutes at Howard, Feb. 25, and 36 minutes at Delaware State, Feb. 28. In that time, Ditsky allowed 10 goals while recording 19 saves while Porter, who played the final 24 minutes at DSU, tallied five saves while allowing just one goal. All told, the duo combined to post back-to-back games holding opponents to single-digit goal totals for the first time in program history while averaging 12.0 saves per game.

ON THE HORIZON
After playing its first five games of the season on the road, the Eagles will play their first home contest in 2024 when they welcome the Butler University Bulldogs to Scicluna Field, Friday, March 15. The home opener is slated for a noon opening draw.

FOLLOW US
For all things EMU Lacrosse, be sure to check out the team's social media accounts, including EMU_Lacrosse on X (formerly Twitter) and EMU_Lacrosse on Instagram.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Alderman

Amber Alderman

Mackenzie Blackwell

Kelsea Dague

Kyleigh Dill

Giuliana Ditsky

Tracy Grollman

Skylar Hilmer

Gina Jaffurs

Roya Khaleeli

Sydney Lawrence

Maddy Porter

Avery Schwab

Annika Wozney

Eastern Michigan Athletics