BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's lacrosse team, under the direction of first-year head coach Nicholle St. Pierre, will look to a youthful roster in 2018 to continue its success in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
St. Pierre, who is in her first year in Berea and her fourth year as a head coach overall, assumes a roster with 11 letterwinners and four All-OAC players from last year's squad that finished with a 13-4 overall record and a 7-1 mark in the conference, advancing to the program's third OAC Championship game in four years.
"I am very excited to open our season this Wednesday against Oberlin," St. Pierre said. "We have a tough out of conference schedule this year and I'm confident the team is ready for the challenge."
BW returns experience in the defense with seniors Taylor Giordanengo (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) and Lauryn Wright (Orrville). Giordanengo appeared in and started 16 games last year, picking up 13 ground balls and causing 10 turnovers, while Wright returns to the Yellow Jackets after a season away from the team. As a sophomore in 2016, Wright started in every game, picked up 15 ground balls, caused 13 turnovers and also scored one goal for one point. Freshman Cassidy Prather (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) will look to the guidance of those two seniors to make an immediate impact on the defense in 2018.
Sophomore Erika Davidson (East Aurora, N.Y.) appeared in eight games in her freshman campaign and hopes to make a bigger impact this year. Also joining the defense are freshmen Britt Bash (New Richmond/Cincinnati Country Day), Christina Roskoph (Strongsville) and Ireland Flores Rae (Sylvania/Saint Ursula Academy).
Two All-OAC players in junior Megan Patrick (Ravenna/Kent Roosevelt) and sophomore Hannah Stein (Medina/Highland) will lead the midfield group. Patrick scored 20 goals and added seven assists as a sophomore en route to a first-team All-OAC honor. She was also second on the team with 41 ground balls and fourth in caused turnovers with 16. Stein, who focused on defense last year, had 23 ground balls, won 33 draw controls and caused 17 turnovers while also recording four goals and three assists for seven points.
Senior All-OAC defender Erica Eyerman (North Olmsted/Magnificat), sophomore Jordan Paugh (South Lyon, Mich.) and sophomore Savanna Jaekle (Lockport, N.Y.) round out the returners in the midfield. Eyerman started all 17 games in her junior season with two goals and one assist for three points and five ground balls, four draw controls and eight caused turnovers. Paugh and Jaekle appeared in 12 and eight games, respectively, and combined to score four goals for four points and 23 total ground balls, 10 draw controls and six caused turnovers.
In the attack, senior Caitlin Wheeler (Lake Mills, Wis./Oak Park-River Forest {Ill.}), junior All-OAC player Hannah Albrechta (Uniontown/Green) and junior Mackenzie Moran (Carlisle, Pa.) will look to be the main scoring threats as each recorded double-digit goals in 2017. Albrechta was fourth on the team last season with 27 goals, Wheeler scored 18 goals in just 12 games and Moran chipped in 10 goals of her own.
Freshmen Maggie Dobbins (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) and Alexis O'Neill (Westlake) will look to make an impact on the scoreboard in their first seasons in Brown and Gold.
The Yellow Jackets will turn to a new goalkeeper in 2018 after graduating Amanda Getto, who posted a 13-3 record in her final season. Freshmen Ashleigh Hildreth (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) and Mallory Gurin (Westfield, Ind.) will look to anchor the BW defense in between the pipes.
BW opens the 2018 season when the Yellow Jackets travel to Oberlin for a non-conference game with Oberlin College on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. in the Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex. OAC play opens up on Saturday, March 24, when BW travels to New Concord to take on Muskingum University.
